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@ Bob Greenwade[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, Mar 29, 2024 03:45 PM UTC:

255. Mountie. When I published the Moose a few weeks ago, it was taken from a list that treated it as the Queen version, with a Rook Moose and a Bishop Moose also present... but what about a Knight Moose? But it needed a better name, so I thought about what sort of mounted person exists in the land of moose, and the only thing I could think of was the traditional Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

A strictly Knight-like Moose isn't really practical, since the Knight is a single-step mover, but making a Nightrider works. Therefore, the Mountie moves like a Nightrider until it reaches a hurdle, at which point it turns ~45° and makes exactly one more step. (pafsNN)

In this illustration, the White Mountie uses the Black Bishop as a mount, and can turn right to capture the Black Knight or turn left to the empty space (c8). It cannot stop at the first step (c4), capture the Bishop, move beyond the Black Knight (h8), or move in any other direction.

I'm actually not sure how this piece would play out in an actual game. I think it'd work best on a larger board; and it probably would be more of a complication than an actual power piece, though I've been wrong about that kind of thing before.

The model is basically a Knight with my attempt at a Mountie's hat (aka "Smokey hat" in the US).