Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

Abdul, Jeremy: I have added the board image as a new Game Courier 'Background' called 38squares.gif. Here is a very rough preset using my Hexes Chess preset as a starting point, but you will have to redefine the coordinates for the spaces. Obviously, these coordinates are for the Hexes Chess hexagonal board.

Thanks Tony, it's really great.

However, there isn't a place for the pieces in hand, so I created another image. I hope you upload this one instead :

http://www.chessvariants.org/membergraphics/MSkings/38.gif

(Well, yes, i used a CV page to upload a picture. I don't do that usually, sorry.)

I started to align pieces to the board, this is what i got so far :

/play/pbm/play.php?game%3DCrazy+38%27s%26settings%3Ddefault

Using the board i posted won't change the coordinates, so it's possible simply replace the board.

Alternatively, you could create a new image that is symmetrical in both directions. I can upload this. The program should then locate the pieces in the correct spaces. For example, the boxes could be at the bottom rather than at the top. However, this will require re-doing your space coordinates.

Sorry about this. I should have checked the FAQ before asking you to define the coordinates!

http://abdulrahmansibahi.googlepages.com/38.gif

This is a new background. Transferring the coordinates from the old to the new wouldn't be difficult.

Done ..

I posted the preset. Waiting to be published.

This is absolutely the best out-there/crazy idea I have ever seen for a chess variant.
I've spent hours lurking on  this site and have never seen anything else quite like it.

I have not actually tried it yet, so I only gave it a 'good' rating, but it looks awesome.  I have plans to make a physical copy...

Two thumbs up!

I just began play-testing and I like it a lot.  My thoughts so far:

There is a tiny bit of ambiguity as to whether the “same file rule” from Shogi is meant to apply to pawn drops (presumably it is not). I believe it can be played either way. I haven't tested it yet, but to try, the following condition could apply:

A pawn may not be dropped onto the same vertical diagonal of any other non-promoted pawn belonging to the same player.

Or an even stricter alternative:

A pawn may not be dropped onto the same rank or file of any other non-promoted pawn belonging to the same player.

In the illustrations for piece movement, notice how the rook travels through one edge and then through the opposite edge of each square in its path (even if the 'square' curves a right angle), while the bishop travels through one corner and then through the opposite corner of each square in its path, but seems to be prohibited from doing so on the curved squares (from the black bishop's position in the diagram). If this prohibition were lifted, that same black bishop's range of movement would include traveling from one curved edge square to the next and then back across the board horizontally, forming a loop back to it's original position.

Also, although it is not explicitly mentioned in the original rules, I think it's probably a good idea to declare that a rook or  a queen (or a bishop) may not land on the square from which they originated on that turn, even if a path to it exists unobstructed.

Finally, my thoughts about the pawn. The language and illustration of the original rules regarding pawn movement suggests that pawns capturing moves and non-capturing moves are executed in the same way (unlike conventional chess). Optionally, one could alter the rules for pawn movement so that it moves (but does not capture) exactly one square in either of the orthogonal directions that is away from its own side of the playing board or it can capture to the cell diagonally ahead of it (if there is an enemy piece occupying that square).

I just made my copy of the board yesterday, and have only had the opportunity to play-test the original rules.  But yeah, it was a lot of fun!  Thanks!