Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

Thanks for your comment. The pawns here are used as a different kind of
'cannon fodder'. They can be capturesd by the opponent and placed on the
Duel board in a way that would allow one to 'rescue' a piece that got
captured. To do that, they need to get in the action very quickly.
Promotions would've made the whole 'duel' concept moot, especially on
such a small board, and this way, the player needs to give more thoughts
to the pawns position in the game.
Switching boards is out of the question, as it will also make the whole
'duel' concept moot. 
I would also want to thank Fergus Duniho for his excellent PBEM preset.
I'm trying that now and it is quite good.

I like your game very much, and find it original. The only game I can think
that it faintly resembles is 'Afterlife Chess' (an Egyptian-themed chess
whose author I do not remember now, where captured pieces went to another
board instead of just being declared dead), but this game is quite
diferent.

Anyway, I have 2 questions (about minor aspects of the game):

1.- When the Duel Board is full, and one more piece is taken, and there's
one of the opponent's pieces on the Duel Board to be declared dead and
replaced... Who is it that chooses which piece is to be killed, the
capturer or the captured's side?

2.- If returned pawns do not have double-step move, and pawns can be
returned into their 2nd row... is it possible then, that two pawns be in
the 2nd row, one of them having double-step move option (still unmoved)
and the other one not having it (because it be a returned piece)?

Does this mean that we have to 'keep track' throughout the game of which
pawns still have double-step move options?

Thanks for the comment, as for your question:

1. When the Duel board is full, and a player makes a capture instead of
making a move on the Duel board, that player is 'punished' by having one
of his (or her) pieces removed permanetly from the duel board (and from
the game). Therefore, that player makes the choice of which piece to
remove from the Duel board. 
This also maintains the spirit and concept of the variant since the
capturing player always makes the decision of where on the Duel board to
place the captured piece.

2. Returned pieces have different attributes when returned to the Main
board (bishops can be placed on either colour, pawns lose their double
step). Since I decided to allow for Pawns double move, the players will
have to keep track of which pawns can double move and which cannot. 
Given the small number of pawns, this didn't rise as a problem during
playtesting, especially since Pawns behave mostly as cannon fodders while
on the Duel board.
While there are several solutions to this issue, it seems that in order to
maintain the spirit of the game as I see it would be to keep the rules as
is.

OK. You see, I had thought that if, for example, white captures a black
piece (in the Main Board) when the Duel Board is full, he or she would put
the recently captured black piece in the place of another black piece that
is on the Duel Board.

Now I understand it all :) and I think it makes sense, and goes with the
spirit of the game. As for the pawns, maybe you are right, and having so
few pawns makes it easy to keep track of those who still have double-step
move options.

Just one quick note more: I have noticed something funny. I have read
'Pieces cannot move through the middle square or leap over it, except for
the Knight'. My question was: What about Dabbabah's? Can they leap the
middle square?

Then I looked at the ASCII diagram of the Duel Chess board and the idea of
the supporting column made me think that, perhaps, you didn't want
Dabbabah's to jump through the central square because they would crash
into the column, whereas Knights seemed to avoid the column in their jump.
Was that your intention? If not, don't you think it is quite reasonable?
:)


Congratulations for your game, and thank you for your answer.

The knight can be said to jump one diagonal and one orthogonal, or one
orthogonal and one diagonal, so it can basically make a move over the
middle square. The middle square is supposed to be a base for the column
that supports the Duel board, so any attemt to move through there will
cause the piece to hit that column. The Dababa will have it worse than
others, since if it will attempt to JUMP it will hit that column head on,
to a point it'll need medical attention.
I sense a future variant in the making :)