AltOrth Hex Chess

What I do here is preserve Wellisch's use of the root-3 diagonal but split the six orthogonal directions into two groups of three, each trio serving as one of two complementary types of direction analogous to the orthogonals and diagonals on the square board. In other words, rather than expand from the 4 Rook and 4 Bishop directions to 6 each as Glinski and McCooey did, this variant reduces to 3 each. This gives the name, which is short for Alternate Orthogonal Hexagonal-cell Chess. In a sense the resulting pieces have more of the Hunter and Hawker which I have since used in the square-board variant Nimrod Chess than of the actual Rook and Bishop, not only because both resulting pieces are unbound but because they cannot return to a cell by retracting a previous move but only in a third or later move sweeping out a triangular or more complex path. An alternate-orthogonal rectilinear Chess would of course not be so practical on account of having too few orthogonals for the pieces to remain 2d!

I now have three offshoots of this variant: Ringworld Chess, a variant inspired by the Fore- and Hind- prefixes; AltOrth with Further Piece Types, a page of AltOrth analogues to extra-piece square-cell variants; and AltOrth with Hopping and Crooked pieces, a page of still more complex variants.

The Doubleback concept is described with reference to the basic square-cell geometry in the Notes section of Nearlydouble Chess.

Setup

Basic subvariant - can be played by 3 players as well as by 2:

Trios Hex subvariant:

Doubleback subvariant:

Pieces

	The GENERAL moves one step along any orthogonal, like a Wazir, but unlike the latter piece and like the FIDE and Shogi King - whose Wellisch analogue it is - it must be kept out of check.
	The ROOK moves any distance through empty intermediate cells along any orthogonal. It is actually this variant's analogue of the Queen - or in terms of the Hunter and Hawker their own compound the Queenranker.
	The VICEROY moves one step along any of the 6 hex (or on a cubic board, 8 3d) diagonals. It is the Wellisch Knight analogue, although in the Glinski/McCooey interpretation it would be a Ferz analogue.

Pieces specific to the new analogy:

	The FOREROOK moves like the Rook but only in the straight forward and both half backward directions. It is this page's analogue to the square-board Rook.
	The HINDROOK moves like the Rook but only in the straight backward and both half forward directions. It is this page's Bishop analogue, but is not colourbound.>
	The MIGRANT moves one step at a time. It moves along the straight forward orthogonal expect when capturing, which it does along the two half-forward orthogonals. See also my piece article Man and Beast 16: Diverging Further. It is an even better analogue for a Pawn in a variant using alternative orthogonals in the way of this variant than it is in McGlinwell, a variant combining the Wellisch analogy with elements of the other variants.

A Migrant on any Migrant starting cell of its camp may make a double-step noncapturing move, regardless of whether it has already made one or more moves to get there. It may however be immediately captured En Passant by an enemy Migrant poised to capture it had it moved only a single step.

Migrants reaching the far edges can be promoted to pieces captured by the enemy if any have been. Promotion on the far corner is compulsory.

There is no Castling.

In the 2-player subvariants Check, Checkmate, and Stalemate are as usual. In the 3-player one a player is Checkmated when their General is threatened by the player about to move. That player's pieces are removed from the game and the remaining players then alternate moves starting with the Checkmating one. The last player not Checkmated wins. A player can also win by getting a Migrant to the far corner while having a full complement of non-Migrants, in all subvariants and even if both 3-player enemies are uncheckmated.

Rules

A Migrant on any Migrant starting cell of its camp may make a double-step noncapturing move, regardless of whether it has already made one or more moves to get there. It may however be immediately captured En Passant by an enemy Migrant poised to capture it had it moved only a single step.

Migrants reaching the far edges can be promoted to pieces captured by the enemy if any have been. Promotion on the far corner is compulsory.

There is no Castling.

In the 2-player subvariants Check, Checkmate, and Stalemate are as usual. In the 3-player one a player is Checkmated when their General is threatened by the player about to move. That player's pieces are removed from the game and the remaining players then alternate moves starting with the Checkmating one. The last player not Checkmated wins. A player can also win by getting a Migrant to the far corner while having a full complement of non-Migrants, in all subvariants and even if both 3-player enemies are uncheckmated.

Notes

AltOrth versions of the standard games of mainland Asia didn't make it to AltOrth with Extra Piece Types. Most of these simply substitute pieces, but the Chinese and Korean ones are a bit more complex. It is hopefully clear from my definitions of Forerook and Hindrook what a Forewazir and Hindwazir would be - and for that matter a Foredabbaba and Hinddabbaba, Forecannon and Hindcannon, et cetera mean. Substitutions are as follows:
AltOrth Chaturanga: Hindwazir for full Rook, Hinddabbabas for Hindrooks;
AltOrth Shatar: Rook-Wazir puppeteer instead of full Rook;
AltOrth Makruk: Hindwazir for full Rook, Colonels for Hindrooks;
AltOrth Sittuyin: ditto but with random initial placement;
AltOrth XQ: Foregeneral+2 Hindwazirs all limited to a Fortress, 2 Hinddabbabas (sharing binding within army), 3 Viceroys (one per binding), 2 Forerooks, 2 Forecannons, a few Points;
AltOrth Korean: General+2 Wazirs all limited to Fortress lines, 2 Hindsennights (defined in Man and Beast 20: Far From Square), 3 Viceroys (one per binding), 2 Forerooks, 2 Forecannons, a few Points.

If you are wondering about the use of Hindsennights, the reason is that whereas Wellisch analogues confound pairs of sqaure-cell pieces (see notes on Trios Hex Chess), AltOrth splits them out, through considering only the straight forward and half-backward orthogonals for coordinate purposes. Thus analogues for leapers beyond the Knight are Foresennight for Camel, Hindsennight for Zebra, Foreaurochs for Giraffe, Hindaurochs for Antelope, Foreoverscore for Zemel, Forestudent for Satyr, Hindstudent for Gimel, Hindoverscore for Rector, Forenewlywed for Flamingo, Hindnewlywed for Parson, Forebarnowl for Stork, Foregoose for Samel, Hindgoose for Ox, Hindbarnowl for Famel, et cetera. Note that relationships of duality are entirely lost. Thus analogues of compounds - Foreseprelander for Gnu, Hindseprelander for Gazelle, Sennight for Bison, Seprelander for Buffalo, Foreravallander for Lookout, Aurochs-Sennight puppeteer for Gamewarden, et cetera - lack the significance of the square-board compounds. This is why I see little point in an AltOrth Wildebeest with Foresennights and a Foreseprelander. Note also that Fore- or Hind- versions of a hex-diagonal piece retain the whole of the hex-diagonal piece's move on this orientation - though not on the Wellisch one..

Another interesting use of the Glinski board is Larry Lynn Smith's Stations. That variant uses pieces which start as Wings, Rookrankers, Forerooks, Rookfilers, and a Brigacowarrider (long range piece in the reverse of the Brigadier's directions). but are rotatable at the end of their moves to cover up to all six radial directions over the course of a game.