Vanguard Chess

Vanguard Chess is a new variant played on a double-size board (actually the equivalent of four standard boards), with three rows of pieces on each side to open. These include several types of fairy pieces, as described herein.

This Variant is inspired somewhat by the Chess on a Really Big Board variant (scroll down to "Two Sets, Four Boards," or see the Wikipedia article), which also uses fairy pieces on a 16x16 board. There are also influences of certain other variants that use a large board with multiple starting rows (such as Chess 256 or Terachess), though as far as I'm aware this is the only one with three rows.

The logic of the pieces is to, as much as possible, only add those whose names suggest someone or something that might actually be in an army, relying mainly on the Wikipedia article on Fairy chess pieces. Most of them should make perfect sense in that context.

Setup

As stated above, this game uses all the same pieces as standard Chess, plus several fairy pieces, on a 16x16 board.

The back row's setup for White is:

• Helepolis, Nightrider, Spy, Falconer, Bishop, Wizard, Princess, Queen, King, Prince, Chancellor, Bishop, Falconer, Spy, Nightrider, Helepolis

Black sets up the back row in reverse order.

Both sides set up the second and third row identically:

• Rook, Knight, Berserker, Lancer, Archer, Archer, Bowman, General, General, Bowman, Archer, Archer, Lancer, Bewrserker, Knight, Rook
• Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Soldier, Soldier, Soldier, Sergeant, Sergeant, Soldier, Soldier, Soldier, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn

The Interactive Diagram below can help you play it. The only rules not covered are those concerning Royal promotion, but that's not that significant right now.

Even better, try the Game Courier preset against another player; the rules there are almost exactly as intended.

Pieces

The pieces from standard Chess all move as in that game, with the exception of the Pawn (see below), and the exclusion of Castling.

Each of the listings below includes the symbol and number per player in the header.

Overall, each player will need:

• 1 each: Chancellor, King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Wizard
• 2 each: Berserker, Bishop, Falconer, General, Helepolis, Knight, Lancer, Nightrider, Rook, Sergeant, Spy
• 4 Archers
• 6 Soldiers
• 8 Pawns

Archer

The Archer can slide up to three squares diagonally without capturing, or rifle capture (that is, capture without moving) in a Knight-like manner.

Berserker

The Berserker moves like a King, but can move twice times in one turn, enabling it to (potentially) capture two enemy pieces at once. It also can leap to any space in the second circle out.

This is essentially the same as the Lion in Chu Shogi, renamed to fit this game's concept.

Bishop

As in standard Chess, the Bishop can move diagonally any distance.

Bowman 

The Bowman (working as a more advanced Archer) moves like a non-leaping Knight. If that move doesn't capture an enemy piece, and an enemy piece is another Knight's move away in the same direction, then the Bowman may "advance capture" that piece (see Notes).

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Chancellor

The Chancellor combines the moves of the Rook and Knight.

Falconer

The Falconer can leap to any same-colored square within three spaces.

General

The General moves diagonally like a Bishop, or slide an even number of steps orthogonally. Note that, while this makes the General color-locked, it doesn't jump over spaces of the other color; all spaces in the path must be free.

Helepolis

The Helepolis (named for a movable siege tower used by the ancient Greeks) moves like a Rook, but can capture enemy pieces in its path without slowing down. Moving sideways or backward, it can take as many as are there (it basically just runs them over; those things were around nine stories tall!) in a "juggernaut capture," but forward it can only take one (otherwise it'd be too powerful in a game).

Also, on its initial move, it can jump over one friendly piece, so long as it's moving forward.

King

As in standard Chess, the King can move one space in any direction. Since this game uses "extinction royalty" rules, with the Prince also a royal piece, the King can ignore rules regarding check as long as the Prince is on the board.

Also, Castling is not used.

Knight

To help it deal with the larger board, the Knight takes on the move of the Teutonic Knight, or Ordensritter: it can move one space orthogonally, or leap (1,3) like a Camel as well as its normal (1,2) leap.

Lancer

The Lancer can make a jump like a Knight, and optionally a second identical jump if the first space is unoccupied. It can also slide two or three spaces in any direction, but only to capture.

Nightrider

The Nightrider moves like a Knight, but can continue to move in a straight line as long as the landing spaces are free.

Pawn

The Pawn moves as in standard Chess, except that its opening move may be up to 4 spaces, and En Passant is not used.

Upon reaching the far row, the Pawn promotes to Knight.

Prince

The Prince can move one space diagonally, or like a Knight. A Royal piece, the Prince as well as the King must be captured for victory. If the King is captured while the Prince is on the board, the Prince becomes the King.

Princess

The Princess combines the moves of the Bishop and Knight. If the Queen is captured while the Princess is on the board, the Princess becomes Queen.

Queen

As in standard Chess, the Queen combines the moves of the Bishop and Rook.

Rook

As in standard Chess, the Rook can move orthogonally any direction. However, Castling is not used.

Sergeant

The Sergeant can move or capture 1-3 spaces forward, or one square diagonally; it can also move, but not capture, one square sideways.

Upon reaching the far row, the Sergeant promotes to Lancer.

(Note that this is quite different from the usual Sergeant fairy piece.)

Soldier

The Soldier moves like a Pawn (including moving up to 4 spaces on the opening move), but can also move (but not capture) one square sideways.

Upon reaching the far row, the Soldier promotes to Helepolis.

Spy

The Spy can move one or two spaces orthogonally, or jump like a Knight.

Wizard

The Wizard can move one space diagonally, and optionally turn 45 degrees to move one or two spaces orthgonally further from its starting point. (Note that this is somewhat different from the usual Wizard fairy piece.)

Also, this Wizard can swap places with any friendly piece sitting on a square to which it can move (which is why those spaces are shaded green in the diagram).

Rules

The basic rules of Chess are followed, with a few exceptions to allow for the larger board and larger armies (all noted above, but summarized here):

1. Castling and En Passant are not used.
2. Extinction royalty rules are in effect: the King and Prince must both be captured or in checkmate for victory.
3. If the King is captured and the Prince is still on the board, the Prince immediately becomes King.
4. If the Queen is captured and the Princess is still on the board, the Princess immediately becomes Queen.
5. Pawn pieces promote upon reaches the far row as follows: Pawns become Knights, Soldiers become Helepolises, and Sergeants become Lancers.

Options

The following optional rules may be implemented, if both players agree before the match starts:

• Prince/Princess and/or Chancellor/Wizard may reverse their positions on both sides.
• If the King is captured and the Prince is promoted to King, the Princess is also promoted to Queen even with the original Queen still on the board.
• Since capturing the King automatically promotes the Prince into a new King, it's legal to move the King into check while the Prince is on the board.
• The Wizard can lose the ability to switch places with friendly pieces.

Notes

Given the large board size, large number of pieces, and presence of two Royal pieces (King and Prince), this game takes somewhat longer to play than standard Chess.

Some tactics worth noting, that I've seen from the Interactive Diagram's AI:

1. Moving the Pawn in front of the Berserker frees the Nightrider, which can then move to the opponent's side of the board.
2. If the Wizard's first move is to g4/g13, its second can be to switch places with the Queen, freeing that piece into the board. (The same type of thing can also be done with the Queen's Falconer, or anything on the second row from the King's Bowman to the Queen's Knight.)

Advance Capture

The Bowman's "Advance Capture" is the accepted technical term for when a piece makes a capture further along in its path than it actually mmoves.

Last revised by Bob Greenwade.