Gridlock Chapter 4
The Shield of Faith
I designed the Bishops in all their Classes to take on all the different fields. Each Bishop has a specialty. The Bearing Cross carries or projects men into battle. Multi Task is a very hard piece to get and does not get used in the Ruins. He can pass through walls and use the same Fields as the Medusa and the Pugal Bishops. The Pugal Bishops special talent is being able to push armor of its guard. The Center Serve can deliver a team of four Divisional Pawns to fight from one central location. Are the many levels to Extreme Chess entertaining you or confusing you? The Medusa freezes whatever of the opposing team is unlucky enough to be within its check. A Medusa's check on a Queens Guard will freeze it and shut down its armor. The Bishop Foot Soldiers are amuned to armor when engaged in Bishops Work. I would like to point out that Bishops are not without their weaknesses. Anything can take them out even when they are involved in Bishop’s work, except Activated Armor. Activated Armor can take out the Bishop Foot Soldiers when Bishops Work is not engaged.
Moving and Pushing Diagonal
I hope you know when it comes to my Bishops the rules have changed. Gridlock’s Bishops can push and freeze men as well as switch the colored square they are playing on. You do this by holding the Power Square called Bishops Paradox. My bishops can even push loaded Castle and Colony Rooks at an angle. These are usually the key pieces when it comes to eliminating the Guard (who ever he is) The kids on my R&D Team like to push pieces right off the board. Of course to do this you need access to the Outer Row (another Power Grid Square). I may be God here but I don’t have the thousands of hours on the games that the kids do so I don’t do very well against them. They use my own rules against me (go figure)
In a Four Way Game they mob me like the little traders they are and when these games are on the net you all are going to be in trouble. Half of my team eats drinks and sleeps Gridlock Chess (they are trying to catch up). The other half of the team is the best and has a five-year headstart on you.
Pushing Armor
Anything that’s armored can be pushed at an angle by the Pugal Bishop as long as the path is clear and Bishops Work is engaged. The only way to engage Bishops Work without the Power Square is to make any two Bishops of your team check each other. This can be the Bishops that are actually fighting or two Bishops locked up at home. Any piece on your team could hold the Power Square if you’re looking for a simpler way. Bishops are also great for activating the Armored Pawns. So with Bishops Work activated you could use a single Pugal Bishop to move or set up Armored Personnel for the kill. The Bearing Cross and Center Serve are not Foot Soldiers. They are not amuned to armor but can be armored. Use them to maintain Bishops Work or join in the fight.
Say Good By
The two Armored Pawns were guarding each other until this Pugal Bishop came along and pushed one of them out of the picture. The Pugal Bishops finished position would have been the upper most hand occupying the Outer Row. Multi Task is just saying hi and wants to remind you that if you had used him you would not have needed Bishops Work although he’s more than glad to help you set it up. It is a good time to mention that Foot Soldier Bishops usually climb and mount at an angle. If you possess the Power Square Bishops Paradox you’ll see that you can sidestep a few of these issues. The Medusa and Center Serve are Elimination Pieces. They are among an elite subgroup of pieces we use to determine who wins and looses.
Tonk and his men protecting a Rook
In the Board above we are witnessing activated Primary Armor. The Queens Guard's Checking Field includes the trunk of the Colony Rook. The Guards Field is passed up through the trunk to the waiting Guard. Unlike the Armored Pawn that would need his individual leaf held in check by a teammate. To Bad Gridlock’s Guard is where he is because he just deactivated any Primary Armor. A Medusa Lil or big Medusa could do the same thing and so could Multi Task. This move is classic for shutting down a loaded Rook. If it was my turn and Tonk and all his men were mine I would try to take out or block the threat. If I chose to take it out I had better have the Field Strength of seven for Tonks men. Otherwise I would just have to move a Queens Guard to intercept the Gridlock’s Guards Field. Only then would the Colony Rooks Armor be active again.
Three Strikes Your Out
Loose any three of these pieces and you have just suffered your first Triple Elimination. If someone captures one of your Elimination Pieces thank him because it is not eliminated and is considered still in play. Maybe you’ll get it back. Don’t sweat the Class A Colony Rook just yet but there are a few details to work out with the others. The biggest detail I’ve learned is don’t keep all your eggs in one basket or build a better basket, I’ve definitely given you the tools. Don’t get cocky because I’ve had my best laid Colony Rooks put to rest by an army of ten-year-olds. I’ve had these kids put twelve hours straight into the game and be at my door the very next day with new plans for a problem they had with an opponent the day before. They didn’t give up and neither should you.
The Local Royalty and Their Monolith
Meet them love them and protect them. If I have to tell you how the King and Queen move than you really shouldn’t be exploring Extreme Multi Level Chess now should you? The Crystal however is one of those pieces that might need a little explaining. It moves like a Queen and acts as a Power Station and Relay Station for the different types of Fields of Influence that make up Gridlock Chess. I’ll clue you now, you can get by without your Crystal and you’ll most likely have to at some point in time.
This piece can’t be armored, but could easily be protected by armor and that’s what you are going to have to do. By hanging on to your Crystal you increase your Field Strength by projecting the Field of the rider through the mount. For instance an Armored Pawn riding a Colt, the Colt is now armored and gets the privileges of such. Aother example would be Medusa riding a Forrest Rook, the freezing field of the Medusa works through the Rook as well as the Bishop. Now the Rook projects the same field as the Medusa. This is my little two stage battle queen.
Everybody wants To Perform
In the upper left we see the pieces that have a field to project. First we have the Royal Guard and this is an important field to master. The Royal Guard transfers his field to protect men from the bomb. You will soon become old hat at transferring fields. I will include a couple of basic samples and you will have to geometrically arrange the rest in your imagination. When you don’t possess the Crystal, fields can’t pass through the mounted object. If a kill takes place where an Armored Pawn is riding something, that piece is eliminated and the once activated armored Pawn is handed back to you and you place it anywhere in your Homegrid or Outpost Grid.If the pawns armor was not active it’s a clean kill. This hand back could upset the order of your Armored Colony. You see I have to let the unarmored man be the dominating factor on this square, it gives incentive to possess the Crystal. So the moral here is don’t think your armoring your mount with an armored man unless you possess the Crystal.
The Royal Guard To The Rescue
Take a look at the way the Royal Guard can come through with its Field when the Crystal is possessed. On board Pegasus I see the Power of the Royal Guard projecting from itself and into the Footprints of Pegasus. In the upper left we have the field being projected off from the Bearing Cross.
In figure c. we see a Royal Guard projecting its field from the leaf on the Rook that occupies second sublevel space. Notice how the field doesn’t quite reach all the way around the Rook. The Pawns Fields of Influence is always one space any direction unless being projected so it cant reach that upper portion in back of the Rook.
Swinging the Competition Over
When you cast the Converters Field of Influence you will be making your enemy’s pieces turn into your team color. First we see what the Converter would do if it were on a Forrest Rook. Its Field would of course go in a straight line until it met its target and the usual one step every direction. Upper left is the Knights Footprints this is in addition to its one step projection of the field. Figure c. show the projected field through the Center Serve. The field goes one-step any direction then off through the Bishops four diagonal lines.
Lil Medusa’s Range
This is where the little guys can get big results. I’ll let your imagination work with the Fields. This is a sport that needs a referee. I wonder if todays Chess Engines can be tweaked to accommodate us.
The missing Influence
This picture shows a Class B Colony Rook that is carrying a rider that does not have possession of the Crystal. How ever the Forrest Rook does possess the Crystal.
A Horse Of a Different Color
Remember Madusa’s field is only one of Gridlock’s simple fields and it projects the same way off the three Knights you see depicted here. We call an illegal move being pointed out throwing flags. Like if someone tries to move a frozen piece or uses simple assault against armor. In cyber Space Gridlock will do this for you.
Same Field Off The Forrest Rook
Even know it’s a Bishop instead of a Pawn it’s the same Field. I hope now you know why it’s called fantasy chess because you are going to be using your imaginations to enforce the Fields.
Casting From the Second Sub Level
The Medusa casting his field from the Third sublevel is diagonally down unless another third sub level is directly adjacent, and it only cast diagonally down if it’s through a Footstool. I also wanted you to note how the Medusa cast off its Influence from the Rook. I have let the pieces treat them selves and their fields to freedom from the second sublevel just to add power and interest to the game.
Frozen Acres
Note the Medusa casting his field off from the Trojan down through a Footstool. Watch the Pegasus freeze a Trojan. See how Pegasus’s Field is in blocks of four, he could find a way to stop the Knight don’t you think. Do you see it in two moves if the Trojan stays still?
Relay Crystal
This picture shows a simple Tonks Chamber with the Crystal relaying the signal to activate the armor.
Flanking The Crystal
You have to capture the two Castle Rooks to release your Crystal and your going to need a Footstool to do it.