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Waterfall Xinag-Qi

An elegant 3D xinag-qi variant.

Setup

Game is played on board with 10 ranks, 9 files and 9 layers.
There is a waterfall between 5th and 6th ranks (the same thing as river in classic Xiang-Qi, but here called "waterfall", because here it's vertical 2D plane).
Palaces are 3x3x3 cubes, each located in center of first three ranks of it's owner.

b---r---b
---------
---------
h---p---h
---------
---------
H---P---H
---------
---------
B---R---B

-m--n--m-
---------
-f--c--f-
---------
---------
---------
---------
-F--C--F-
---------
-M--N--M-

--x-e-x--
---------
---------
--h-p-h--
---------
---------
--H-P-H--
---------
---------
--X-E-X--

---gag---
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---GAG---

rneakaenr
---------
-c-----c-
p-p-l-p-p
---------
---------
P-P-L-P-P
-C-----C-
---------
RNEAKAENR

---gag---
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---GAG---

--x-e-x--
---------
---------
--h-p-h--
---------
---------
--H-P-H--
---------
---------
--X-E-X--

-m--n--m-
---------
-f--c--f-
---------
---------
---------
---------
-F--C--F-
---------
-M--N--M-

b---r---b
---------
---------
h---p---h
---------
---------
H---P---H
---------
---------
B---R---B

K - general (king);
A - advisor;
E - elephant;
N - horse (knight);
R - chariot (rook);
C - cannon;
P - pawn;
L - lieutenant;
G - guard;
X - eunuch;
M - mule;
B - battering-ram;
F - firework;
H - hireling.

For convenience, here is representation of the same position, but from another point of view.
The first rank:

B---R---B
-M--N--M-
--X-E-X--
---GAG---
RNEAKAENR
---GAG---
--X-E-X--
-M--N--M-
B---R---B

Second rank is empty, as in classic 2D Xiang-Qi.
Here is the third rank, the cannon rank:

---------
-F--C--F-
---------
---------
-C-----C-
---------
---------
-F--C--F-
---------

And the fourth rank, the pawn rank:

H---P---H
---------
--H-P-H--
---------
P-P-L-P-P
---------
--H-P-H--
---------
H---P---H

Pieces

Chariots, horses, elephants, advisors, cannons and pawns are simply classic Xiang-Qi pieces in 3D space. However, general is NOT (he'll be described below).
After crossing the waterfall, pawns may step orthogonally left, right, up or down.

Eunuchs are triagonal counterpants of elephants: they makes exactly two triagonal steps without leaping, can't cross the waterfall. Name is taken from Charles Gilman's classification.

Guards are advisors' counterpants - steps one triagonally (known as viceroys in Charles Gilman's classification). Can't leave the palace.

Battering-rams moves as rooks forward and backward, but can't move as rooks up, down, left and right. Instead, they moves within same rank as bishops:

-----
-----
*---*
-----
-----

-----
-----
-*-*-
-----
-----

--*--
--*--
--B--
--*--
--*--

-----
-----
-*-*-
-----
-----

-----
-----
*---*
-----
-----

Fireworks are cannons' counterpants. Moves without capturing as rams, but needs to hop over one piece to capture.

Hirelings and the lieutenant moves as pawns before crossing the waterfall. After crossing it, hirelings may move one step diagonally "sideways" - in diagonal directons of rams.
Lieutenant may move as both pawn and hireling: one step in any direction within same rank.

You probably now guess, how general moves in this game.
He may step in any orthogonal direction, but also can make diagonal step within same rank.
Of course, can't face opponent's general (being on same file and layer if there are no pieces between them).

Mule steps orthogonally forward or backward, followed by triagonally outwards, or diagonally in ram's directions, followed by triagonally outwards.
Here "!" symbols marks spaces that must be free:

-----
*---*
-----
*---*
-----

-*-*-
-----
-!-!-
-----
-*-*-

-----
--!--
--M--
--!--
-----

-*-*-
-----
-!-!-
-----
-*-*-

-----
*---*
-----
*---*
-----

Notes

Possible variations.

a. Replace battering-rams with regular bishops, fireworks with regular vaos, hirelings now moves diagonally forward (and not orthogonally), still gains diagonally-sideways movement after crossing waterfall, general now steps orthogonally only, mule here steps in any diagonal (not orthogonal) direction, followed by triagonal outwards step.
Lieutenant is replaced with another one pawn. Or, alternaively, it's still compound of pawn and hireling (but hireling in this context).

b. Pieces moves mostly as in original variant, but here elephants and advisors can't move within same rank (thus, their directions don't overlap with ram's directions).

c. Korean variant. Elephant's move should be understood as prolonged horse move. Cannons and fireworks can capture one another and can hop one over another, but can't do so with pieces of same kind as they. Palace have marked diagonals and triagonals, crossing the center space.
In case of combining with subvariant "b", there are no marked diagonal lines, that lets move within 2nd rank.

d. Isn't it a way to make any N-dimensional Xiang-Qi variant? ;)


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By Daniil Frolov.
Web page created: 2013-12-22. Web page last updated: 2013-12-22