[ List Earliest Comments Only For Pages | Games | Rated Pages | Rated Games | Subjects of Discussion ]
Game Reviews by John Lawson
If large teams were playing on many boards, like a tall skyscraper, there could be both local and express elevators.
Hey! I'm as innocent as a kitten! I wasn't even there! And if I was there, I didn't do it! And if I did it, I was lead astray by evil men!
And how many experimental armies have been devised? Those are fun and instructive, too, both for how they work and the ways they fall short. The supporting work of 'Ideal and Practical Values' is valuable not only for designers, but for players trying to gauge the relative values of unfamiliar combinations of pieces in an unfamiliar variant.
Crowd Chess 1: http://www.chessvariants.com/boardrules.dir/crowded1.html Crowd Chess 2: http://www.chessvariants.com/boardrules.dir/crowded2.html Multiple Occupancy Miscellany: http://www.chessvariants.com/boardrules.dir/multocc.html My nextdoor neighbor in Brooklyn was also a fire-fighter, and was not a big man, but strong. We broke up our common driveway with sledgehammers, and I was impressed.
But where is the Schnorer? Or the Bromeliads?
My daughter has raised the question, 'If there are Headless Rhinos, why are there no Rhino heads in the Box?' I suggested that they had been reduced to Crumbs, but this explanation was rejected on the grounds that the rest of the Rhino would also be Crumbs.
I've been looking at the point scheme. The total number of points a player can have for critters next to the campfire is 24 plus 1 for each Shrew that can be promoted to Chipmunk, or 32. If you assume that promoting Shrews is difficult: Then the likelihood of exceeding your opponent's point count by 30 is close to zero. And the likelihood of losing the game even though the opponent's Bear is eliminated for 20 points is close to zero. Furthermore, to achieve the maximum score (32) for Campfire propinquity, there would have to be 16 critters adjacent to the Campfire. Since the train passes through each Campfire square 2 of every 20 turns, orchestrating the 'campout' without some critter getting sqooshed would be near impossible. Another interesting effect is that if each side loses its Hunter (foolishly, since the only way I can see for that to happen is for them both to be squished by the Train), the game can never end, except draw by agreement. Perhaps in this case we need something like a 50-move rule, but instead of a draw, the winner is declared on points. I can see the possibility of an urban variant of PASGL 312 called NYCTA IRT, where commuters jostle to be near the door to get on or off a subway train without being pushed onto the tracks or having their pockets picked. BTW, I noticed no one has actually rated this. I give it excellent for concept. Play is still moot.
This is the same unusual placement of partners and order of play that is used by Parker Bros. Grand Camelot, published in 1932. I had thought until now that it was unique in that respect. I have never played Vierschach, but I have played Grand Camelot, and it is a good way to play a partnership game. Peter Aronson also made a variant of his Chaturanga 4-84 with the same seating positions and turn order.
My first question so far involves Ash trees. Given: - All the squares comprising a tree lead through a series of adjacent squares back to the root. - Ash trees grow by Knight moves. Then I assume: - Ash squares that are a Knight's move apart are considered adjacent. If: - An Ash tree grows from b1 to c3 to d5, stops, and then grows to b4. And: - The Ash square d5 is killed. Then: - Ash square b4 dies also, even though it is diagonally adjacent to c3. Is this correct? My second question involves underbrush. When a deciduous tree is killed or injured, the underbrush squares left behind are neutral. Is it true that neutral underbrush has no way to grow? My third question involves the Huckleberry. Once per game, the Huckleberry can expand by leaping onto any friendly grassland square. Is this Huckleberry distinct from the original Huckleberry, resulting in two equal royal pieces?
I'd think flushes would not only be common, but unavoidable. They would be easier to get than three-of-a-kind. And four-of-a-kind would be harder to achieve than a straight flush.
Isn't this kind of like Peter's Chess with Cyclical Armies? http://www.chessvariants.com/other.dir/cyclical-armies.html And I like the idea of polypiece Ultima or Rococo. How about Polypiece Optima? Or Nemoroth?
Extrapolation? You mean like to Chess with Different Armies? Or to some version of Hex Chess? Or how about Nemoroth?
I'm not sure a King should be promoted. If it gets out seven ranks, I'd assume one of two things is going on: It's getting chased all over the board by the opponent. The opponent probably deserves to win, so why make it harder? It's advancing despite the best the opponent can do. Why are you fooling around with your King? Put that effort into mating or gaining a winning material advantage.
I think many people would be tempted by the strategy Peter mentions, of the 'pawns' getting combined into the back rank pieces early on to build more powerful pieces. The approach I would try in my first game, however, would be to combine pairs of pawns into knights, resulting in having a total of six knights. There's even some logic in demotion: you start with a rook and two pawns, and end with three knights; or a queen and four pawns, and end with five knights. If you carry this idea to its conclusion, you get two bishops, and thirteen knights. In the endgame, you can recombine into whatever more powerful pieces you need. Of course, all this conversion carries a cost in tempo.
I have to try this game! A couple of observations, based on logic alone: Castling your Kings toward the center might allow the defense, in some situations, to use alternation ('inside lines') to good effect, thus freeing more forces for a counterattack. All the better if this strategy were unanticipated. Regarding different armies, each player could use the same pair of armies, but there is the choice of like opposite like, or like opposite unlike. That could become interesting if the two armies were of very different strengths on a 16x8 board, and like was not opposite like.
I have a few questions: 1 - 'When a Soldier captures a friend piece, it can promote by COMPENSATION to a SPECIAL PIECE.' Does that include another soldier? That is, can my soldiers capture each other to create three more special pieces? 2 - When a Special Piece is adjacent to a Reducer, can it still make a stationary move to transmute into a different Special Piece? 3 - A 'rules lawyer' would notice that there is no prohibition against capturing your own King with a Soldier. You'd get another Special Piece, and you can't lose by checkmate! Is this what you meant?
So where do I go to see posted games to approve them?
Maybe put a link on the Minimal New page? (This is where I always start a visit to the CVP.)
18 comments displayed
Permalink to the exact comments currently displayed.