Game Reviews by ultimatecoolster

This could be played Apocalypse-style, also, where the squares don't have an outline either.

It is strange that the Horse is more powerful than the Chariot, and that there is only one of them, which would imbalance the game if you thought is was worth less. What are your justifications?

I'm thinking of making a 3-player variant with a piece called a Roc, which is a giant mythical bird thought to eat elephants.

You are incorrect that the Gold General is the Japanese version of the Wazir and the Silver General is the Japanese version of the Ferz. The Gold General is the Japanese version of the Ferz and the Silver General is the Japanese version of the Alfil.

Where can a Cruiser plant mines? Also, your diagram for the Cruiser's movement is incorrect. The C needs to be shifted to the left or the m's to the right.

'This game is played on an 84-hex board.' Copying and pasting, eh? ;)

How about instead of having the Ninnies capture two squares, you give them the ability to move 90 degrees to the arrows on their current square? It would prevent them from getting trapped in the Fortresses. Other than the additional moves for the Ninnies and Fuddy-Duddies, this is an excellent Xiang Qi-like variant.

While the Ice Queen is somewhat creative, the other pieces I think you overuse in your variants.

This game is remarkably similar to my own Complete Permutation Hexagonal Chess.

Doesn't the board need to be one rank longer?

This isn't very Chess-like at all, and the Lions are an extreme kludge for holes in the board.

I hate Grand Chess. It's like having Rook connection spoon-fed to you and the Pawn promotion is terrible. It's called promotion for a reason. It's not called rescuing. And if you do have that rule, why make the Pawns able to check? They cannot consummate the capture. I understand that modifying you setup's Rooks will give an undefended Pawn, but please understand.

I agree with Peter Aronson, regarding the power of a royal Knight. Does Joe Joyce have anything to say?

It looks a bit difficult to capture the Squirrel, with only the Crow and Pawn uncovered by its capture range.

This game is terrible. One can easily draw by moving pieces back and forth along the first and second rank, and if there they are blocked, it is draw by stalemate. The only way to win this game would be if stalemate were a loss.

Cavalry occupying a Hill or Haven square may also be captured by a Standard using the normal Chess method of capture by replacement.

Why?

For the Machines, you could have them move without capturing as a Rook and capture as an orthogonal Grasshopper. This is the average of a Cannon, Flying Chariot, Angle Mover, and Grasshopper, which is a piece that starts betwen the Pawns and other pieces, just as the Cannon, Flying Chariot, and Angle Mover do, in Grasshopper Chess, a commonly known variant, and is a hopper like a Cannon.

This is an interesting game. Though different, it reminds me of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Jetan.

Hmm...If it were not for the 'Grand' Rooks, this game would favor White. This is why I do not like mirror symmetry.

This is a nice twist on Amazons. The values of the pieces are hard to figure out.

This game is similar to Senterej, Ethiopian Chess, in that you should not bare your opponent's King. In Senterej, however, there are no actual rules concerning bare King; it is merely etiquette.

This game is great. I have 2 complaints, however. 1 is that there is a bias for the medium tan for the Elephant's boundness. Perhaps you could change the setup and have 3 Elephants per side. 2 is that the board is too cramped, just as in your other game, Step and Circle Trig Chess.

This game suffers from 3 weak Pawns. There is also an early pin with the Rook and early checkmate with a Pawn and Rook. This isn't a terrible game, and I understand you were taking a break, but I still think it could be better.