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Game Reviews by ultimatecoolster
Excellent page for this game. I like how it goes in depth about the design influences and has notes on play. The hand-painted pieces are a nice touch as well, where the chart is an easy reference during play.
Could the Trampoline be perceived as a piece that allows bifurcation? What other possibilities of pieces are there that allow pieces to bifurcate by them? Excellent piece idea.
In the rules, there is a 'Mirror Rhino' that should be a 'King'. Also, does the Lion let Stones capture without moving, or do they have to move to capture? The reason I ask is because there is a Lion in Chu Shogi that can capture without moving.
What is the advantage of this setup?
Oh, you are correct. It is quite confusing having two games played on a 10x10 board with pieces called Elephants.
I agree that it is strange that an unscrupulous variant be recognized. What game exactly is this? We should recognize also 'Chootooroonkoo', which is the truly original form of Chess from ancient Goobleland, which is played on a board with squares and with pieces that move, other details unknown.
Nevermind; I understand now. I had a terrible headache last night, and the octagonal thing (why not diagonal?) threw me off. I don't understand the purpose of summoning, it just moving a piece around its Magus. Question: Does Aether negate friendlies and enemies or only enemies?
This might be a good game, but it's too complex to understand. Reminds me of Rithmomachia...
Don't take the rating personally, but it is well known that a game with Buffaloes is destined to be bad. Your XQ variant also has Castling, which is not in Xiang Qi or Shogi, not because it is impossible, but because the players just didn't decide to put it in.
Too large size, Rook connection, tired compounds and strange promotion rules make this a bad game.
Nicely geometric, as Omega, but not as minimalist and a bit harder to visualize. I don't see the difference between an Alpha and Lambda and wonder if there are opposition rules.
I am sad to say that I agree, Fergus. A better game would be Sittuyingi.
An unusual mix of pieces and an unusual goal; never heard of a win by kidnapping! Hopefully George will enlighten me on some previous instance.
I've been wanting to do a collaboration. Are you up for it, Adrian?
I was refering to how many Chu Shogi pieces are in here. This game is excellent once you learn to play, but the learning curve is too steep for most.
I nominate this game for closest resemblance to the logo of The Chess Variant Pages!
This game is inferior to Scirocco in that it incorporates a large number of pieces already present in the game it was inspired by. It also does not follow the principle from Scirocco that all pieces except Pawns should have symmetrical moves.
This page is extremely informative. I did not know about the history of the game and the appearance of the pieces. I think that the flexible setup reduces White's advantage, especially when White sets up all of his pieces before Black. Perhaps by too much...
This game is very uncoordinated and has very nonstandard pieces. A better attempt to use all letters of the alphabet would be Charles Gilman's Missing Ox Chess.
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I meant that the Bishops are colourbound as a pair. It doesn't matter if play can be assymmetrical. Assymmetry evens out. I don't care if some new pieces already in Turkish Great Chess, and I didn't say that the Morph was powerful. You also have an advantage because you're an excellent player.
The Bishops are colourbound, the board is too big, discriminating the weak pieces, White has an advantage with symmetrical Sword play, and the new pieces are ridiculously powerful, especially the Medusa.
Interesting! I think the reason that the 9x9 variants are so good is that their creators seek something more beautifully geometrical, and not some progression of Chess or any hodge-podge or half-bake of a game.
I now view this game as Good. I ask why the Ninja Guard is not the diagonal counterpart to the Flying Bomber, and comment that most of your games incorporate these now stale pieces.
I actually thought of the High Priestess myself, calling it a Big Ferz. I forgot the idea, however, when I realized that a not-too-powerful Big Wazir would not be possible.
The first variant looks good. My problem with having just a Marshall and not a Cardinal is the assymmetry between the prime pieces. This variant has the Rook as a single piece, so already has an assymmetry. The second variant is poor, however, as the Queens can attack each other as soon as he Pawns are moved, and are undefended, so White has more of an advantage.
This game seems horribly unnatural in some of its rules, with needless amounts of testimonial in the comments.
A horizontally cylindrical or toroidal version of this would be interesting.
There are two undefended Pawns. The Couriers are also very weak because they are restricted to 1/4 of the board. I would rate this game as Excellent if you allowed a one-time Ferz move for them.
This looks like an interesting game. I suggest the following: Remove the Dervish. It's very weak and its promotion isn't useful in the endgame, which you seem to have a focus on with promotions. Switch the positions of the Stork and Goat. This makes the game more symmetric. Make both partial moves of the Stork and Goat capturing. This balances them with the Spider and Octopus. Make the Alfil promote to the Genie instead of the Dabbaba. This balances the game by having the weakest piece promote to the strongest piece. The Dabbaba should promote to a piece that moves without capturing as a Knight but relays to friendly pieces a Queen's move away the ability to move as a Queen. This is a modified Harpy's move that is much more useful in the endgame, and balances the game by making a weak piece have a strong promotion. Remove the Guard. It makes the only pieces of two or more per side the Scirocco and Pawns, the Sciroccos needing two by analogy with the Couriers.
White has the advantage of a more quickly promoting centre Pawn but it is balanced somewhat by the reverse symmetry. The imbalance between the colours, both in terms of the board and the armies, makes the game ugly, as does the Bishop Adjustment Rule. This is one of the reasons I created Modern Makruk. The most obvious solution would be to include a Marshall, but that would just be another Carrera variant, which may be one of the reasons for the creation of this. I, however, consider the Marshall the lesser of the two evils. Shogi does not suffer from either of these flaws because symmetrical centre Pawn play is disadvantageous for the first player and the Bishops are naturally unbound both by promotion and drops.
Please explain the movement of the pieces better. Of what I understand, this seems like more of a Go or Reversi type game than a Chess type game.
You accidentally made one of the Kings a Rook in the Shogi variant. The Shogi variant is terrible, also, because Shogi pieces are meant to go forward, toward the enemy, or they're useless.
Actually, the Pawns are, excluding the General, the strongest pieces in the game. The Prince is royal, the Bishop cannot access the Castle, and the Horses, Camels, and Elephants are more awkward than them. One suggestion to this game would be to lessen the General's power, somehow, to fit with the rest of the pieces, and to have the Bows on the right of the Swords, making more of them able to access the Castle.
Despite the improvement of the game via the Pawns and Elephants (and, of course, the modern rules), there are still two ridiculously weak pieces in the game: namely, the Queen and Schleich. I would recommend combining them into another Man, and using the Bishop Adjustment Rule.
How interesting! I wonder why you implemented it in Zillions, however, as it is has a very high branching factor.
omg this is so cool its likke benidict ultima!!!!
Note that there is no need for much backward movement as the pieces can be captured and repositioned. There is always at least one piece that can move backward. This game is different than simply a miniature version of Shogi, because the promotion is not as monotonous.
This is like Chess without those drawish endgames! The koma are a wee iffy, though. Why did you choose them?
Interestingly, checkmate can be done with any piece, with imperfect play, and many pieces, with perfect play. I would prefer if Citadel occupation were a win, however.
Can a player win by stalemating their opponent? Funny thing!; I actually created this variant before I read about it. I guess it's a good idea, then, right?
A related game would be Zzo38
A. Black's Decay Shogi.
Your 4-player 16x16 Chess is a good idea.
I helped, no? ;) One question: Why can a Panthan move obliquely orthogonally backward? Is this to preserve it's 'except this space' nature?
This is an interesting way of looking at Chess!
You can play with Pawns promoting to Princes instead of Queens, as they lie on the second rank, as the Shogi Bishop and Shogi Rook do. You can even play with a naive promotion of Bishops to Primates, Rooks to Chatelaines, and Pawns and Knights to Queens. Of course, the Draughts variant is not playable. In Draughts, you must move forward, so there is no opportunity to permanently block. Rithe with capture, the board clears up and the pieces that can move backward cannot cower behind a wall. What defense there is is solved by zugzwang. Your variant fails in that one can move a King into an opponent's corner and blockade him with dropped Men and another King, providing only enough space for tempo moves, with the Men blocking any mandatory capture.
Hmm. The problem to me does not seem to be the assymmetry, but, rather, the clockwise nature. The rear Pawns merely serve as a block for their own pieces, aiding in their attack.
I think it would be interesting if you lose if all of your pieces can make a legal move.
The Ferry variant is OK, actually, though a bit unnatural.
You might as well call this game Ultimate Xiang Qi. The Ferry variant is a tiny bit more aggressive, however, which makes it OK, balanced by the awkwardness of the Ferry.
I don't like this game that much. You have strengthened the royal and defensive pieces while decreasing the amount of offensive pieces. The Point is covered by the Rook, too, which is unlike Minishogi where it defends against the opponent's.
The pieces in this game don't coincide very well, and the King is too complex.
This is a creative game. I have a suggestion: Have the holes in the opening setup filled with a Marshall and Cardinal.
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.
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 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 is a nice twist on Amazons. The values of the pieces are hard to figure out.
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 an interesting game. Though different, it reminds me of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Jetan.
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 page needs a rewrite. I also keep seeing these: .--. |FF| |FD| .--.
Cavalry occupying a Hill or Haven square may also be captured by a Standard using the normal Chess method of capture by replacement.
Why?
Why?
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.
It looks a bit difficult to capture the Squirrel, with only the Crow and Pawn uncovered by its capture range.
I agree with Peter Aronson, regarding the power of a royal Knight. Does Joe Joyce have anything to say?
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.
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This isn't very Chess-like at all, and the Lions are an extreme kludge for holes in the board.
Doesn't the board need to be one rank longer?
This game is remarkably similar to my own Complete Permutation Hexagonal Chess.
While the Ice Queen is somewhat creative, the other pieces I think you overuse in your variants.
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.
'This game is played on an 84-hex board.' Copying and pasting, eh? ;)
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.
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.
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.
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?
This could be played Apocalypse-style, also, where the squares don't have an outline either.
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