Jeremy Good wrote on Sat, Aug 18, 2007 08:40 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I like David Cary's suggestion about pulling back a couple of pawns as an ingenious way of allowing the knights to develop immediately.
One might add the following consistent changes to go along with it if one were to try to implement that variant of Chess on a Longer Board with a Few Pieces Added:
1. Specify that those two pawns that start on the second rank can make an initial two or three step move (with the usual e.p. rules applied to the extended initial move).
2. Switch Withdrawers with Changelings and have them start out as Halfling rooks rather than Halfling Bishops. This to prevent any piece from audaciously striking out before pawns.
[Scratch what I said here initially as it doesn't address the issue at hand which is how to construct a variant with immediate development of knights. David Howe's kind reader's original idea of allowing knights an initial camel move is quite excellent too.]
One might add the following consistent changes to go along with it if one were to try to implement that variant of Chess on a Longer Board with a Few Pieces Added:
1. Specify that those two pawns that start on the second rank can make an initial two or three step move (with the usual e.p. rules applied to the extended initial move).
2. Switch Withdrawers with Changelings and have them start out as Halfling rooks rather than Halfling Bishops. This to prevent any piece from audaciously striking out before pawns.
[Scratch what I said here initially as it doesn't address the issue at hand which is how to construct a variant with immediate development of knights. David Howe's kind reader's original idea of allowing knights an initial camel move is quite excellent too.]
[This game is very nice btw, quite excellent.]