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Mastodon Chess (8x10). Standard pieces plus two Mastodons per side. A strategical big-board variant.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
mirari wrote on Fri, Dec 11, 2009 01:55 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
We played this the other day, and found it quite an enjoyable variant.  The Mastodont reminded me a lot of the Dragon from Parker's Dragon Chess - a piece that is slow to deploy, yet quite powerful in offence or defence within it's limited range.  The jumping ability of the Mastodont meant initial development was easier than for the Dragon, but being limited to two steps vis-a-vis three for the Dragon meant even more time was required to change its area of operations.  A Mastodont supported by a Queen proved a very potential attacking combination.

I do question the placement of the Knights on the inside of the Bishops - it felt as if this made development of the centre rather awkward.  It also means that the Bishops have a direct line of attack on the opposing Rooks from their starting positions - I think I would have preferred seeing the Bishops one step closer to the centre.