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Ghast knights. Missing description (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Jörg Knappen wrote on Thu, Aug 26, 2010 07:26 AM UTC:
In fact, I don't know immediately how to save this game. The problems are obvious: A blocked pawn threatened by a knight will bring the game to an early end, and white has the initiative which brings free moves for white while black is forced to answer all the threats by the white knight. The key is the forking power of the knight.

So there is much room for experimentation and playtesting. Ideas include:

* Make pawns insensitive to the knight

* Allow the capture of the knight if there are no forced moves left after
 the knight is removed

* Allow suicide of a stopped pawn

* Use multiple moves

* Tune down the knight to a Mao, a Moa, or a heavenly horse (vN)

Each idea and combinations of them need intensive playtesting, many of them probably must be discarded as the original sketch.

Is it allowed to move to a square threatened by a knight (of course you have to move away in one of the following moves, but maybe you can just oscillate between two threatened squares in order to avoid to be forced to move a blocked pawn?)

At last, a more precise description of the interaction between 'check' and forced moves is required. Does a piece give check and mate when it cannot move because other pieces have forced moves? What happens if your king is in check but other pieces have forced moves (you loose, you may move the king or remove the check in another way)?

Again, the rules need playtesting to see whether they result in an interesting game or not.