I was never happy with the Steward, so I replaced it by a novel piece that I called 'Scout'.
I want this to be worth about 2 Pawns, so that it can take on a Pawn protected by a Pawn (if it has backup).
But I am in doubt what move I should give it.
Pieces with 4 captures and 8 noncaptures (e.g. Mat Winther's Alpaca) have this value,
but are necessarily divergent.
The alternative is a piece with 5 or 6 normal moves.
But that would have to be asymmetric.
In the Diagram above I chose mNcA, to not make it too slow, not make it color bound,
give it two forward captures rather than one, and allow it to attack a Pawn without being attacked back by it.
(The most suitable asymmetric alternative would be fhNbD.)
Based on the experience of setting up the 14x14 variant, I would now do the 16x16 like this:
I was never happy with the Steward, so I replaced it by a novel piece that I called 'Scout'. I want this to be worth about 2 Pawns, so that it can take on a Pawn protected by a Pawn (if it has backup). But I am in doubt what move I should give it. Pieces with 4 captures and 8 noncaptures (e.g. Mat Winther's Alpaca) have this value, but are necessarily divergent. The alternative is a piece with 5 or 6 normal moves. But that would have to be asymmetric. In the Diagram above I chose mNcA, to not make it too slow, not make it color bound, give it two forward captures rather than one, and allow it to attack a Pawn without being attacked back by it. (The most suitable asymmetric alternative would be fhNbD.)