💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Thu, Jun 22, 2023 06:42 PM EDT:
I'm still finding the placement on the Air and Sea levels a bit awkward, with non-Pawn types in the front rows. I'm thinking of either:
dropping two main pieces from each (most likely Manta and Seahorse from the Sea, and Raven and Pegasus from the Air); or
adding four more Fish to put in front of the Crabs and Jellyfish, and four more Sparrows to place in front of the Geese and Pegasi; or
abandoning the 8x8 boards for 12x12, putting all of the non-Pawn pieces on the back row and filling the second row with Fish and Sparrows.
I'm most likely to do the #1. #2 makes for (IMO) an overly crowded board, and #3 is unattractive because I wanted to extend the use for three 8x8 boards as found with Strato Chess/Chess3/etc.
Another argument against #3 is that I'm already tinkering with something along those lines, that would also add two pairs of "split" levels (one 12x6 on each side) for Land (between Waves and Air) and Caves (between Sea and Waves), with even more beasts, military types, mages, magical creatures, and even undead, with 144 pieces per side. On the other hand, that's one I'm mainly building as a mental exercise rather than for actual play (though I'd definitely give it a whirl given the opportunity).
There's even option #4: ditch Aquachess altogether, and just build that huge project.
I'm still finding the placement on the Air and Sea levels a bit awkward, with non-Pawn types in the front rows. I'm thinking of either:
I'm most likely to do the #1. #2 makes for (IMO) an overly crowded board, and #3 is unattractive because I wanted to extend the use for three 8x8 boards as found with Strato Chess/Chess3/etc.
Another argument against #3 is that I'm already tinkering with something along those lines, that would also add two pairs of "split" levels (one 12x6 on each side) for Land (between Waves and Air) and Caves (between Sea and Waves), with even more beasts, military types, mages, magical creatures, and even undead, with 144 pieces per side. On the other hand, that's one I'm mainly building as a mental exercise rather than for actual play (though I'd definitely give it a whirl given the opportunity).
There's even option #4: ditch Aquachess altogether, and just build that huge project.