And now I'm really liking that Heavenly Horse... ;)
It's definitely better, and it's unique 2-step leaps also pay homage to the Knight's uniqueness among standard Shogi pieces.
The only problem is, this now throws off the carefully constructed balance of piece moves in Chu Seireigi and Dai Seireigi, as all three are in the same family. I have a rule for myself that if a piece appears in multiple games within the same family, it's move must be consistent across all games within that family. The main problem is that the original promoted Copper General (Great Leopard) could only leap, and was very similar to the current Heavenly Horse (it had a sideways 2-step leap instead of a backward Knight leap). I do have a version where it slides sideways or steps one square directly backward or diagonally forward, but I am worried that this is too similar to the Free Tiger.
It's definitely better, and it's unique 2-step leaps also pay homage to the Knight's uniqueness among standard Shogi pieces.
The only problem is, this now throws off the carefully constructed balance of piece moves in Chu Seireigi and Dai Seireigi, as all three are in the same family. I have a rule for myself that if a piece appears in multiple games within the same family, it's move must be consistent across all games within that family. The main problem is that the original promoted Copper General (Great Leopard) could only leap, and was very similar to the current Heavenly Horse (it had a sideways 2-step leap instead of a backward Knight leap). I do have a version where it slides sideways or steps one square directly backward or diagonally forward, but I am worried that this is too similar to the Free Tiger.