A. M. DeWitt wrote on Fri, Nov 24, 2023 04:28 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
When I first saw this game, I didn't think much of it, since I was more focused on larger Shogi variants, especially Tenjiku Shogi. However, now I have a few games under my belt, and wow, this game completely blew me away. It is an absolute joy to play, despite its size and complexity (which melts away after a couple games).
However, it is not flawless. The Lion-trading rules are a bit complex, and making the Lion contagious (Like Maka Dai Dai Shogi's Deva, Dark Spirit, and their promoted forms) would make the rule much simpler while also achieving the same effect. The repetition rules are also quite complex, which is a trait shared with Xiangqi. The King Baring rule is completely unnecessary, as it does not add anything to the game that the combined effects of the other rules do not achieve.
However, despite these problems, Chu Shogi is still easily among the best games of its kind.
Edit: Apart from the Lion-trading rules (sans the Okazaki rule), all the other rules are modern "innovations."
Chu Seireigi combines elements of Chu Shogi with the ruleset of modern Shogi. It also has the benefit of not needing any special rules to preserve its quality, fixing all the problems with the modern "innovations" for Chu Shogi that I mentioned above. Players are disincentivized from trading off the Lions in most cases because they would just go into the player's hands, making them even more dangerous. The repetition rule is simply that of Shogi (draw, except perpetual check loses) which is much simpler. The drops also makes King-baring extremely rare, as no piece goes entirely out of play, and the weaker player can always capture enemy pieces to strengthen their army.
When I first saw this game, I didn't think much of it, since I was more focused on larger Shogi variants, especially Tenjiku Shogi. However, now I have a few games under my belt, and wow, this game completely blew me away. It is an absolute joy to play, despite its size and complexity (which melts away after a couple games).
However, it is not flawless. The Lion-trading rules are a bit complex, and making the Lion contagious (Like Maka Dai Dai Shogi's Deva, Dark Spirit, and their promoted forms) would make the rule much simpler while also achieving the same effect. The repetition rules are also quite complex, which is a trait shared with Xiangqi. The King Baring rule is completely unnecessary, as it does not add anything to the game that the combined effects of the other rules do not achieve.
However, despite these problems, Chu Shogi is still easily among the best games of its kind.
Edit: Apart from the Lion-trading rules (sans the Okazaki rule), all the other rules are modern "innovations."
Chu Seireigi combines elements of Chu Shogi with the ruleset of modern Shogi. It also has the benefit of not needing any special rules to preserve its quality, fixing all the problems with the modern "innovations" for Chu Shogi that I mentioned above. Players are disincentivized from trading off the Lions in most cases because they would just go into the player's hands, making them even more dangerous. The repetition rule is simply that of Shogi (draw, except perpetual check loses) which is much simpler. The drops also makes King-baring extremely rare, as no piece goes entirely out of play, and the weaker player can always capture enemy pieces to strengthen their army.