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Heroes Hexagonal Chess. Hexagonal variant with special Hero piece which enhances other pieces. (Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
smakarov wrote on Wed, Jan 22, 2003 01:07 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★ What I like about this is the originality; the fresh pawn idea is quite interesting.
gnohmon wrote on Wed, Jan 22, 2003 05:00 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★Part of my thinking about Glinski hex is that the direction Glinski calls a 'diagonal' is wrong, and this is the fundamental problem with that game. You do not use the Glinski Diagonal, so of course I think it's 'excellent'! Heroes are a fine idea as well. If there are no 'diagonal' moves, the pieces lack variety; but the heroes solve this problem brilliantly. I had been thinking of the same problem, and was considering the use of crooked/zigzag pieces. Heroes look to be more fun than that. I think your King moves the way a hex King *should* move, likewise your Pawns. Excellent idea. Congratulations.
I have been playing this game with the author by email. I find it highly playable--the moves are much easier to visualize than in Glinski's. The whole concept of the Hero piece is fascinating. By far the best hex game I've played.
Tony Paletta wrote on Wed, Jan 22, 2003 05:07 PM UTC:One approach to adding standard chess Bishops to a hex-tiled board is to shade the board in a 'candy-striped' pattern - for example, with rows of edge-linked spaces (or 'edgelines') in the 10-4 o'clock direction shaded light-dark-light-etc. A standard chess bishop is equivalent to a piece sliding along the one-color edgeline or riding the one-color Glinski diagonal and two bishops cover the board (the matching version of the standard rook moves along the two-color edgelines).
Tony Quintanilla wrote on Thu, Jan 23, 2003 03:49 AM UTC:Thanks for the kind comments. Regarding the diagonal, I have to agree with gnohmon that Glinski's diagonal did not appeal to me. I did not use it except in a way with the Knight's special Hero move--but that is a jump anyway. With regard to the Hero, that is an idea that I've been mulling about for some time, that pieces are either mobilized or given special powers by a leader piece--in this case the Hero. There are other games that use related ideas, such as Fergus Duniho's Interdependent Chess and Joao Neto's Delegating Chess. I was also trying for a fun game. In that regard, I like the Elephant's charge. Its rather odd, perhaps, but reminiscent of rampant battle elephants. Thanks to Peter Aronson for some very good suggestions to improve playability.
from the zrf it appears that in the mobilization phase, a player can move each piece once at most, but this is not clear from the rules.
Each piece moves once each: 'On the first turn, White may move up to three of the Fresh-Pawns, Knights, Chariots or Heroes, once each. Then Black moves up to five of these pieces. On the second turn, White moves up to five and Black moves up to three. On the third turn, White and Black move up to six.' Actually, this idea was borrowed from similar mobilization rules used in Shatranj. It speeds up the first phase of a game with a lot of short range pieces on a large board. It is even more needed in Heroes because the hexagon-shaped hexagonal board makes for a crowded initial array.
I have already given this game a well-earned 'Excellent'. I think Tony is leading the way to some new, exiting Hex Chess games. The key is dropping the attempt to translate square geometry into hex geometry--Heroes is designed to play well in hex from the beginning. The email game I have going with Tony is in the endgame--the game is holding up very well in terms of play value. I believe this game is a serious contender to win the 84 Spaces Contest. I would be astonished if it didn't at least finish high in the rankings. I can't help but wonder if dropping the attempt to translate 2D geometry into 3D would lead to some fine 3D games.
I can't download the zip file for Zillions. Page not found ! Is there a bug ?
I just checked the download for both the ZRF and the ZSG zip files and they work.
Sorry Tony, I still get a 'page not found' for http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/contest84/heroes.zip which is link given on the Heroes page. Something is wrong because I downloaded all other zip from the 84sq contest without any problem. The, I doubt it's my browser, others migt be like me. Anyway, could you send the zip to me directly ? jean-louis.cazaux@laposte.net Thanks by advance.
No need to send, I got it. As a matter of fact the zrf link at the end of the page works. The one which doesn't is the one in the middle of the page written 'Download Heroeshexagonal.zip' Thanks
Sorry about the confusion. The redundant broken link has been removed.
Beautiful game. The concept of HEROES is nice, and adds a new dimension to the game. Dynamic is a bit slow, but this fact correspond to the 'on purpose' characteristics of the game, with reminiscences of ancient variants. It is one of the most clear Hex Chess games I have played. Enjoyable.
Anonymous wrote on Tue, Aug 12, 2003 09:49 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★It may be saying something, but this Excellent game plays more like chess than any other hex variant! Just proves that if you just transcribe Chess moves on a different shaped board you don't get anything like chess!
Nice! Heroes Hexagonal Chess is most interesting and fantastic in all Hexagonal chess I have ever come across. Mobilization(Ta'biyat) and Hero are good conceptions.
Maybe limite the move of king in the palace, the chess will be more chopping.
Another question is about the zrf of Heroes Hexagonal Chess. As my Guard moves into the marked zone of opposite and is in face of enemy King at the same time, Guard will only promote Heroic Pawn but not Hero. I can't choose to become Hero. Is it a bug or an ambiguous rule?
From the rules: 'If a Guard moves adjacent to an opposing King, it becomes a Heroic Pawn.' Is that what is happening?
Yu Ren Dong asked (a long time ago!): "Another question is about the zrf of Heroes Hexagonal Chess. As my Guard moves into the marked zone of opposite and is in face of enemy King at the same time, Guard will only promote Heroic Pawn but not Hero. I can't choose to become Hero. Is it a bug or an ambiguous rule?" I think that I simply did not consider this possibility. The rules should clarify that the Guard promotes to a Hero in this situation, not a Heroic Pawn. Hopefully I will have time to make this change in the ZRF sometime soon!
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