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I just made a Mini-POM (Mini-Pillars of Medusa) on a 9x9 board (as compared to the 121 (11 x 11) board of the original game. Mini-POM retains the Medusa and the Morph pieces, but does not include the Great Chess Pieces. A link to the pre-set is below. Rules can be accessed by the rules-link at the pre-set. As a note to those not familiar with Pillars of Medusa, the Medusa piece freezes adjacent enemy pieces. The Morph can change into a Morph-version of what it captures. http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DMini-POM+%28Mini+Pillars+of+Medusa%29%26settings%3DMini-POM
I recently tried this game with an alternate set-up pattern. All the Swords are moved to the fourth rank. The other pieces are arranged left to right the same for both players. In other words, the Serpent is to each players' right of their King, etc. This offers an interesting opening game with only three rank between the Swords to maneuver. This also shortens their distance to the promotion rank. With the available space behind the line of Swords, the player is able to re-position power pieces with ease and increasing the depth of play with the possible variety of introduction to the field. An example of a powerful opening: advance Sword on 'f' file then slide left-hand Advisor to its previous position. This puts some serious flanking pressure on the opponent early in the game. Some might complain about the un-protected Swords of this set-up. But they can easily be defended with the advancement of the Queen or Serpent, or by their simple development during the opening. In fact, forcing an opponent to defend these flanks can be a tactic to tie up one or both of the major power pieces early in the game. I am not advocating that this particular set-up replace the current. Just that it offers another interesting form of play with this game.
Larry: Thanks for sharing the idea regarding placing all the Swords[pawns] on the fourth rank. Your reasoning, which I quote in part, is good: '...the player is able to re-position power pieces with ease and increasing the depth of play with the possible variety of introduction to the field.' In the original POM most can pieces can enter the field quickly by leaping over the second rank pawns, or moving diagonally when one moves forward. As in chess, the rooks are the slow guys. Pawns on the 4th ranks would be subject to a faster Medusa attack by the opponent. Anyway, your idea sounds like it is worth a try. Another 'try' lies between your idea and the original. It would be to place all swords (pawns) on the third rank, put the Medusa and Morph on E2 and G2 (to keep them central), and to put the Pillars at A2 and K2. Possible then remove one or two ranks from the board to put the armies closer. As a development note: Pillars of Medusa was my very first chess variant, and at the time it was just for a novel I was working on... in the novel a mind-reading queen plays POM against the hero. His pieces have, within them, the names of his friends (who are prisoners of the queen). When he loses a piece the queen reveals the name inside, and has that person executed. Not a fun way to have to play a game.
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