What board for Lewis chessmen?
This is an excellent question and one that I’ll be grappling with when my Lewis chessmen arrive. My current thinking is a plain board. Given the beauty and complexity of the pieces - too much grain or detail on the board may detract from the pieces or be too much for the eye when combined.
Interestingly, I often see Lewis pieces matched to ‘Tudor Rose’ style boards and this is not a combination I enjoy. Indeed, I purchased a set of Leipzig pieces second-hand earlier this year and they came with such a board; I then sold the board.
Scale will be an issue too - the pawns have a much smaller footprint than the other pieces and therefore, the royals may be cramped or the pawns will swim in space … tricky, but I am looking forward to managing the conundrum.
Below are pictures of my Leipzig reproduction. First on the Tudor board and then on another style of board.
As I now own what is called a medium sized (smaller than the original) set of Lewis chessmen that fits very nicely on a 2 inch square sized board the problem is solved. I use them on a Philos board in black stained maple and sycamore.
So, what kind of board to use when playing with Lewis chessmen? Since the pieces are very different from the Staunton and other traditional designs I don´t think that the usual rules concerning square size etc do apply. I also understand that most Lewis sets primarily are for display rather than actual play but what board to use for that is another topic.