"Has the special berserker “charge” ability which allows the Earl to move three squares in the direction it last moved as long as it captures during the charge."
This is unclear to me. Does such a charge count as a separate move or would it be part of the earlier mentioned move?
The sender has some resemblance to the Chu Shogi Lion.
"Knights cannot Leap walls
...
Knights move in an “L” shape and can navigate around walls in this manner."
Also confusing. If we would consider a wall as a set of normal squares occupied by indestroyable objects, and apply the normal FIDE rules to the knight, then the knight would be able to leap a wall, as much as white could start a normal FIDE game with 1. Nc3. (The Xiangqi knight however can be blocked by a piece orthogonally adjacent to it.)
Perhaps you could describe the rules more in a way that would help us interpret them the way you want us to.
Thanks both for the comments and questions. I'll post some diagrams to help clarify points.
In this game the Knight moves the same as in Classical Chess and may leap pieces, however the Seige introduces a new unpassable square type - the wall. Whilst I think idea of a piece that can leap walls could be interesting in a game like this to get behind enemy ranks, for the purposes of this game the Knight cannot leap over the walls (as these represent huge walls) Here is a diagram showing an eligible and ineligible knight move. Let me know if further diagrams would clarify further.
Movements of the Earl - as with any other piece the Earl may only move once per turn (if player chooses to move that piece) The Earl has two legal move types, a standard King-type move of one square in any direction OR, assuming the Earl has moved on a previous turn (however many turns ago) AND it is possible to capture a piece a charge of 3 squares in the same direction as that previous turn is possible. The Earl will capture any pieces in its way.
In diagram below green arrow indicates earls previous move. Green lines indicate standard moves, dark green line indicates a Charge and the 2 pieces it would capture. If either of these black pieces were removed the earl could still charge and would end on same destination square. If both were removed it could not charge. If the Earl's previous move had not been in this direction the charge would not be possible. As Vickalan says, the Earl "gathers momentum"
Note the Earl cannot charge through friendly pieces.
I will make my first moves in the other thread, but feel free to ask as many more questions as you want before you begin.
A disadvantage of the charge rule would be that you have to remember the last normal move of that particular earl (assuming you would play OTB and not write down the moves). An option would be to add something to the shape that could be used to indicate the possible charge direction in the current position.
Having said this, the castling and en e.p. rules of FIDE chess have the same disadvantage.
Maybe if playing OTB, the physical Earl would have to be set on the board facing the direction he last moved. (a new twist in chess, where the orientation of a piece holds some information). If all the pieces had rules like that, it could be a challenge to reconstruct a board that was accidently jostled.
There exists a variant called Centennial Chess, which features 'Rotating Spearman', which also have this orientation issue. At the end of every turn you have to position them facing the direction in which they move next. (They can only move in one of the three forward directions.) In the interactive diagram I implemented that as 3 different piece types, that could promote (anywhere) at the end of their turn to one of the other to.
Is the sender capable of double capture, or must it stop after it captures?
I think that's a good idea. Piece orientation being important does raise a lot of interesting ideas.
The Sender can capture multiple surrounding pieces in the turn it is captured (taking them down with it) but is unable to capture multiple pieces on it's turn. I had not actually thought about this, so it's a great question but I think it would be overpowered (for its purposes here) if it can double capture in this way.
Clarification. The Sender can move 2 squares in any direction, and change direction during it's two moves. If it captures the Sender's turn ends even if it has a remaining move.
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Introductory thread for this variant. Comments, opinions, suggestions welcome. I would be willing to create other 'variants' based on scenarios from literature or film.
Inspiration
This is the first Chess variant I have designed; it is based on the novel “Legend” by David Gemmell.
The only route by which an army can pass through the mountains. Protected by mighty walls, Dros Delnoch is the stronghold of the Drenai Empire and the last battleground before the advancing Nadir hordes. The Nadir are led by their Warlord Ulric (K) and his warlock shaman Nosta Khan (Q) who possesses the ability to strike down enemies at long distance. All else has fell before Ulric’s Nadir and any hope the Drenai have rests on the shoulders of two men - The berserker Earl Rek (E) who brings with him “the thirty” (B) an order of warrior priests. The other man is the greatest hero of the Drenai people - Druss the Legend. His death was foretold defending Delnoch and while given the choice to avoid it and fall into senility Druss (S) (and his once possessed axe Snaga) marched to the great fortress to defend his people one last time. If the fortress can hold the Nadir horde for three months, the Drenai general Magnus Woundweaver might be able to gather and train a Drenai army. However, given the odds, no-one truly believes that Delnoch can be held…
Rules:
Win Conditions:
White, representing the Drenai, will win if the Black King is captured or if Black has no remaining pawns/can be demonstrated to have no way of advancing a Pawn to the 1st rank.
Black, representing the Nadir, will win if a pawn is advanced to the first rank.
The Board
The board represents the Nadir attack from North on the Dros. The advanced White Knights represent Drenai outriders who have scouted the Nadir force.
The Pieces:
Black and White each have the following pieces.
Pieces
White
Black
Pawns
26
42
Knights (N)
5
8
Bishops (B) “The Thirty”
5
0
Rooks (R)
2
2
Queens (Q) Nosta Khan
0
1
King (K) Ulric
0
1
Earl (E) Earl of Bronze, Rek
1
0
The Sender (S) Druss
1
0
All pieces move as in classical chess, however Pawns may not move twice on first turn.
The "extra" pieces move as follows:
Earl (E)- Moves and captures as King, without check considerations. Has the special berserker “charge” ability which allows the Earl to move three squares in the direction it last moved as long as it captures during the charge. During a charge the Earl may capture on the first, second, or third square it moves to or any combination of the above (multiple captures) but will end the turn on the third square. Note, as a previous move is a pre-requisite “charge” cannot be used before the Earl has moved once.
The Sender (S) – Moves and captures 2 squares in any direction. The Sender can change the direction of movement and even return to its original square. When captured, the Sender will capture any opponent pieces in the 9 surrounding squares, but will not capture the piece that captured it.
Players may move 3 separate pieces on their turn before it is their opponents move. These moves take place sequentially not simultaneously. For play here, players should declare all three moves at the same time indicating the chosen move order.
There is no castling.
Black King must be captured and may move to squares where it may be captured.
Knights cannot Leap walls
Pieces may not move through walls.
Knights move in an “L” shape and can navigate around walls in this manner.
Pawns may not promote.
Fifty-move rule applies.
All other rules are the same as in classical chess.
Move Notation:
Numeric coordinates are used to identify piece locations as (file#, rank#). Increasing files are to the right, and increasing ranks are toward the back. Ranks are numbered, files are lettered. Notation is the same as classical Chess.