Game Reviews by JohnLawson

Wow!!  

Who said theme doesn't count in abstract games?  I want to play this, but I
think I'm going to be disapointed when the pieces remain silent.  I want to
see a ZRF, but not too soon.  Whoever does it needs to do a good job on the
graphics, not to mention audio, to do the game justice.

'What eldritch noise did I hear?'  Perhaps the screech of the El.

Crowd Chess 1: http://www.chessvariants.com/boardrules.dir/crowded1.html

Crowd Chess 2: http://www.chessvariants.com/boardrules.dir/crowded2.html

Multiple Occupancy Miscellany:
http://www.chessvariants.com/boardrules.dir/multocc.html

My nextdoor neighbor in Brooklyn was also a fire-fighter, and was not a big
man, but strong.  We broke up our common driveway with sledgehammers, and I
was impressed.

I've been looking at the point scheme.

The total number of points a player can have for critters next to the
campfire is 24 plus 1 for each Shrew that can be promoted to Chipmunk, or
32.

If you assume that promoting Shrews is difficult: 

Then the likelihood of exceeding your opponent's point count by 30 is close
to zero.

And the likelihood of losing the game even though the opponent's Bear is
eliminated for 20 points is close to zero.

Furthermore, to achieve the maximum score (32) for Campfire propinquity,
there would have to be 16 critters adjacent to the Campfire.  Since the
train passes through each Campfire square 2 of every 20 turns,
orchestrating the 'campout' without some critter getting sqooshed would be
near impossible.

Another interesting effect is that if each side loses its Hunter
(foolishly, since the only way I can see for that to happen is for them
both to be squished by the Train), the game can never end, except draw by
agreement.  Perhaps in this case we need something like a 50-move rule, but
instead of a draw, the winner is declared on points.

I can see the possibility of an urban variant of PASGL 312 called NYCTA
IRT, where commuters jostle to be near the door to get on or off a subway
train without being pushed onto the tracks or having their pockets
picked.

BTW, I noticed no one has actually rated this.  I give it excellent for
concept.  Play is still moot.

My first question so far involves Ash trees.

Given:
- All the squares comprising a tree lead through a series of adjacent
squares back to the root.
- Ash trees grow by Knight moves.

Then I assume:
- Ash squares that are a Knight's move apart are considered adjacent.

If:
- An Ash tree grows from b1 to c3 to d5, stops, and then grows to b4.

And:
- The Ash square d5 is killed.

Then:
- Ash square b4 dies also, even though it is diagonally adjacent to c3. 
Is this correct?


My second question involves underbrush.

When a deciduous tree is killed or injured, the underbrush squares left
behind are neutral.  Is it true that neutral underbrush has no way to
grow?


My third question involves the Huckleberry.

Once per game, the Huckleberry can expand by leaping onto any friendly
grassland square.  Is this Huckleberry distinct from the original
Huckleberry, resulting in two equal royal pieces?

Isn't this kind of like Peter's Chess with Cyclical Armies?
http://www.chessvariants.com/other.dir/cyclical-armies.html
And I like the idea of polypiece Ultima or Rococo.  How about Polypiece
Optima?  Or Nemoroth?

I'm not sure a King should be promoted.  If it gets out seven ranks, I'd
assume one of two things is going on:

It's getting chased all over the board by the opponent.  The opponent
probably deserves to win, so why make it harder?

It's advancing despite the best the opponent can do.  Why are you fooling
around with your King?  Put that effort into mating or gaining a winning
material advantage.

I have to try this game!  A couple of observations, based on logic alone:

Castling your Kings toward the center might allow the defense, in some
situations, to use alternation ('inside lines') to good effect, thus
freeing more forces for a counterattack.  All the better if this strategy
were unanticipated.

Regarding different armies, each player could use the same pair of armies,
but there is the choice of like opposite like, or like opposite unlike. 
That could become interesting if the two armies were of very different
strengths on a 16x8 board, and like was not opposite like.

I have a few questions:

1 - 'When a Soldier captures a friend piece, it can promote by
COMPENSATION to a SPECIAL PIECE.'  Does that include another soldier? 
That is, can my soldiers capture each other to create three more special
pieces?

2 - When a Special Piece is adjacent to a Reducer, can it still make a
stationary move to transmute into a different Special Piece?

3 - A 'rules lawyer' would notice that there is no prohibition against
capturing your own King with a Soldier.  You'd get another Special Piece,
and you can't lose by checkmate!  Is this what you meant?