H. G. Muller wrote on Mon, Jan 5, 2015 09:17 PM UTC:
How about this for a new army?
The Bent Bozos
a1, h1: Chiral Griffons
b1, g1: Chiral Aancas
c1, f1: Sastiks
d1: Griffon
e1: King
All pieces that appear in pairs are chiral, i.e. not identical to their mirror image, and thus come in two varieties. The piece used on the King side will be the mirror image of that used on the 'Queen' side. They will be positioned such that their moves in the initial position deflect away from the King. I.e. pieces starting on the left wing will have trajectories that bend to the left, and those that start on the right wing will bend to the right. This makes it possible for the Chiral Aanca to move out from behind the Pawn wall after the d- and e-Pawns have been pushed, and the Sastik has been developed.
G . . . . K a A a G = Chiral Griffon starting on a8
. g . . . a . a . A = Chiral Aanca starting on g8
. g . . a . . . a g = path of a8
. g . a . . . . . a = path of g8
. g a . . . . . . x = on both a and g paths
. x . . . . s s .
a g . . s . . . . S = Sastik starting on f1
. g . . s . S . s s = squares attacked by f1
The Sastik is a compound of a Dababba and a Chiral Knight. It has the Knight moves that ly in the same direction off the orthogonals as the wing they start on.
The Griffon is of the variety that also has the Ferz moves.
Mating potential
The Chiral Griffons, and thus the full Griffon, can each force checkmate on a bare King.
The Chiral Aanca is a color alternator, and thus cannot.
The Sastik covers two orthogonally adjacent squares,
and thus in principle can inflict corner mates.
But it turns out such mates can be forced only when they are at most 4 moves away, from positions where the bare King is already confined to two corner squares by its rival.
A single Sastik is not able to drive the King there.
For the pieces that have no mating potential holds that they can always force mate in pairs.
There are no exceptions like KNNK in orthodox Chess.
The mates are usually not of the common corner or edge type, (i.e. on a1 or b1, with the attacking King on b3, or a symmetry-equivalent constellation), though.
Strength
The Bent Bozos are about equally strong as FIDE. At least in a direct confrontation, where they beat it with a score of 51.5% over 800 games (alternating color). This would make them one of the weakest armies, as the Clobberers, Nutters and Rookies typically beat FIDE by ~60% or more. As for individual piece values, a Griffon tested as 830 cP, Chiral Griffons as 465 cP, Chiral Aancas as 425 cP, while the Sastiks are expected to be of Knight value (i.e. 325 cP). All this on the Kaufman scale, where Queen = 950 cP.
How about this for a new army?
The Bent Bozos
All pieces that appear in pairs are chiral, i.e. not identical to their mirror image, and thus come in two varieties. The piece used on the King side will be the mirror image of that used on the 'Queen' side. They will be positioned such that their moves in the initial position deflect away from the King. I.e. pieces starting on the left wing will have trajectories that bend to the left, and those that start on the right wing will bend to the right. This makes it possible for the Chiral Aanca to move out from behind the Pawn wall after the d- and e-Pawns have been pushed, and the Sastik has been developed.
The Sastik is a compound of a Dababba and a Chiral Knight. It has the Knight moves that ly in the same direction off the orthogonals as the wing they start on.
The Griffon is of the variety that also has the Ferz moves.
Mating potential
The Chiral Griffons, and thus the full Griffon, can each force checkmate on a bare King. The Chiral Aanca is a color alternator, and thus cannot. The Sastik covers two orthogonally adjacent squares, and thus in principle can inflict corner mates. But it turns out such mates can be forced only when they are at most 4 moves away, from positions where the bare King is already confined to two corner squares by its rival. A single Sastik is not able to drive the King there.
For the pieces that have no mating potential holds that they can always force mate in pairs. There are no exceptions like KNNK in orthodox Chess. The mates are usually not of the common corner or edge type, (i.e. on a1 or b1, with the attacking King on b3, or a symmetry-equivalent constellation), though.
Strength
The Bent Bozos are about equally strong as FIDE. At least in a direct confrontation, where they beat it with a score of 51.5% over 800 games (alternating color). This would make them one of the weakest armies, as the Clobberers, Nutters and Rookies typically beat FIDE by ~60% or more. As for individual piece values, a Griffon tested as 830 cP, Chiral Griffons as 465 cP, Chiral Aancas as 425 cP, while the Sastiks are expected to be of Knight value (i.e. 325 cP). All this on the Kaufman scale, where Queen = 950 cP.