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Beastmaster Chess. Large chess variant with a fantasy theme, emphasizing leaping pieces. (8x11, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Yet within the 'ABC's of 'Large CVs': Some games have to be judged by their unifying concept more than playability. It is a subtle distinction that needs to be made with the proliferation of forms because of computers. One example is 'Rolling Kings', a fine 'idea game'. Beastmaster Chess is centered around the plan of having all leaping pieces. That has only been tried a few times before: an instance is Cavalier Chess, though the latter is not a Large CV and has one non-leaper. Beastmaster extends the leaps up to five steps away in the 'Wyvern'. By 'leapers' we tend to mean 'oblique leapers'. Of dubious playability, Beastmaster is still a great notion. It does not go so far as to include any of Charles Gilman's Bemes(11,3), Soll(7,4), Albatross(9,2), Deacon(8,7), Stork(7,2) etc. of 'From Ungulates Outward'.