Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

I love the idea of using recognizable pieces.

But.... Isn't  there always a but .... I'd use the Omega board leaving
the Wizard in extra corner and limit the expansion to a single archbishop
and marshall.

The other thing I wonder about variants is why pawn pool is rarely changed.
A couple of Sargeants or something would help.

There is a minor error about the WL (Wazir+Camel) compound: This piece cannot checkmate, because it does not control two orthogonally adjacent squares. Therefore it is not a major piece under the definition used by Fergus Duniho.

On the other hand, a Wazir and a Camel and a King (three pieces!) can mate a lone King.

'21. Two Ferz's, even on different colors, cannot checkmate a lone King.'

'23. Two Camels, even on different colors, cannot checkmate a lone King.'

quotes from: Endgame statistics with fantasy pieces.

Regarding Knappen's [2010-02-04] Comment, I have not investigated mating with a pair of Wizards. I suppose that a pair of Spotted Gryphons will also be unable to force checkmate (in general).

This game should be judged by its design criteria: Given a set of pieces (in hardware), create a solid and playable chess variant for them. It think it fits this purpose well, allthough I think keeping the original movements of the Omega chess pieces makes this a rather slow game, because the pieces are short-range on a 12x12 board.

On the Omega wizard: A pair of wizards and a king cannot mate a lone king (on any conventional rightangular board). The reason is that they must switch between odd and even ranks and files all the time. On the big board the wizard is clearly weaker than the bishop; on 8x8 it may be equal or slightly stronger because of its higher mobility and forking power.

George Duke wrote:

One senses that the designer is sensitive so I for one rarely rate a Duniho. Gross Chess is new combination of pre-existing elements with no particular novelty. That is this designer's style and it usually works for solid performance. Duniho's total body of work does not rise to Betza's or Gifford's or Gilman's but does reach the very next ledge, maybe even nicking into the top 10 among prolificists. Eurasian is new combination too, it works very well, and so is nominee NextChess. Congratulations Fergus on reasonable regarded Eurasian, one of the 21 thus far at NextChesses. Gross here however falls only within unnecessary proliferation that I can tell serving to complexify the broth. It's about as worthwhile as the author's Grotesque, being just another Carrera-Capablanca. One can make these things, but why share them publicly?

I didn't create this game to show off my creativity or to win your praise, George. I made it because this combination of pieces interests me, and I want to play a game that includes all of them. Also, I wanted a solid entry-level 12x12 variant. Most 12x12 variants are too forbidding, because they introduce several new pieces while also increasing the board size beyond what I usually play on. This game is very easy to learn, because it doesn't introduce any pieces that would be new to someone familiar with the most popular Chess variants. So, it may fill the entry-level 12x12 niche better than any preceding 12x12 Chess variant. When creating a game, my main goals are to make it playable and enjoyable. This game is both. I have played it against Zillions a few times and found it to work well. My main goal in sharing it publicly is to find opponents for playing it. I think that's a much better reason than showing off how creative I can be.

I think a Wizard is worth about the same as a Bishop - if you prefer taking 50 points off the Wizard and the Champion, that is fine with me. Just started my first game of TENCUBED CHESS last month, so the values are still untested theory.

Champions and Wizards were added to the GRAND CHESS setup in TenCubed Chess. WARNING: I recently added some comments to the Rules section of my 12x12 variant Rose Chess XII concerning forced mates by King and one piece against a lone King. The Champion can force mate on a 10x10 board, but often fails on a 12x12 board.

P=100, N=300, B=375, Wizard=400, Champion=450, R=600, A=850, M=950, Q=1100 are my best guesses for piece values in endgames on a 12x12 board. See the bottom of my ROSE CHESS XII page for some brief notes on theory. Interesting fact: my OMEGA CHESS certificate of ownership has notes on piece values (on a board with 104 squares) by Daniel Macdonald: Bishop=400 and Champion=400 are the only values that differ from mine. I usually value a Cannon equal to 70 percent of a Rook at the start of the game, lowering this estimate after each exchange to reach 50 percent by the early endgame. I assume that the Vao has the same numerical relationship to the Bishop.