Rated Comments for a Single Item

Hello. I've made a page dedicated to Hiashatar on my web site (and another
one for Shatar). Considering the great emphasis given to Horse both in
Shatar and in Mongolian nomadic way of life, I guess that the Horse is
simply not affected by the Bodyguard power. That's why there is no
specific rule.
Also, remember that it is forbidden to mate the King with the Horse in
Shatar. All this is consistent.
See : http://www.chez.com/cazaux/hiashatar.htm

@Mats: I have enjoyed your ZRF very much for a while.  Without wishing to
sound ungrateful for your effort, which I most certainly esteem, if there
would be one thing that I might change about it (for aesthetic purposes
only, to be sure, and for some kind of nod to the exotic origin of the
game), it would be to use graphics like those in diagrams in native shatar
literature, at least as an option.  One would still have to produce a
suitable graphic for the hia, though, and the representation of the king as
a palace or pagoda was a bit surprising for me at first when I saw it.  I
would provide images to illustrate, but the books I consulted were part of
a library collection of Mongolian materials.  These books were printed in
Inner Mongolia, so I have no way of verifying that the practice holds in
the Republic of Mongolia or Tuva.

For a while I had hoped to be able to submit details about other large
shatar variants that seem to have been played historically in Mongolia.  My
correspondent from Ulaanbaatar tantalized me by mentioning 9x9, 10x10
(hiashatar), 11x11, and 12x12 board sizes, but made no mention of the
pieces populating the board or powers they possess.

As to hiashatar, I was hoping to have more information from my
correspondent to resolve what seems the variability in the moves reported
for the hia.  I hope that an English-speaking Mongolian (or Chinese with
access to fuller information in authoritative sources) might read this and
supply us with more detail.

I have sampled a few games of hiashatar on an 8x10 board and have concluded that it results in much too constricted positions, even if pieces come into contact sooner and the balance of open squares and number of pieces matches chess.  I have seen hia chess on CVP and would like to know if others have experience of the hia on a smaller board and have evaluated its suitability for a board of fewer ranks.  I used to think hiashatar seemed too large, but now I am unsure.  I would welcome opinions or accounts of player experiences.

This variant is almost guaranteed to produce a hard struggle. Those bodyguard pieces are tough to work around!