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Odin's Rune Chess. A game inspired by Carl Jung's concept of synchronicity, runes, and Nordic Mythology. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Erik Lerouge wrote on Sat, Aug 10, 2019 08:31 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

I am currently playing a game of Odin's Rune Chess, and I really like it, as much the rules and gameplay, as the runic theme. The Forest Ox is a terrific piece, maybe too powerful... I like the rather strong Pawns. I generally appreciate modern variants that use non-conventional Pawns, it effectively renews the dynamics of a chess game. And their initial colorboundness isn't a default at all, for me.

I was wondering if Pawn promotion could be integrated in this game - even if it is not necessary since Pawns can go back and the need for new material is less crucial, since the vulnerabiliy of the Kings without moving possibilities makes situations of insufficent material less likely. Promotion possibilities should be limited, since Pawns can reach the last rank in only four moves; for example, they could only promote to previously captured pieces of his own colour; or there could be limitations to the maximum number of pieces of each type present on the board (4 Valkyries, and 4 Forest Oxen, for example - which is already a lot). One can also think of the opportunity to permit the promotion to King (here too, the maximum number must be limited or promotion be only to previously captured Kings). But the game plays already well, I don't think it needs a promotion rule. I was just wondering how promotion could affect the gameplay, and if it could be interessant as a variant.

Edit: my comment about the possibility of promotion wasn't very pertinent. Promotion doesn't make much sense in this game.


Frank Strong wrote on Thu, Dec 14, 2006 09:51 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
However, when king's move/relocate move is a null move it might be useful
to get out from stalemate-but I cannot give an example.
The game is really good!

Greg Strong wrote on Sun, Jun 19, 2005 06:18 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
An excellent and very enjoyable game!

A couple of questions, though.  Addendum item #2; I thought I understood
what was being said here, until the sentence 'Because of this rule, of
course, a King cannot do a 'move/relocate' function with the other
King.'  Why is this?  If King #1 is adjacent to a Valkyrie, can it not
make a move/relocate move like a Valkyrie?  And if the other King is
in-line, why can it not move/relocate that King?

Also, I assume that the Forest Ox cannot use it's optional riffle capture
to capture a friendly piece.  Correct?

Thanks!

Roberto Lavieri wrote on Sun, May 8, 2005 12:45 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Is there a ZRF available for this game?. I think Mike Nelson was doing some related work, but I don`t know if it is finished.

Michael Nelson wrote on Sat, Mar 12, 2005 07:25 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Here is the 'Excellent' I thought I would be giving this fine game.
Having seen it in action while coding the ZRF, I am quite convinced of the
game's quality. 

The piece set is quite interesting and works well together. The Pawns are
unusual but easy to learn to use. The Pawns are quite strong: I'd guess
about halfway between a Ferz and a Knight (slightly closer to Ferz). 

The Forest Ox is the big gun of the board on both offense and defense. 

The Valkyrie is not quite as strong as the Forest Ox, but is much more
powerful than a Queen: the swap move allows if easier developement (can
swap with a Pawn in the opening setup) and more ways of escaping trouble,
while still having all of a Queen's move and capture power. 

Rook and Bishop are minor pieces, with the Rook the stronger but with less
gap between them than in FIDE Chess, since a Valkyrie swap can get the
Bishop to the opposite color.

The idea of the King's movement depending on the friendly pieces adjacent
to it works quite well here and I'd love to see it used in other
variants.

Overall, a highly playable and enjoyable game.

Charles Gilman wrote on Wed, Mar 2, 2005 07:44 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
The piece represented by the 'Ethel' rune could be considered a Crooked
Boar. The Boar in my variant Truffle Hunt Chess is also a colourbound
enhanced Ferz on the Pawn rank, but enhanced by the forward moves of the
Elephant with some pieces blocking it if on the intermediate cell. I
interpret the crooked form of a move along either forward diagonal as
alternating between the two, thus a Crooked Mitre would have half the
Ferz
moves, but only a quarter of the Crooked Bishop's non-Ferz moves.
	As a matter of general interest, my own use of Valkyrie is for a 3d
piece, a Rook that can also move exactly 2 cells diagonally OR
triagonally.

Charles Gilman wrote on Tue, Mar 1, 2005 09:55 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
The piece represented by the 'Ethel' rune could be considered a Crooked
Boar. The Boar in my variant Truffle Hunt Chess is also a colourbound
enhanced Ferz on the Pawn rank, but enhanced by the forward moves of the
Elephant with some pieces blocking it if on the intermediate cell. I
interpret the crooked form of a move along either forward diagonal as
alternating between the two, thus a Crooked Mitre would have half the
Ferz
moves, but only a quarter of the Crooked Bishop's non-Ferz moves.
	As a matter of general interest, my own use of Valkyrie is for a 3d
piece, a Rook that can also move exactly 2 cells diagonally OR
triagonally.

Roberto Lavieri wrote on Mon, Feb 28, 2005 07:11 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Beautiful!. I have to play a test game to take a better idea. Is it going to be a ZRF available?. If not, I can try codifying it, but I´ll need a couple of weeks, I have some other things to do at first.

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