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Abecedarian Big Chess (ABChess). Buy-your-own-army variant on a big board; 26 piece types. (11x11, Cells: 121) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Jianying Ji wrote on Sun, Nov 10, 2002 04:00 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Really well designed and explained large variant without the clutter that
often afflict them

M. Howe wrote on Sun, Nov 10, 2002 09:47 PM UTC:Good ★★★★

Without having played it yet, my first impressions are very good.  I really
like the idea of a large variant played from a superset of pieces, and I'm
working on such a variant myself right now.  The point values might have
to be adjusted as more experience is gained in using these pieces, and a
problem might arise because those values are almost certainly not
constant, but probably depend to one degree or another on which other
pieces are present in the given game.  I'm reserving a little bit of
judgement, also, in case some of the pieces, particularly those with
nightrider components, have an unbalancing effect on the opening.  I've
always had a hard time incorporating nightriders into my own variants and
have for the most part abandoned them.  But I can't wait to play the ZRF!

Anonymous wrote on Mon, Nov 11, 2002 01:11 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Fantastic! I love this variant from the start. Now I'm thinking
of 'translating' it to german, keeping the ABC theme intact ...
probably I'll have to exchange a few pieces ... and since the 
pawns can be made 'no letter' there is room for a 25th piece 
to buy.

--JKn

M. Howe wrote on Mon, Nov 11, 2002 04:49 PM UTC:Good ★★★★

I agree that the rank of yeomen prevents nightriders from making captures
on turn one.  But after a yeoman has moved, such as on turn one,  a
first-rank nightrider can attack and pin one enemy yeomen.  I'm not saying
that this breaks the game, but I prefer games in which white, on his first
move, cannot threaten or pin black.  I also wonder about the accelerated
promotion of yeomen.  They can promote after only three moves.  Will this
make the game too tactical and deprive it of some interesting endgames?  I
guess I'll have to play the ZRF to know for sure how this all works out.

M. Howe wrote on Thu, Nov 14, 2002 02:59 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Now that I've played a little ABChess with the zrf (nice job!) I like the game a lot. It has a terrific Xiang-Qi-like feel to it with lots of new tactical possibilities provided by the new pieces. I'm still not sure about the effect of knightriders on opening play, though, and I don't like the anti-positional nature of the teleporter piece. I also have some thoughts about the piece values. I think the teleporter, pao, and rook are overvalued, and I think the varan, unicorn, wildebeest, and eagle are undervalued. But that's one opinion, and a consensus opinion based on a lot more experience is what's needed. Orthodox chess evaluations will not apply to this game, in light of the pawn rules and the king's fortress. Also, I tried several Zillions vs. Zillions games of 'Marshal Varan vs. Two Queens' and white won 5 out of 6 games. That's a small sample and might not be significant, but it might mean that a little more work needs to be done to balance games between unmatching armies. Of course, in games between matching armies, piece values and army balance becomes much less critical. Despite these criticisms, offered and taken, I hope, in a constructive spirit, I like ABChess enormously. It's a game I'm sure I will keep going back to.

Psy-T wrote on Sun, Jul 9, 2006 08:03 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

I am really enjoying this game, played 2 rounds so far against a friend
online (on Zillions). Thanks a lot for creating it :)
My favorite set up is AUZWCKCWZUA so far.
Let us know when someone decides to make this a physical board game, i'd
definitely purchase a set ;)
-Alon.

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