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What a site! For a lover of fairy chess etc. like me.

Years ago I saw this beatiful chess set and wanted it, but could not
afford to pay D. kr. 1.500 (appr. 300 dollars). This Christmas my
girlfriend gave it to me! I never told her my wish, so it is simply the
best Christmas present I have recived, ever.

It is very beautiful, a smaller copy of the terracotta figures from the
grave of Qin Shi Huang Di, first emperor of China - much more visual than
Chinese characters. The ministers and guards are very alike, though
(anyone else out there who has a set and knows which one has a split
hair-do and which one does not?)

She worried that it was not standard chess. I thought great that it is
not, though rules did not follow (and I thought Chinese and Japanese
chess
were the same...), so we picked up some simple, and flawed rules on the
Internet.

I have played several games with my self or the kids. We have made three
major mistakes: 1. The ministers (elephants) could leap (minor mistake
actually). 2. I thought the way the horse moved was in a simple L-shape:
One step orthogonally and two steps to the side - or two steps, then one
step. This gives some other points where one cannot leap, including
different opening options. 3. Great mistake: I thought the cannons could
only capture a token directly behind another token (in stead of the great
leap for cannon-kind of the real rules), which makes it a rather weak
token in it self.

Glad you set me straight on all points, though I will recommend my
'wrong
variant', which gives a very complicated and defensive game (with some
tendency to produce tied games). The 'wrong horse moves' I will
recommend in general, for variation.

Looking forward to testing out your variants and the Chorean chess on the
board...