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Lemurian Shatranj. 8x8 variant that features short-range pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

💡📝Joe Joyce wrote on Fri, Jul 13, 2007 01:54 PM UTC:

Lemurian Temple Shatranj 
Jeremy Good asked me to design a game that used the linear hero and shaman the other day. Recently, I've been thinking about the 'double-wazir', a complement to David Paulowich's Opulent Lemurian Shatranj war elephant/free padwar. If it moves 2, it winds up on exactly the same squares as the war elephant, but can change color, so keeping Andy Maxson happy. Anyway, after very little thought, this is what I came up with as a prototype:
P - standard shatranj pawn
R - replaced with double-wazir, no null moves
N - replaced with linear Hero, D+W; steps 1 and/or leaps 2 orthogonally
B - replaced with linear Shaman, A+F; steps 1 and/or leaps 2 diagonally
Q - replaced with H/S combo piece
K - inclusive compound W+F; moves as 1 component, then stops or may move as the other component [ref: Piecelopedia, 'Moo']
This leads to a few questions:
 Does this play okay on an 8x8, or must these pieces be moved to a larger board? 
 Is the king too strong, leading to mating problems? 
 What are the promotion rules, and is there a non-royal king equivalent that can always be promoted to?