Single Comment

George, you just might be looking for shorter-range pieces!  :-)  
On a 2D square-units board, there are only 2 kinds of 'shortest
distance' infinite sliders, the orthogonal and diagonal, rook and bishop,
with the queen of course being both. [For a different take, Graeme has got
some interesting things going on a triangular board.] This doesn't leave
many options for variety. What you do have are 2 pieces that travel the
maximum linear board distance in the least number of squares possible, a
'straight' line of n-1 squares with n = board length. If you're going
to cover the same [maximum linear] board distance with a new slider, then
the path that slider takes must be longer and more complex that that of
the R or B. This makes the game harder, and your critique - who in the
real world will play it? - applies. So sliders may have to either be of
shorter range or dropped entirely. [One very simple longer-path slider is
the 'hook-rook', a bent rook that can cover the entire board potentially
in one move. But you don't want that kind of power, I suspect.]
Obviously, we both lean toward shorter range pieces, you with the Falcon
and me with a proliferation of pseudo-shatranj pieces. But I'm curious
just where you're taking this longrange thing, and I'd like to examine
the potentialities of the DW as a longrange piece - in another post.