Larry Smith wrote on Sun, Oct 5, 2008 05:17 PM UTC:
Muller, you should really read my entire message rather than responding
only to those portions which you find argumentative. I did state, 'I do
agree that they supply a fair number which can be applied to most
variants.' Could this simply be a mis-understanding caused by the
language barrier?
The number of potential pieces can be doubled simply with a little model
paint. I have found that coloring the 'crown' of pieces, Red on White
and Yellow on Black, can make them distinct. In fact, I use a Bishop
marked thus to represent a Cardinal, a marked Rook as a Marshal and a
marked Queen as a Amazon. This can also be used to denote pieces in games
with more than two opponents.
Also, some standardization of their application could prove helpful,
though not absolutely necessary. If a player has become familiar with the
use of a particular piece representing a particular movement type, they
may find it difficult to transfer that value to another. Especially if
they have used one piece to represent two distinct move types in seperate
games and are confronted with both of these move types in a single game.
Of course, this is a totally subjective condition which many may not have
difficulty.
When I was young, I had a set in which the Bishop and Pawns had similar shapes. They often became confused during the game. In frustration, I got rid of that set. Though nowadays I would simply mark the Bishop to differentiate it.