George Duke wrote on Sun, Dec 13, 2009 09:00 PM UTC:
http://www.chessvariants.org/index/displaycomment.php?commentid=24303
Score: Mastodon > Eurasian > Modern. Dawson's hopper Vao from around 1912, the diagonal
equivalent of Cannon, complements the Cannon plugged into Eurasian Chess.
Chinese Cannon, Dawson's also Grasshopper from the same decade, and Ultima-Rococo Long Leaper from 1960s
are of one rather general type requiring hopping at least for capturing. This
class can be split into rectilinear and diagonal varieties, as this
Eurasian does smartly. Like with the class of Bifurcators, also Winther's,
eventually there may be consensus which sub-type, that is specific
piece-type or several, of Hoppers is ideal. Carefully planned, Eurasian will
probably stay within the top ten of these our best groupings from CVPage
material, to be further winnowed in extended hierarchy ongoing. Today
Mastodon, in comparison, has edge in unambiguous
playability out of its own considered complementarity differing from
Eurasian's. Which is to say: as Next Chess, Mastodon's based on the mediaeval Man, the
Alfil, and the Dababbah compounded and set opposite the standard Knight. Of those taken up one daily so far there are:
Mastodon > Eurasian > Modern.
