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Decima. Variant on 10 by 10 board where you win when you have 10 points on the 10th row. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

💡📝Michael Nelson wrote on Sun, Mar 6, 2005 03:24 PM UTC:

I have submitted revisons which should appear shortly. After playtesting
and crtique by Michael Howe and further testing of my own, I have made
these changes:

1. The positon of the Kings and Knights in the opening setup is swapped.
M. Howe observed that it was usual to move a Knight on the opening move to
liberate a Rook, which in effect pinned the opponents Knight--to move it
would allow RxR on the tenth rank and the recapture is a suicide capture.
This has a considerabe cramping effect though it did not affect play
balance as both sides could use the tactic. With Kings in this poistion
the pin still occurs but is much less significant as the King can move on
the file without exposing the Rook and it is much easier to untangle the
position. 

2. I have changed the last piece rules so that the suicide capture of the
opponents last piece with your own last piece is a draw--which seems more
logical. The situation itself is rare.

3. Pawns may take the double step anywhere on the board as many times as
desired.

4. I have replaced en passant with M. Howe's excellent Pawn rule: a pawn
may not move across a square attacked by an enemy Pawn.

5. A pawn on the tenth rank remains a Pawn, but on any subsequent turn may
promote in place to King (winning unless the opponent can capture).

Changes 3-5 have made Pawn play much more dynamic and exciting, while
eliminating many dull draws when the armies are reduced below 10 points
but winning by annihilation is not feasible.