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This page is written by the game's inventor, Peter Hatch.

The Dwarves

The Dwarven Army is the same size as the Human Army, but it has more powerful pawns. Dwarves are slow, so the only pieces that can move more than two squares in one turn are the Cannon and War Machine.

Starting Setup

The starting setup for black is the mirror image of that for white.

    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  3 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S |
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  2 |   | P | G | W | K | Ge| W | G | P |   |
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  1 | C |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | C |
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j

The Pieces

Each piece is listed with its abbreviation in parentheses after its name, followed by the notation for its move in Ralph Betza's notation in brackets, if its move can be expressed in that notation.

Soldier (S) [fWfcF]

The Soldier moves either one square forward (possibly capturing) or one square diagonally forward to capture. It may promote when it reaches the eighth, ninth, or tenth rank. When it promotes it is replaced by any General, Guard, or Priest of yours that has been captured.

Cannon (C) [mRcpR]

The Cannon moves like a Cannon from Xiangqi. (It moves as a Rook, except that for it to capture there must be exactly one piece between it and the piece it is capturing.)

Priest (P) [F2zF2]

The Priest moves one square diagonally, and if that square was empty it may continue by moving a second square in any diagonal direction (not just the direction it just moved in), except that it may not return to its starting square.

Guard (G) [FW]

The Guard moves like a King.

War Machine (W) [RcpRfF]

The War Machine has the combined moves of a Rook and a Cannon, and may also move one square diagonally forward.

General (Ge) [W2F2nN]

The General moves one or two squares in any direction, or moves one square orthogonally then one square diagonally away from its starting position.

King (K) [K]

The King is identical to a King in standard Chess, except that it can not castle.


Written by Peter Hatch.
WWW page created: November 26, 2000.