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Separate Realms. Pieces capture like normal FIDE pieces, but have limited moves that only take them to part of the board when not capturing. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Mike Nelson wrote on Wed, Aug 7, 2002 12:40 AM UTC:

I've had the pleasure of playtesting our creation over the weekend. 
Michael Howe's prediction is correct: the subtle positional play is
reminiscent of Shatranj.  But the the rapid developement provides many
opportunities for quick wins.  A bit like the slash-bang feel of Xiangqi.

Letting Zillions play itself at a fairly inteligent setting, two types of
results tended to occur: a subtle positional game of 60-90 moves, or an
opening error folowed by a breakthrough win in 20-30.

Typically, at the end of move 10, 14 of the pawns are on the original
squares. But in the middlegame, the pawns really come into their own--as
the rest of the army is weaker, the pawn is more powerful.

Zillions thinks the pieces are roughly 2/3 of the value of their FIDE
counterparts and I agree.  It also thinks the Knight is more valuable than
the Bishop, but not by a lot.

I think that the Separate Realms army might be quite interesting in
variants such as Chessgi, Progressive, etc.

I would also be interested in hearing anyone's ideas about different
armies in this strength range.