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You could be right, although it may be just a matter of approach and inter-piece collaboration. The Pawn structure problem certainly applies equally to Herd itself (on which this was intended as a modest improvement), and so will other problems to some extent. I could drop the versions with extra empty ranks altogether and give the ones with extra piece-filled rows more prominence, or even put a few other possibilities up the flagpole. As ever, further feedback is welcome. Perhaps elementals should be promotable to their compound with either other elemental, or in the basic variant the second rank should almost-duplicate the first in place of Pawns. Herdgi, with Shogi-style reintroduction, could amplify small advantages; this would certainly be suited to animal-shaped pieces distinguished by orientation instead of colour. Herdrider, with all oblique pieces replaced by their riders, would be a significant overall strengthening but a somewhat extreme step.