John Smith has declared an unofficial 47-square design contest at CV. Following is The Lion Game.
The name of this game came from the shape of the board, which I found reminiscent of an icon used online for the Murray Lion. So I had a lion/king without knowing how it moved. The second piece was the Cobra, because I had to do something with the single squares around the edge. The jumping spider was the 3rd piece, then the frog pawns. Anyway, here's the game: http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DThe+Lion+Game%26settings%3DLionX1
Board & Pieces
The board is composed of 2 parts, the 5x7 field and the 12 individual squares running around the outside of the field called the burrow.
Lion - The royal piece. This lion steps 1 square in any direction, then may step another square in any direction, except back to its start square. Lions do not jump, and are restricted to the field - they may not enter burrows. Lions may free elephants stuck in burrows by moving next to the elephant and stopping. Note lions may change direction during their move. Lions capture by replacement, and must stop in the square of capture, ending the move.
Tiger - The tiger may step one and/or leap 2 squares, orthogonally or diagonally. So it may move 1, 2, or 3 squares. However, its leap is restricted. The tiger may leap over empty squares, frogs, spiders, and snakes. It may not leap over lions, elephants or rhinoceroses. Tigers may not enter burrows. Tigers may not change direction during their move, they are linear pieces. Tigers capture by replacement, and must stop in the square of capture, ending the move.
Spider - The spider may step one or leap 2 squares, orthogonally or diagonally. Spiders leap over anything. By leaping directly over an enemy piece, then remaining adjacent to it, the spider can immobilize that piece. As long as the spider is in any square adjacent to the enemy piece, it is immobilized. The piece cannot move until the spider is no longer adjacent to it. If the piece does not move away before the spider comes back, it remains immobilized. The spider does not have to jump over it again. The spider may leap upon and capture frogs, snakes, spiders and butterflies, ending its move in that square. The spider cannot leap upon lions, tigers, elephants and rhinoceroses, it may only immobilize them. The spider may enter burrows, and move through them one burrow square per turn. Spiders may not change direction during their move.
Cobra - The cobra moves 1 square orthogonally or diagonally, then may move another square orthogonally or diagonally. Cobras may move 2 burrow squares in a turn, the only piece to do so. Cobras do not leap, but may capture on the first step and continue on with the second step. The second step of the cobra may return it to its starting square; cobras may make a null move. So, cobras can capture a piece 1 square away , then return to their starting square. Cobras may never move more than 1 square away from a burrow. However, a cobra may move next to a square it cannot move to, then on a subsequent turn, attack and capture an enemy piece on that square by making a null move. Cobras may change direction during their move.
Rhinoceros - The rhinoceros steps 1 square orthogonally. The Charge: However, if it continues to move in the same direction on the next turn, it may slide up to 2 squares in that direction. If it continues on in the next turn, it may slide up to 3 squares, and so on. It must go the full distance each turn to gain the extra movement ability. During the charge, it captures on each square without stopping, and is the only piece which may capture other friendly pieces. However, friendly pieces may only be captured during a charge. A rhinoceros cannot enter a burrow. The rhinoceros is a linear piece, it may never change direction during its move.
Elephant - The elephant moves 1 square diagonally in any direction or 1 or 2 squares orthogonally forward only. A elephant may not move into or through burrows, but it may squash anything in a burrow it can reach; ie:that it could theoretically move onto in its turn, if it could enter a burrow. Instead, it stops on the square before it enters the burrow, and captures the piece in the burrow. It is then stuck [think large elephant leg smashed deeply into the ground - ignore what's between its toes] until the lion pulls it out, which happens as soon as the lion moves next to the elephant, then ends its turn. The elephant does not leap, nor may it change direction during its move.
Frog - The frog is the pawn in this game. It moves 1 square orthogonally forward or sideways. It captures 1 square diagonally forward. However, it cannot capture elephants or rhinoceroses this way. Leapfrog: Frogs have a special move called the leapfrog. They may jump diagonally forward over a [diagonally adjacent] piece to land on the next square. This may be a move to an empty square, or a capture of any piece, including elephants and rhinoceroses. Frogs may enter burrows. They may move through burrows 1 square per turn, in either direction, leaving the burrow at the player's option. If a frog lands on one of the 3 opponent's backrank green burrow squares, it promotes to a butterfly.
Butterfly - The butterfly moves 1 square orthogonally, then may stop or move one more square diagonally in any direction, or it moves 1 square diagonally, then may stop or move one more square orthogonally in any direction. They may enter burrows, but must stop. On the next turn, the butterfly must leave the burrow, either with a standard butterfly move away from the burrow, or it may move 1 to the next burrow square in either direction, and stop there, or leave the burrow and enter the field diagonally. Butterflies capture everything except frogs. Butterflies must change direction if moving two squares in a turn.
Victory
Win the game by capturing the opponent's lion.