Chesimals 2 - game

Chesimals II

Chesimal: a "chess animal". This is a "piece" composed of several standard chesspieces with their own "king". When this chesimal moves, all the component chesspieces [may] move in that one turn.

Each AMP, or chesimal, is a unique color. The game has 8 chesimals total.

The sides are White vs Black, with the White side being the yellow, white, grey and orange chesimals; and Black being green, blue, red and purple.

Victory is by capturing both enemy royal Chiefs, or brain units. The royal chiefs are white and grey for the White side, and blue and red for the Black side.

A turn consists of each side moving one AMP/chesimal, with the white side moving first each turn.

The preset shows the setup, pieces and colors used:

CHESIMALS 2

This game is playable with 2 chess sets appropriately marked.

PIECES Level 1:

Please note that some of these pieces are different than those in Chesimals 1, although the rules and preset use the same piece icons in each game.

Unit Movement

Chief wchampion.gif
All leaders may move 2 squares, sliding 1 square in any direction, and then, if desired, sliding one more square, again in any direction, except back to the first square. Knight bknight.gif
The royal guard unit. It moves as a standard FIDE knight.Warmachine owarmachine.gif
This warmachine is an inclusive [see DHowe's Taxonomy] combination of dabbabah and wazir. It may step 1 square orthogonally, leap 2 squares orthogonally, or do both, in either order. Thus, it can move up to 3 squares, leaping over one, which may be occupied, with no effect on either piece. It is a linear piece, it may not change directions while moving. Elephant yelephant.gif
This elephant is an inclusive combination of alfil and ferz. It may step one, or leap two, or step 1 and leap 2 squares, in either order, diagonally.Guard grguard.gif
This guard slides 1 or 2 squares in any direction, linearly. It is a 2-square queen.
The same pieces need to be used again, as there is a limited number of pieces available in 8 or more colors. This is not an ideal solution, but it is the best available.

The preset can, and maybe should, be expanded for the longer-range pieces, or, better maybe, the pieces can be moved back 1 square each at start.

PIECES Level 2:

Chesimals

Each chesimal has one leader [or brain] unit, the Chief, that activates the individual units that make up the chesimal. Any individual unit, to be able to be activated and then move, must be touching, that is, directly adjacent in one of the 8 surrounding squares, either a leader unit, a unit that is touching a leader unit, or touching a piece touching… in other words, the leader must be able to trace an unbroken line of friendly units to the unit being activated and moving, at the time of that activation and move. The piece may move into isolation as a result of its activation and move, but must be connected to the leader to actually activate and move.

  • Ortho
  • 9-unit ortho AMP - 1Ch, 4DW, 4G; or 1Q, 4R, 4P for over the board with 2 FIDE piece sets
  • Dia
  • 9-unit dia AMP - 1Ch, 4AF, 4G; or 1Q, 4 B, 4P
  • Royal
  • 7-unit royal AMP - 1K, 2N, 4G; or 1K, 2N, 4P

There are 4 pieces per side:

  • one 9-unit ortho AMP
  • one 9-unit dia AMP
  • two 7-unit royal AMPs

Victory: the object of the game is to capture both of your opponent's royal chief units - the white and grey ones for the White side, and the red and blue ones for Black, not the entire multi-unit royal AMPs - before losing both of your own.

A turn consists of each side moving one AMP, with white moving first each turn.

  • The "White" side is yellow, white, grey and orange.
  • The "Black" side is green, blue, red and purple.

Capture is by replacement.
The capturing unit must stop in the captured unit's square.
Captures are made by individual units, not AMPs.
The AMP may continue activating and moving other of its units after one or more of its units has made a capture. The royal "pieces" may thus capture up to 7 enemy units in a turn, and the ortho and dia 9 each.
When an amp's leader is captured, the remaining pieces in the amp are leaderless, although still colored. They just cannot move, but may be captured.

There is no castling, pawn doublestep, or promotion in this game.

Notes

One step further into insanity?

Critters: Chesimals III +++ June 28, 2015

This exists because I'm procrastinating on a complete rules re-write for another game and have been feeling a little guilty. So here's a guilty pleasure. This is a complete reworking of the construction of chesimals and is a step or two closer to my goal of mimicking some aspects of biology and ecology in a purely abstract game form. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MSchesimals:auto

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