Update to the Rules I posted in 2020 after receiving more feedback on the Internet about this game. Almost complete except for the question of promotion. The game, I am informed, is called The Windrose Game (Danish Viking Chess).
The goal of the game is to checkmate your opponent's king as in regular chess.
Board: The board is made up of "rings" linking "crosses" (the spaces).
There is a centre space, the “star”, in the middle.
Pieces: There is a king, 2 rooks (flat tops), 2 bishops (spikes) and 4 thralls per side.
All pieces start off the board.
On their first turn (white goes first) each player places their king on the edge of the board.
In the second and subsequent turns, each player can EITHER bring a piece onto the board edge OR move an existing piece on the board.
The different pieces move as follows:
Thrall moves one space in any direction
Rook moves up to 3 spaces up or down, or one space to the side
Bishop moves up to 3 spaces around one of the rings, or one space up or down.
King moves up to 3 spaces in any direction up or down
Once placed on the board a piece can enter the centre space or move through it.
A player takes an opponent's piece by moving a piece into their opponent's piece's space. Once a piece is removed from the board it cannot return.
When a King is mated the game is over.
Note: One commenter thought that a Thrall could be promoted to a Rook or Bishop if it reached the centre star space but this cannot be confirmed. This could be played as an optional rule.
The game was available for sale in Copenhagen (where my parents bought it) and also at Modern Designs in Ithaca NY (no longer in business?).
Update to the Rules I posted in 2020 after receiving more feedback on the Internet about this game. Almost complete except for the question of promotion. The game, I am informed, is called The Windrose Game (Danish Viking Chess).
The goal of the game is to checkmate your opponent's king as in regular chess.
Board: The board is made up of "rings" linking "crosses" (the spaces).
There is a centre space, the “star”, in the middle.
Pieces: There is a king, 2 rooks (flat tops), 2 bishops (spikes) and 4 thralls per side.
All pieces start off the board.
On their first turn (white goes first) each player places their king on the edge of the board.
In the second and subsequent turns, each player can EITHER bring a piece onto the board edge OR move an existing piece on the board.
The different pieces move as follows:
A player takes an opponent's piece by moving a piece into their opponent's piece's space. Once a piece is removed from the board it cannot return.
When a King is mated the game is over.
Note: One commenter thought that a Thrall could be promoted to a Rook or Bishop if it reached the centre star space but this cannot be confirmed. This could be played as an optional rule.
The game was available for sale in Copenhagen (where my parents bought it) and also at Modern Designs in Ithaca NY (no longer in business?).