Enter Your Reply The Comment You're Replying To Joe Joyce wrote on Tue, May 30, 2006 02:27 AM UTC:A very interesting piece, but I'm not sure of its valuation at 4, exactly midway between rook and knight. I admit it's a crippled chancellor, but is it reduced that much? I would suspect it's more powerful than a guard, say, which is also valued at 4. And while the knight component is a weaker piece, I'm not sure the elk should be valued at less than a rook. I'd guess it in the 5-7 range. I'd think a player's tendency would be to use the knight move to post the piece in an advantageous position for the rook and let it passively exert power for a while. And I'd be inclined to move it like a dabbabah, staying on black squares as much as possible to get the greater power; just using the knight move to leap over pieces to get in and out. Admittedly you've made the elk's knight component colorbound - no elknight can attack white squares - but the rook component can attack any square on the board. Can't see how it's not in the neighborhood of 6. But then, I'm far from an expert :-) and have been wrong before. And speaking of being wrong, would it be wrong for me to suggest considering making a few themed pieces and creating a game around them? You're very creative with pieces, but replacing 1 FIDE piece with your new piece and playing from there is kind of just training you in using the new piece. You are showcasing pieces rather than creating a whole new game. Replace the knights with elks instead of the rooks - another new game, with a little more power. Since the knight component is colorbound, replace the bishops with elks and get a different game still. This soon becomes unsatisfying; there are a zillion pieces out there which can somehow fit, but it becomes a slightly different FIDE game rather than a truly unique variant. Hey, don't sell your pieces short. Give them a standout game to be in. Enjoy. Edit Form You may not post a new comment, because ItemID The Elk does not match any item.