Comments by graeme

I feel the board may be a tad small, and think increasing it to 6 hex on a side might be better. Also the problems with the rooks could be resolved by moving them to the back rank and turning them into crowned-rooks (dragon kings). To complement these and to complete the second row I've added a couple of crowned-knights (centaurs). Here's my suggestion.

'... One question: are the routes a1-d1, b1-e1, and c1-f1 also barred?'

No, they are not barred. I've added an explicit statement to this effect under the description for the Bishop.

I agree the use of the twisted knight for the tusker is not ideal - but they do both begin with t. I'm not sure what to do - there is no other Icon in the set used that is any more appropriate and I do not know how to add a new Icon even if I could design one. I am open to suggestions as how best to proceed

Thank you for your comment and your rating. And thanks for mentioning the poor link design - a bad habit I am trying to break. I have removed the deprecated target=_blank property from the links to return browser control back to the user.

Your understanding about the connection of the poles with their adjacent cells is correct. It should be noted that from the starting position the Horses, although appearing under threat, cannot in fact be captured by the Cannons as this would place the General (King) in check.

Hi David,

Sure, though the file needs some tidying up before being published.
Should be ready in the next day or two.

Cheers,
Graeme

Thanks for the comments, Joe. I was thinking of adding a note on using random assignment of the final destination hex as a variant, but in the end decided that the Quantum concept was already radical enough in itself.

Play testing has been minimal. I used Zillions running a non-quantum version to test and refine the transfer of Ultima to a hex board, but have not yet been able to get a working Quantum version. I have just finished constructing a non-enforcing pre-set and would be happy to push a few pieces around at a leisurely pace.

Sorry, but I'm unclear what point you're making about the contraction capture image. Can you elaborate please?

There are 4 drop levels, and each side begins the game on the first level. At this level only Pawns can be dropped. On dropping the fourth Pawn the level for that player advances to the second. On the second level Knights and Bishops can now be dropped as well as Pawns. The third level is reached when the second Knight or Bishop is dropped. Rooks may be dropped at the third level. Dropping a single Rook advances that players drop level to the fourth level. Once the fourth level is reached the Queen may be dropped.

Captured pieces are removed from the game. They cannot re-enter the game by being dropped again.

Yes I played chess before discovering chess variants. I played for my school team and at university, and when I got my first job for a London based insurance firm I played for them in the London Insurance Chess League. I also played in some local leagues and chess tournaments.

These activities came to a halt with the arrival of children and a career change from insurance to IT. Although I still play chess, my real passion is for wargaming (also started way back in my school days) and much of my gaming time is taken up with perfecting my own set of rules for my own particular circumstances.

Most of my CV designing is inspired by ideas from other activities - like my degree studies with the Open University - and tend to be very conservative in terms of pieces used.

Charles: I respect your right to your opinion, but please leave me out of your squabbles. If you have a comment to make on my variant or its presentation then kindly do so in the appropriate comment area.

Graeme.

Hi Nick,

I'd thought about the 3-step first move for a pawn, but decided to leave it at 2-steps as I was trying not to move too far from FIDE.

Cheers
Graeme

Enthronement
The intention is that this is allowed only with respect to your own Regents.

Randomness
The use of cards or dice to determine the final landing square is certainly worth exploring.

'The single defining quality of 'Chess' is that

the winning condition is predicated on one (the royal) of two (royal and non-royal) classes of pieces

If a game exhibits this quality it is a Chess Variant, if it doesn't it isn't.'

(http://chessvariants.wikidot.com/chess-variants)

Just a few thoughts about the Likes table:

• It might be useful to include an ID for the item's creator. I know this can be found by joining through the ItemID but keeping it in this table as well would enable faster queries concerning games inventors. It would also make it easier to stop creators rating their own games (UserID != CreatorID)
• Will a user be able to revise their ratings? If so the table will need a timestamp field and possibly either a binary current/superseded field or a status field. Or previous ratings might have their own table - LikesHistory

In game theory Hierarchical Games model conflict systems with a structure of control levels ranked in a certain order.  Thus in a wargame there might be an overall commander, several sub-commanders, and many unit commanders, per side. Troop movements and performance would depend upon the placement and movement of these commanders.

I will allow that the description on the chessvariants wiki might be a little terse, but I think it at least adequate, with each non-compound piece having a movement diagram.