H. G. Muller wrote on Tue, Nov 10, 2020 08:37 AM UTC:
Have you really playtested this? I would not be surprised if this variant is impossible to win against a player that has decided from the beginning that he doesn't want to lose. A Queen is almost impossible to catch; IIRC you need at least 4 Queens to do that on 8x8, and without doubt it will be worse on 10x10. Of course you have the rule that if there are only royals it is already game end, and the royal count decides. But what if a player keeps a Q + R? The opponent might need an overwhelming amount of material to catch the Rook, an advantage that would be almost impossible to acquire against a reasonable player.
BTW, it was not quite clear to me what it means to have 'only royals left'. Does that apply to both players, or just one? And is the condition applied before or after the move? I.e. if I have only Q+R, and the Q protects the R, and the opponent has nothing but 2 royals... Can he then capture my Rook with one of these royals and claim the 2:1 advantage, or can I recapture with my Q to make it a 1-vs-1 draw?
Have you really playtested this? I would not be surprised if this variant is impossible to win against a player that has decided from the beginning that he doesn't want to lose. A Queen is almost impossible to catch; IIRC you need at least 4 Queens to do that on 8x8, and without doubt it will be worse on 10x10. Of course you have the rule that if there are only royals it is already game end, and the royal count decides. But what if a player keeps a Q + R? The opponent might need an overwhelming amount of material to catch the Rook, an advantage that would be almost impossible to acquire against a reasonable player.
BTW, it was not quite clear to me what it means to have 'only royals left'. Does that apply to both players, or just one? And is the condition applied before or after the move? I.e. if I have only Q+R, and the Q protects the R, and the opponent has nothing but 2 royals... Can he then capture my Rook with one of these royals and claim the 2:1 advantage, or can I recapture with my Q to make it a 1-vs-1 draw?