Seems to me that the Queen on j1/j8 is a major design flaw of this variant, btw: you cannot K-side castle without trapping the Queen. You would have to compromise the Pawn shield to develop it. The Queen and Unicorn should have been swapped. (Even through the Unicorn probably is the stronger of the two.)
I think you are right. I've played this game a lot and developing the Queen is always an issue. It's not fatal -- this is still one of my favorite variants -- but I generally castle to the other side or often not at all. And, yes, I'm confident the Unicorn is at least a little stronger than the Queen, although they become almost equal by the endgame.
I think you are right. I've played this game a lot and developing the Queen is always an issue. It's not fatal -- this is still one of my favorite variants -- but I generally castle to the other side or often not at all. And, yes, I'm confident the Unicorn is at least a little stronger than the Queen, although they become almost equal by the endgame.