Horizons
Horizons is chess-based game on 12x12 board with 5 absolutely new pieces.
Setup
Free squares are occupied by new pieces.
Pieces
Warrior (w)
Warrior is antipod of pawn. He moves one square forward diagonally (like pawn captures), and captures one square forward (like pawn moved). He also can move two squares by first move.
On start four warriors stand on B, C, J and K squares on 2nd and 11th ranks.
Shielder/Shieldholder (s)
He moves like pawn, and captures one square left or right. But he have one unique treat: if opponent's piece is standing in the next square forward, he can move one square forward and also move this piece. He cannot move only other shielders. But shielder cannot move also:
- If there are 3 pieces and more forward;
- If there is the edge of the board behind these pieces;
- If these are your pieces.
Also, opponent's pieces can't capture him when he is "watching him" (for example if opponent's shielder moves to you, he can't capture him by moving forward orthogonally or diagonally. You can take him only moving right, left or back orthogonally or diagonally (except for knight;)).
On start four shieldholders stand on A, D, I and L squares on 2nd and 11th ranks.
Ox (O)
He moves and captures like letter T. He can't move if first two squares aren't free. Moving:
Capturing:
On start two oxen stand on free squares near knights.
Magician (M)
This is very hard piece to understand his moves.
In general: he moves orthogonally 3+ squares and goes 1 square diagonally in this direction, or; moves 3+ squares diagonally and 1 square orthogonally. On free board he is hybrid of Aanca and Unicornio which doesn't goes on near squares. But his motion's mechanic is like Xiangqi Horse: if he meet ANY piece on his orthogonal and diagonal direction in near 3 squares, he can't move in this direction.
For example, he meet a pawn on 4 squares diagonally (f5 in our diagram), and he cannot move f6, g5, g7, h6 and h8. Or he meet a zip on c1, d1 or e1, and Magician cannot move f2, g2 and h2.
And we see that magician is stronger or on bigger board, or on edge of standard board.
On boards which are smaller than 8x8 Magician can also move 2 orthogonally(diagonally) and 1 diagonally(orthogonally).
On start magician stands near rook on K square.
Zip (Z)
This is same as nightrider, but it is based on Xiangqi Horse (not chess knight). He moves endless L-shape, but if after hypothetical moving n squares he will meet a piece one square forward (like Xiangqi Horse), this piece will block him. This is moving:
Capturing:
On start zip stands near rook on B square.
Rules
- Your aim is to checkmate opponent's king.
- All pieces on 2nd (white) and 11th (black) ranks can move two squares on start and promote to bishop, knight, ox, rook, magician, zip or queen.
- During castling king moves three squares.
- Pieces' values: pawn - 1 pawn, warrior, shielder - 2 pawns, knight - 3 pawns, bishop - 3 or 4, ox - 4, rook - 5, magician - 7, zip - 8, queen - 9.
All other setting are like in chess.
This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.
By Lev Grigoriev.
Last revised by Lev Grigoriev.
Web page created: 2022-04-17. Web page last updated: 2023-02-18