DRAGON CHESS ideas

        One wins at dragon chess by killing the king. The game revolves largely around control of the high ground, which amplifies the power of the pieces.
        It starts with all the pieces hidden. They can be revealed by various methods. They can be hidden again by:
        Two known pieces meeting on a square and becoming hidden pieces; those hidden pieces meeting other known pieces.
        Thus a player can hide his pieces all over again, bit by bit.


        DRAGON CHESS: a book of rules, sample games, strategy and tactics, essays on information theory, and short stories. A mock history of all the Chronicles masquerading as a book on dragon chess. The heroes mythologised.


        - played on a board like a chess board EXCEPT that pieces can play fullsquare on the squares and also on the intersections of the squares. There are 64 squares; there are 9 x 9 intersections (since pieces can perch on the very outside of the board); there are a hundred and forty five piece positions all together.
        We begin in the fog of war, for all pieces start doubled and invisible. Any pair which splits must declare itself. In one move a pair can split and move in two directions; however, a castle cannot move on its own, so if one of the pair is a castle then only its rider can change position when the pair splits.
        Pieces can move from fullsquare to fullsquare, from fullsquare to junction and from function to fullsquare. They cannot move directly from junction to junction.
        The central junction is the top of the mountain, which is the crucial strategic point. A castle on the mountaintop is impregnable - but also cannot thereafter move. When a white wizard comes to the mountaintop, the black (invisible) pieces must declare themselves.
        Banes (hell banes) cannot be placed on the margins of the four central squares or within those margins. This area (the four central squares and their margins) is known as the high ground.


        > A traditional justification for dragon chess is that it teaches the young warrior the importance of seizing the high ground.


        Any piece(s) which reach the high ground must declare themselves. They can no longer remain invisible. From here (the high ground) some pieces can move further (outward to the low ground) than they could on the flat; castles become harder to move.
        No invisible piece(s) can move into direct contact with any enemy pieces. When a visible piece moves into direct contact with enemy invisible piece(s) then those piece(s) must immediately (as the enemy's next move) declare their true nature.
        When they do so, if one of the pieces declares as a castle then its occupant(s) can stay put or move in separate directions (together or singly).
        When thus forced to make a declaration move, a player cannot move any pieces other than those which are declaring, and cannot in that move place any bane upon the board.


        A bane can only be placed on a junction. Thus banes can never be used to deny access into or out of a square, since even when all four of a square's junctions are bane-blocked movement is still possible from square to square.


        >> Possible starting position: a tower of pieces in each of the four corners, each player having corners diagonally opposite, the North-East, North-West, South-East and South-West. The board is orientated from north to south, with the white player (who moves first) situated in the south.
        Players would thereafter have to make a minimum of seven moves to reach the high ground. Some pieces (eg dragons and the Neversh) can move more rapidly if they declare themselves. Any pieces (apart from banes and castles) can ride a Neversh. Only a wizard can ride a dragon. A free dragon will destroy any piece(s) on an adjacent location unless a wizard is at that location.
        A dragon ridden by a wizard will destroy any enemy pieces on an adjacent location unless a wizard is at that enemy location. A dragon can carry two people (eg a wizard and a warrior) but a Neversh can only carry one.
        A dragon can destroy a Neversh.
        If any player puts piece(s) on one location next to a free dragon then that dragon will destroy that piece. This counts as a dragon move, and comes before the move of the next player.
        If any player simultaneously puts pieces into more than one location next to a free dragon, then that player has the choice of which piece the dragon destroys. Thus a player can sacrifice a piece to lure away a dragon.


        There are pieces in these categories:
        (i) people, namely kings, wizards and warriors.
        (ii) monsters, namely dragons (two), mammoths (two) and Neversh (two).
        (iii) castles (neutral).
        (iv) banes (neutral).


        Players start with their people on diagonally opposite corners. At the centre points of the sides there are monsters. These are (going widdershins round the board) a dragon, a Neversh, a dragon and a Neversh. Each monster is flanked by two castles.
        Any people piece can seize a castle wizard can approach and control a dragon or a Neversh. Such monsters destroy any other pieces which come into contact with them (banes excepted).
        A wizard from either side can command a dragon or Neversh (a monster). There is but one piece known as the monster; it can be


        Each player also has a king, and the game is won when the opposing player's king is captured.


        - Placing a bane counts as a move.
        


        - pieces (hell banes) which are static, but are placed on board one at a time at will (as a move)


        
        
        - pieces which are undefined (invisible), their places marked with counters which can be replaced with the pieces at any stage.
        - pieces which can switch position at any time


        - pieces which can combine with other pieces for additional power


        - the board conceived of as low ground (edges) and high ground (centre); the power of certain pieces grows toward the centre


        - some pieces can move great distances from centre to edges (eg dragons can fly further) and smaller distances from edges to centre (they are going uphill)


        - castles are less liable to attack when in the centre


        - the first player to win a wizard to the centre forces the other player to declare all his invisible pieces, for the central wizard can see all the others


        - all pieces can mount castles


        - castles amplify the defensive strength of all pieces


        - castles can only move if a wizard is in residence making them move. The castle cannot attack in its own right. A piece can sally forth from the castle to attack.