One day, I was playing around on the Musketeer Chess website when I found their Board Painter app. I started playing around with it a bit, and before I knew it, I had drawn up a board design that looked surprisingly coherent, albeit immensely complex. I named my creation Overload Chess, because it is quite frankly way too fucking much.
This game is NOT a game of honor. No esteemed moves are commemorated here. God is dead, and I looked him square in the eye as I pulled the trigger.
This variant is available to play on Tabletop Simulator. Get the mod here: Deicide Chess on Steam
The board is 16 tiles long and 16 tiles wide. Pieces are placed on the first four ranks of each player's side of the board. As in regular chess, always remember to put a white square on the right!
Deicide Chess uses 25 different piece types.
So how does each piece move? First, some terminology.
Step - Movement to an adjacent square. Notated with a dot in the destination square, or an X for capturing-only steps.
Slide - Movement along a straight path of unoccupied squares to reach a square that is not adjacent. Notated with an arrow that follows the path of squares.
Jump - Movement directly to a square that is not adjacent, ignoring any pieces that may be in the way. Notated with an arrow.
(X, Y) jump - When a piece makes an (X, Y) jump, it jumps X squares in one orthogonal direction, then Y squares in a different, perpendicular direction. X and Y can be swapped freely, so an (X, Y) jump is equivalent to a (Y, X) jump.
Orthogonal - Forward, backward or sideways, perpendicular to the edges of the board.
Diagonal - An equal amount of movement along two perpendicular orthogonal directions.
Forward - Towards your opponent's side of the board. (Backward, similarly, is towards your own side of the board.) For White, this would be moving towards the 16th rank of the board, while for Black it would be moving towards the 1st rank.
In any direction - Orthogonally or diagonally.
(Unless otherwise stated, and with the exception of the above definitions, "move" specifically refers to non-capturing moves, while "capture" specifically refers to capturing moves. "Giving check" refers to capturing moves that can only target a King.)
Moves or captures by stepping one square in any direction.
Royal - If your King is threatened with capture, you are in check, and you MUST remove the threat. If you cannot remove the threat, you are checkmated and you lose the game. You may not willingly move into check.
Castling - Castling is done by having the King move two squares towards its Rook, then the Rook jumps to the square the King passed through. The King may not castle into, out of or through check, all squares between the King and Rook must be open, and neither the King nor the Rook used may have been moved this game.
Moves or captures by sliding any number of squares in any direction.
Moves or captures by sliding any number of squares in an orthogonal direction.
Moves or captures by sliding any number of squares in a diagonal direction.
Moves or captures by making a (2, 1) jump.
Moves by stepping one square straight forward. Captures by stepping one square diagonally forward.
Head Start - May slide up to four squares forward if it is on or behind its starting rank. (For white Pawns, this only works if done while on or behind the 4th rank, for black Pawns, only on or behind the 13th rank.)
En Passant - If an opposing Pawn uses its Head Start to move past a square where your Pawn could have captured it, you may move your Pawn into that square, then capture the opposing Pawn anyway.
Promotion - A Pawn that reaches the other side of the board (the 16th rank for white Pawns, or the 1st rank for black Pawns) becomes any piece except for a King, another Pawn, a Drunk Pawn, or a Rookie.
Has all the movement capability of both the Bishop and the Knight.
Has all the movement capability of both the Rook and the Knight.
Moves like a Rook, but cannot capture like one. Instead, to capture a piece, there must be a hurdle of either color between the Cannon and its target, which the Cannon jumps over to reach the target. The Cannon may not jump if not capturing, and may only jump over exactly one piece per move.
Moves like a Bishop, but cannot capture like one. Instead, to capture a piece, there must be a hurdle of either color between the Archer and its target, which the Archer jumps over to reach the target. The Archer may not jump if not capturing, and may only jump over exactly one piece per move.
(In other variants, this is called a Vao, but that's a made-up word that doesn't quite lend itself well to flavoring the game, so I made it an Archer instead to keep with the ranged weaponry theme.)
Moves and captures like a Queen, but three turns into the future. To do this, declare a valid square that the Time Machine will land on, then remove it from the board with three time counters. Every turn, after you make your move, remove a time counter from the Time Machine, then if there are no time counters left, return it to the board on the square that was declared three turns ago. Any piece in that square is captured, even if it's a friendly piece. The Time Machine threatens the square it's about to land on, even if there are still some turns left before it will land. Kings who are standing in that square are in check, and if a Sumo Wrestler could push a King onto the square a Time Machine is about to land on on the next turn, that King is in check.
Moves and captures by stepping exactly one square orthogonally, or jumping exactly two squares in any direction.
Moves and captures by stepping exactly one square diagonally, or making a (3, 1) jump.
Moves and captures by making a doubly-bent sliding move; first, the Kitsune steps one square in an orthogonal direction, then turns 45 degrees left or right and slides any number of squares (including 0) in the resulting diagonal direction, then turns 45 degrees left or right again and steps one square in the resulting orthogonal direction. The Kitsune cannot capture until the final orthogonal step.
(This piece is in the Piececlopedia as the Fox, but I'm too much of a furry to NOT run with that.)
Moves and captures by making a doubly-bent sliding move; first, the Werewolf steps one square in a diagonal direction, then turns 45 degrees left or right and slides any number of squares (including 0) in the resulting orthogonal direction, then turns 45 degrees left or right again and steps one square in the resulting diagonal direction. The Werewolf cannot capture until the final diagonal step.
(This piece is in the Piececlopedia as the Wolf.)
Has all the movement capability of both the Prince and the Knight.
The Fool has no movement capability of its own.
Joker - Copies the movement and capturing capabilities of whatever piece your opponent moved last, but not any special abilities, such as the King's Royal ability, or the Pawn's Promotion, except for another Fool's Joker ability.
Moves by sliding up to two squares in any direction, but cannot capture normally, instead capturing through its Kimarite ability.
Kimarite - If an enemy piece is in the Sumo Wrestler's path and could otherwise be captured by it, the Sumo Wrestler can instead push that piece one square in the direction in which it is moving, provided the next square in that direction is empty. If the Sumo Wrestler is able to push the enemy piece off the edge of the board, the enemy piece is captured.
(In actual sumo wrestling, you aren't allowed to hit your opponent, but instead, you have to push them out of the ring. The Sumo Wrestler's ability is intended to reflect this.)
This piece, along with the Time Machine and the Snail, are fully original creations. As for the visual representation of the Sumo Wrestler: Maybe something like a pawn wearing a mawashi?
Moves by jumping to any unoccupied square. Captures by stepping one square in any direction.
(This is just the Portal Mage from The Ouroboros King.)
Moves by stepping one square straight forward. Captures by stepping one square horizontally.
Head Start - May slide up to five squares forward if it is on or behind its starting rank. (For white Rookies, this only works if done while on or behind the 3rd rank, for black Rookies, only on or behind the 14th rank.)
En Passant - If an opposing Rookie uses its Head Start to move past a square where your Rookie could have captured it, you may move your Rookie into that square, then capture the opposing Rookie anyway.
Promotion - A Rookie that reaches the other side of the board (the 16th rank for white Rookies, or the 1st rank for black Rookies) becomes any piece except for a King, a Pawn, a Drunk Pawn, or another Rookie.
(This piece was created when I started thinking about different types of pawns as "baby" versions of the other pieces. The Rookie was intended to be the Rook's "baby" version, hence why it captures sideways instead of diagonally.)
Moves by stepping one square diagonally forward. Captures by stepping one square straight forward.
Head Start - May slide up to five squares diagonally forward the first time it moves. (For white Drunk Pawns, this only works if done while on or behind the 3rd rank, for black Drunk Pawns, only on or behind the 14th rank.)
En Passant - If an opposing Drunk Pawn uses its Head Start to move past a square where your Drunk Pawn could have captured it, you may move your Drunk Pawn into that square, then capture the opposing Drunk Pawn anyway.
Promotion - A Drunk Pawn that reaches the other side of the board (the 16th rank for white Drunk Pawns, or the 1st rank for black Drunk Pawns) becomes any piece except for a King, a Pawn, another Drunk Pawn, or a Rookie.
(In other variants, this is called a Berolina Pawn, but I couldn't help but think of its diagonal steps as it stumbling forward drunkenly across the battlefield. Drunk on the battlefield ain't no way to be, son.)
Moves and captures by stepping one square in any direction.
Moves and captures by jumping up to three squares in any direction.
Moves and captures by stepping one square in any direction.
Self-Destruct - If the Bomber captures or is captured, both the Bomber and the piece it captured or by which it was captured are destroyed.
Big Bang - If one Bomber captures another Bomber, a Big Bang is triggered, destroying pieces in the eight surrounding squares as well.
Moves and gives check by stepping one square in any direction.
Snail's Pace - On your opponent's turn after you move the Snail, your opponent may move an additional time. They may not put you in check with any move except the final one made on their turn. This ability does not apply on extra turns, but if you move a Snail on an extra turn, it costs two moves instead of one.
Immortal Nemesis - May only capture the King, and cannot itself be captured. (But is it a nemesis to immortals, or is it a nemesis that is itself immortal?)
To compensate for the increased complexity of the board state, your opponent must verbally announce that you are in check on the turn it happens in order for it to count. Otherwise, the game simply rewinds to a state where no Kings are in check.
If you play with this optional rule, each player gets several terrain pieces that they may place on the board at the beginning of the game.
Unless otherwise stated:
Each player gets two Cathedrals. If more than one is placed, they must be placed in such a way that there is a difference between the number of Cathedrals placed on light squares and on dark squares that is no greater than 1. (If two are placed, one must be light and one must be dark, if three are placed, one of them must be on the opposite color from the other two, and if four are placed, there must be two on light and two on dark.)
If a Bishop or Archbishop slides through a square containing a Cathedral, they may turn 90 degrees and continue sliding.
Each player gets one Portal. If one is placed, the other must also be placed.
If a piece uses a sliding move to pass over a Portal, it may jump to the other Portal and continue sliding.
Each player gets two Walls.
Pieces may not pass through Walls. Cannons and Archers may use a Wall as their hurdle when capturing.
Each player gets four Landmines. Instead of placing them on the board, note which squares they are on.
If a piece slides through or lands on a square that has a Landmine on it, the Landmine explodes, destroying itself and the triggering piece. If the King steps on a Landmine, it is instead revealed, and the move must be taken back.
Each player gets four Glue Traps.
If a piece slides through a Glue Trap, it may only slide one more square before it must stop.
Each player gets three Ziggurats, and must place all of them.
If one player has a piece on all six squares that contain a Ziggurat, they win the game instantly.
I have yet to find or create suitable graphics for the terrain elements. Feel free to suggest some, and to suggest more types of terrain!
All piece graphics come from the Board Painter inventory. None of them are original.
This post was finished on July 13, 2024 at 9:15 AM.
🎵 The Ouroboros King - VS. Edea, the Witch Queen