Add Swap, Switching, pawns variants

[vchess.git] / client / src / translations / rules / Orda / en.pug

p.boxed
  | The player in second has a different set of pieces,
  | moving roughly like "augmented knights".

img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Orda.png")

p
  | Orda Chess is a chess variant designed in 2020 by Couch Tomato. 
  span.italic
    | Note: he'd rather remain anonymous :)
    | Anyway this text and all the images are from him. 
  | The idea of the game was to create a true asymmetric chess with
  | two different armies. Ralph Betza's 
  a(href="https://www.chessvariants.com/unequal.dir/cwda.html")
    | Chess with Different Armies
  |  was an inspiration, but the goal was to be a little more streamlined
  | with the theme here.
  | In this case, the theme of the new army is knight-based movement,
  | where most pieces have an element of knight movement.
  | Given the knight (or horse) theme, this was modeled after the
  | Mongol army and named the Horde. An "orda" was a military structure
  | for the people of the Steppes, which also gave rise to the English word
  | "horde." The original chess army is named the Kingdom for contrast.
  | The game itself is incredibly balanced by engine evaluation (even more
  | than standard chess), with a near 50-50 win ratio for
  | the Kingdom and Horde.

h3 General Rules

ol
  li.
    Setup is as above. Despite new pieces, the placement of the Horde pieces
    mirror their chess counterparts.
  li The Kingdom always moves first.
  li The Horde cannot castle.
  li.
    As Horde pawns start on the third rank, they do not have the option to
    move two spaces or be captured by en passant. Kingdom pawns retain the
    ability to move two spaces initially and to be captured via en passant.
  li Pawns can only promote to a queen or kheshig.
  li.
    An additional method of victory is available: called campmate. Campmate is
    achieved by moving one's king into the final rank without being check.
  li Other rules, including stalemate and repetition are as in chess.

h3 Horde Pieces

p.
  There are four new units unique* to the Horde: 2 Lancers, 2 Horse Archers,
  2 Kheshigs, and 1 Yurt (* exception being that the Kingdom can still obtain
  a Kheshig by promotion). The Kheshigs are the strongest piece
  (knight + king movement) and lead each flank, while the Yurt is a fairly
  weak piece unlike the Queen. The Horde's king is called the Khan and looks
  different, but is essentially the same as the Kingdom's King, also using
  the same abbreviation (K) — the change is purely aesthetic and
  thematic.

p.
  The Horde Lancer and Horse Archer are unique in that they capture
  differently than movement. Remember that the Horde is horse-based, so the
  Lancer and Horse Archer both move like knights. They capture like rooks
  and bishops, respectively. The Kheshig is more traditional in that it
  captures where it moves; it combines the movements of the knight and king.
  Similarly, the Yurt also captures the same way it moves; it moves as the
  silver general in Shogi.

table.rules
  tr
    th Horde piece
    th Kingdom "counterpart"
    th Movement
    th Capture
  tr
    td Yurt
    td Queen
    td "Silver"
    td "Silver"
  tr
    td Horse Archer
    td Bishop
    td Knight
    td Bishop
  tr
    td Kheshig
    td Knight
    td Knight+King
    td Knight+King
  tr
    td Lancer
    td Rook
    td Knight
    td Rook

p.
  Details and diagrams of each piece are below. Green dots represent movement,
  red dots represent capture, and yellow represents both.

h4 Yurt (Y)

img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Yurt.png")

p.
  The Yurt moves and captures one space diagonally or one space forward.
  This is the same as a silver general from Shogi or the bishop/khon
  from Makruk. There is only one yurt, starting in the queen's spot,
  but unlike the queen, it is very much a minor piece, the weakest piece
  in the game aside from a pawn. It should not be underestimated though,
  because it is one of the few Horde pieces that can move and capture
  the same way. The other two are the Khan and Kheshig, which are the two
  most valuable pieces. Therefore the yurt has the unique role of reliably
  supporting pawns and other pieces without fear of retaliation.

p.
  A yurt is a mobile home for Mongol and Turkic people in the steppes of
  Asia. Their limited mobility but importance for supporting the army is
  reflected in this piece.

h4 Kheshig (H)

img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Kheshig.png")

p.
  The Kheshig is a hybrid piece that moves and captures as a knight and
  king combined. This piece type is also generically called the centaur.
  The kheshig starts in the knight's spot, but unlike the knight,
  is the strongest Horde piece. It can be thought of the general that leads
  its own troop on each flank. It is generally preferred to keep the kheshigs
  safely behind during early to mid game because of their extreme importance
  to the Horde in the endgame.

p.
  The kheshigs were the elite imperial guard for the Mongol royalty.
  Appropriately, it is incredibly difficult for the Kingdom to checkmate
  the khan without at least eliminating one of his kheshigs first.

h4 Horse Archer (A)

img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Archer.png")

p.
  The Horse Archer, or simply abbreviated Archer, is a unique "pseudohybrid"
  piece that moves and attacks differently. The archer moves as a knight but
  captures as a bishop. Because the archer is not colorbound,
  its value is greater than its bishop counterpart.

p.
  Horse Archers were one of the two core components of the Mongol cavalry,
  functioning as the light cavalry. Their speed and prowess as mounted
  archers made them a unique threat. Their ability to quickly position
  themselves for a deadly skewer or fork make them a dangerous threat
  for the Kingdom.

h4 Lancer (L)

img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Lancer.png")

p.
  The Lancer is a unique "pseudohybrid" piece that moves and attacks
  differently. The lancer moves as a knight but captures as a rook.
  Because the lancer is not as mobile as the rook, it is generally
  weaker than the rook, and this becomes more pronounced in the endgame,
  as it cannot move across the board as quickly as a rook can.
  Its value is still comparable to the horse archer.

p.
  Lancers were one of the two core components of the Mongol cavalry,
  functioning as the heavy cavalry. Despite being weaker than the rook,
  their ability to come into play much earlier in the game is an advantage
  that the Horde player should utilize.

h4 Piece valuation

p.
  Accurate piece values are unknown. However, these are the values used by
  Fairy Stockfish, noting that they are generic values,
  not necessarily specific to Orda chess.

table.rules
  tr
    th Kingdom piece
    th Value (Early / Late)
    th Horde piece
    th Value (Early / Late)
  tr
    td Pawn
    td 120 / 213
    td Pawn
    td 120 / 213
  tr
    td Queen
    td 2538 / 2682
    td Yurt
    td 630 / 630
  tr
    td Bishop
    td 825 / 915
    td Horse Archer
    td 1100 / 1200
  tr
    td Knight
    td 781 / 854
    td Kheshig
    td 1600 / 1700
  tr
    td Rook
    td 1276 / 1380
    td Lancer
    td 1050 / 1250

p
  | For those who want a more simplified approach, this table may be
  | an approximation. 
  span.italic Note: this simplification is used by the weak bot here.

table.rules
  tr
    th Kingdom piece
    th Value
    th Horde piece
    th Value
  tr
    td Pawn
    td 1
    td Pawn
    td 1
  tr
    td Queen
    td 9
    td Yurt
    td 2
  tr
    td Bishop
    td 3
    td Horse Archer
    td 4
  tr
    td Knight
    td 3
    td Kheshig
    td 7
  tr
    td Rook
    td 5
    td Lancer
    td 4

p.
  As a whole, the Horde army is weaker than the Kingdom in value
  (based on Stockfish valuation).
  However, the Horde also starts with pawns in the third rank,
  which balances the game.

h3 Strategy

p.
  The game is still young, so strategy is still being developed!
  Much of the data is currently based on Engine play.
  The Horde cannot castle. However, a very fundamental component of a
  majority Horde openings is to move the Khan to g7.
  Reaching this spot in within the first four moves is ideal
  — in fact, Fairy Stockfish opened up with Kf7 in 56% of its games.
  The rest is variable.
  For the Kingdom, d4, g3 and b3 are the most common openings in that order.