client/src/translations/rules/Orda/en.pug

   1 p.boxed
   2   | The player in second has a different set of pieces,
   3   | moving roughly like "augmented knights".
   4
   5 img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Orda.png")
   6
   7 p
   8   | Orda Chess is a chess variant designed in 2020 by Couch Tomato.
   9   span.italic
  10     | Note: he'd rather remain anonymous :)
  11     | Anyway this text and all the images are from him.
  12   | The idea of the game was to create a true asymmetric chess with
  13   | two different armies. Ralph Betza's
  14   a(href="https://www.chessvariants.com/unequal.dir/cwda.html")
  15     | Chess with Different Armies
  16   | &nbsp;was an inspiration, but the goal was to be a little more streamlined
  17   | with the theme here.
  18   | In this case, the theme of the new army is knight-based movement,
  19   | where most pieces have an element of knight movement.
  20   | Given the knight (or horse) theme, this was modeled after the
  21   | Mongol army and named the Horde. An "orda" was a military structure
  22   | for the people of the Steppes, which also gave rise to the English word
  23   | "horde." The original chess army is named the Kingdom for contrast.
  24   | The game itself is incredibly balanced by engine evaluation (even more
  25   | than standard chess), with a near 50-50 win ratio for
  26   | the Kingdom and Horde.
  27
  28 h3 General Rules
  29
  30 ol
  31   li.
  32     Setup is as above. Despite new pieces, the placement of the Horde pieces
  33     mirror their chess counterparts.
  34   li The Kingdom always moves first.
  35   li The Horde cannot castle.
  36   li.
  37     As Horde pawns start on the third rank, they do not have the option to
  38     move two spaces or be captured by en passant. Kingdom pawns retain the
  39     ability to move two spaces initially and to be captured via en passant.
  40   li Pawns can only promote to a queen or kheshig.
  41   li.
  42     An additional method of victory is available: called campmate. Campmate is
  43     achieved by moving one's king into the final rank without being check.
  44   li Other rules, including stalemate and repetition are as in chess.
  45
  46 h3 Horde Pieces
  47
  48 p.
  49   There are four new units unique* to the Horde: 2 Lancers, 2 Horse Archers,
  50   2 Kheshigs, and 1 Yurt (* exception being that the Kingdom can still obtain
  51   a Kheshig by promotion). The Kheshigs are the strongest piece
  52   (knight + king movement) and lead each flank, while the Yurt is a fairly
  53   weak piece unlike the Queen. The Horde's king is called the Khan and looks
  54   different, but is essentially the same as the Kingdom's King, also using
  55   the same abbreviation (K) &mdash; the change is purely aesthetic and
  56   thematic.
  57
  58 p.
  59   The Horde Lancer and Horse Archer are unique in that they capture
  60   differently than movement. Remember that the Horde is horse-based, so the
  61   Lancer and Horse Archer both move like knights. They capture like rooks
  62   and bishops, respectively. The Kheshig is more traditional in that it
  63   captures where it moves; it combines the movements of the knight and king.
  64   Similarly, the Yurt also captures the same way it moves; it moves as the
  65   silver general in Shogi.
  66
  67 table.rules
  68   tr
  69     th Horde piece
  70     th Kingdom "counterpart"
  71     th Movement
  72     th Capture
  73   tr
  74     td Yurt
  75     td Queen
  76     td "Silver"
  77     td "Silver"
  78   tr
  79     td Horse Archer
  80     td Bishop
  81     td Knight
  82     td Bishop
  83   tr
  84     td Kheshig
  85     td Knight
  86     td Knight+King
  87     td Knight+King
  88   tr
  89     td Lancer
  90     td Rook
  91     td Knight
  92     td Rook
  93
  94 p.
  95   Details and diagrams of each piece are below. Green dots represent movement,
  96   red dots represent capture, and yellow represents both.
  97
  98 h4 Yurt (Y)
  99
 100 img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Yurt.png")
 101
 102 p.
 103   The Yurt moves and captures one space diagonally or one space forward.
 104   This is the same as a silver general from Shogi or the bishop/khon
 105   from Makruk. There is only one yurt, starting in the queen's spot,
 106   but unlike the queen, it is very much a minor piece, the weakest piece
 107   in the game aside from a pawn. It should not be underestimated though,
 108   because it is one of the few Horde pieces that can move and capture
 109   the same way. The other two are the Khan and Kheshig, which are the two
 110   most valuable pieces. Therefore the yurt has the unique role of reliably
 111   supporting pawns and other pieces without fear of retaliation.
 112
 113 p.
 114   A yurt is a mobile home for Mongol and Turkic people in the steppes of
 115   Asia. Their limited mobility but importance for supporting the army is
 116   reflected in this piece.
 117
 118 h4 Kheshig (H)
 119
 120 img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Kheshig.png")
 121
 122 p.
 123   The Kheshig is a hybrid piece that moves and captures as a knight and
 124   king combined. This piece type is also generically called the centaur.
 125   The kheshig starts in the knight's spot, but unlike the knight,
 126   is the strongest Horde piece. It can be thought of the general that leads
 127   its own troop on each flank. It is generally preferred to keep the kheshigs
 128   safely behind during early to mid game because of their extreme importance
 129   to the Horde in the endgame.
 130
 131 p.
 132   The kheshigs were the elite imperial guard for the Mongol royalty.
 133   Appropriately, it is incredibly difficult for the Kingdom to checkmate
 134   the khan without at least eliminating one of his kheshigs first.
 135
 136 h4 Horse Archer (A)
 137
 138 img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Archer.png")
 139
 140 p.
 141   The Horse Archer, or simply abbreviated Archer, is a unique "pseudohybrid"
 142   piece that moves and attacks differently. The archer moves as a knight but
 143   captures as a bishop. Because the archer is not colorbound,
 144   its value is greater than its bishop counterpart.
 145
 146 p.
 147   Horse Archers were one of the two core components of the Mongol cavalry,
 148   functioning as the light cavalry. Their speed and prowess as mounted
 149   archers made them a unique threat. Their ability to quickly position
 150   themselves for a deadly skewer or fork make them a dangerous threat
 151   for the Kingdom.
 152
 153 h4 Lancer (L)
 154
 155 img.img-center(src="/variants/Orda/Lancer.png")
 156
 157 p.
 158   The Lancer is a unique "pseudohybrid" piece that moves and attacks
 159   differently. The lancer moves as a knight but captures as a rook.
 160   Because the lancer is not as mobile as the rook, it is generally
 161   weaker than the rook, and this becomes more pronounced in the endgame,
 162   as it cannot move across the board as quickly as a rook can.
 163   Its value is still comparable to the horse archer.
 164
 165 p.
 166   Lancers were one of the two core components of the Mongol cavalry,
 167   functioning as the heavy cavalry. Despite being weaker than the rook,
 168   their ability to come into play much earlier in the game is an advantage
 169   that the Horde player should utilize.
 170
 171 h4 Piece valuation
 172
 173 p.
 174   Accurate piece values are unknown. However, these are the values used by
 175   Fairy Stockfish, noting that they are generic values,
 176   not necessarily specific to Orda chess.
 177
 178 table.rules
 179   tr
 180     th Kingdom piece
 181     th Value (Early / Late)
 182     th Horde piece
 183     th Value (Early / Late)
 184   tr
 185     td Pawn
 186     td 120 / 213
 187     td Pawn
 188     td 120 / 213
 189   tr
 190     td Queen
 191     td 2538 / 2682
 192     td Yurt
 193     td 630 / 630
 194   tr
 195     td Bishop
 196     td 825 / 915
 197     td Horse Archer
 198     td 1100 / 1200
 199   tr
 200     td Knight
 201     td 781 / 854
 202     td Kheshig
 203     td 1600 / 1700
 204   tr
 205     td Rook
 206     td 1276 / 1380
 207     td Lancer
 208     td 1050 / 1250
 209
 210 p
 211   | For those who want a more simplified approach, this table may be
 212   | an approximation.
 213   span.italic Note: this simplification is used by the weak bot here.
 214
 215 table.rules
 216   tr
 217     th Kingdom piece
 218     th Value
 219     th Horde piece
 220     th Value
 221   tr
 222     td Pawn
 223     td 1
 224     td Pawn
 225     td 1
 226   tr
 227     td Queen
 228     td 9
 229     td Yurt
 230     td 2
 231   tr
 232     td Bishop
 233     td 3
 234     td Horse Archer
 235     td 4
 236   tr
 237     td Knight
 238     td 3
 239     td Kheshig
 240     td 7
 241   tr
 242     td Rook
 243     td 5
 244     td Lancer
 245     td 4
 246
 247 p.
 248   As a whole, the Horde army is weaker than the Kingdom in value
 249   (based on Stockfish valuation).
 250   However, the Horde also starts with pawns in the third rank,
 251   which balances the game.
 252
 253 h3 Strategy
 254
 255 p.
 256   The game is still young, so strategy is still being developed!
 257   Much of the data is currently based on Engine play.
 258   The Horde cannot castle. However, a very fundamental component of a
 259   majority Horde openings is to move the Khan to g7.
 260   Reaching this spot in within the first four moves is ideal
 261   &mdash; in fact, Fairy Stockfish opened up with Kf7 in 56% of its games.
 262   The rest is variable.
 263   For the Kingdom, d4, g3 and b3 are the most common openings in that order.