272. Lamassu. This being from Assyrian legend (also called a shedu) was mentioned in conversation a few days ago, and I immediately (one might even say reflexively) started thinking about how such a piece could be represented on the board.
A lamassu is described as "having a human head, the body of a bull or a lion, and bird wings." The bull seems to dominate the overall description,* and also seems much easier to iimplement in this context, so I went with that; but a bull what? Bison or Buffalo seem obvious, but Aurochs is also possible.
What bird piece to use is also subject to a choice. The most familiar bird-based pieces are Raven, Hawk, and Eagle; of these, the Raven is in between the other two and seems the most reasonable. Plus, the Nightrider-based part of its move covers the Bison/Buffalo dillemma, so it helps with that decision.
Adding the Man (for the human head), we get a piece that slides orthogonally like a Rook; steps one space diagonally; leaps (1,3) or (2,3) like a Camel or Zebra; or makes one or more (1,2) Knight leaps in a straight line. (RFCZNN)
(I missed including c12 as part of the Nightrider move; sorry about that.)
This only occurred to me just now, but I think it might also be interesting to see how things would fall if I'd chosen to go with the Aurochs and Hawk.
Making the piece was a more of a challenge than it looks. There's no indication of lamassu having a bull's horns, but how else to indicate the bull part of the construct in an upright piece? If nothing else, this necessary bit of artistic license should make the piece distinctive on the board.
*That's my general sense when reading about it, anyway. I could be wrong.
272. Lamassu. This being from Assyrian legend (also called a shedu) was mentioned in conversation a few days ago, and I immediately (one might even say reflexively) started thinking about how such a piece could be represented on the board.
A lamassu is described as "having a human head, the body of a bull or a lion, and bird wings." The bull seems to dominate the overall description,* and also seems much easier to iimplement in this context, so I went with that; but a bull what? Bison or Buffalo seem obvious, but Aurochs is also possible.
What bird piece to use is also subject to a choice. The most familiar bird-based pieces are Raven, Hawk, and Eagle; of these, the Raven is in between the other two and seems the most reasonable. Plus, the Nightrider-based part of its move covers the Bison/Buffalo dillemma, so it helps with that decision.
Adding the Man (for the human head), we get a piece that slides orthogonally like a Rook; steps one space diagonally; leaps (1,3) or (2,3) like a Camel or Zebra; or makes one or more (1,2) Knight leaps in a straight line. (RFCZNN)
(I missed including c12 as part of the Nightrider move; sorry about that.)
This only occurred to me just now, but I think it might also be interesting to see how things would fall if I'd chosen to go with the Aurochs and Hawk.
Making the piece was a more of a challenge than it looks. There's no indication of lamassu having a bull's horns, but how else to indicate the bull part of the construct in an upright piece? If nothing else, this necessary bit of artistic license should make the piece distinctive on the board.
*That's my general sense when reading about it, anyway. I could be wrong.