Gridlock's Ruins
To all you gamesters out there, you are looking at Gridlock (New Wave Chess).
Gridlock is an ancient wizard some where in the neighborhood of 25 thousand years of age. He has been reincarnated over 3000 times and possesses the Oracle of Delphi. He once hosted these same games in Atlantis and Lamura. The translation of his ancient name comes forth as Grid Master. They played his games in the forest, at sea, in the mountains, in the cities, and of course the ancient surface’s version of cyberspace.
Gridlock was always able to keep the games fresh and new. He was able to take them through portals and into new dimensions on many different planes. Eventually the games got out of control and all that was left were the original power grids and a few ruins. This is where we will pick up the game, back in the ruins and then we'll slowly progress into cyber space, first portal.
When Gridlock went into hiding he left a reminder behind. Two kings, one black and one white with a small compliment all gridlocked onto a small eight by eight grid we call a chess board. Much of the game was lost or set aside over the millennium.
The phrase build it and they will come has popped into mind more than once. With the Oracle Delphi., I can look ahead and see this game being called many things but New Wave Chess stands out. I also see most of today's Grand Masters rejecting the game. Who cares, on an eight by eight board with traditional rules I am bored. I wonder if Fritz is. Time to get Extreme! Now let’s introduce the pieces of Gridlock Chess. I call the lower end of the scale the Divisional Pawns. I divided the pawns to make them specialist mimicking today’s military units. . All Divisional Pawns ride Horses, Rooks, Crosses, TekPads.
Freedom Pawns earn their name because of the way they break the barrier of traditional pawn movements. These pawns can move 1 or 2 steps forward or backwards.1 or 2 steps sideways 1 step diagonal for the kill or capture with one exception, one or two steps up or down, A Freedom pawn mounts the colts and Pegasus through the Knights footprints. The Pawns can launch themselves off the Knight into the heat of battle. The Freedom Pawn can also climb up on the rooks, Center Servers and Bearing Cross for quick movement across the board. All of my pawns can ride the Rooks, Knights, Center Servers and project off the Bearing Crosses.
Mounting and Dismounting
a. Is where a pawn has to be to get on a colt. b. Is where a pawn lands when he dismounts... You do this by using the Knights footprint to get on and off. Then you can ride the Knight with the pawn. Use this feature to project a man into battle or retrieve one. You may also use the Knight as a footstool to climb to upper levels. In later rounds you will find it possible to capture an enemy’s Colt and use it as your own. Getting on or off any ride or off constitutes a move. Still moving the combined pieces is a two for one deal you can’t pass up!!!
Mounting the Forrest Rook
a. is a pawn jumping on a friendly rook from a two step position. b. are the choices for dismount. Red arrows refer to kill or capture. All Soldiers ride the Rooks they simply use their own moves to mount and dismount. Capturing a Forrest Rook is easy. I am showing a Freedom Pawn in display c above. It shows that a pawn can capture instead of eliminate. It’s your choice. A few simple rules to capturing pieces and your on your way to building back up your forces. Pawns capture at an angle, the converters are the main choice for capturing pieces.
Explosive Ordinance
These guys are your worst nightmare. They can move 1 or 2 spaces any direction. Their mission is to explode and take out a nine space or twenty seven-space 3D grid. They can go off where they stand or can jump diagonal one or two spaces then go bang. They can go off in chains or an enemy could even trigger your own pawns against you. This pawn can be dealt with by sacrificing any piece to set it off before it gets to you or by using the Disarming pawn called the Royal Guard. Which is the only piece that can safely eliminate it without setting it of f or getting wiped out. Remember this pawn can ride a Horse, Rook or be projected by the Bearing Cross.
Mounting and Dismounting
Here I’m showing a couple of options that might take place in a game. The rule of thumb is if a Devisive Pawn moves diagonal it’s committed to blow. It has to take two steps to go off without blowing up the Forrest Rook you just jumped off. He’s the only pawn with this two step diagonal option. Also being a diagonal move when it steps off the Bearing Cross its pin is pulled so to speak. How ever you could jump off the Colt or straight off the Forrest Rook and stand fast. Devisive pawns move like all Pawns except they can’t capture at an angle. The next briefing board explains what the Devisive pawn can and can’t take out.
Devisive Format
What you see in the picture above is vulnerable to the bomb. Active Armor is not. All the question marks represent certain circumstances in which the bomb might not work. The four blue question marks refer to armored personnel that might not have their armor activated. Start realizing now that armored personnel might be used to armor up just about any rides. The two orange question marks are meant to point out that any piece could be protected by the Royal Guard and hence be invulnerable to the bombs attack. Even armored personnel taking out a bomb must be sacrificed.
Chain Reactions
A nice thing to always remember in Gridlock Chess is how to use your enemy’s pieces to your advantage, against him. You can swipe them or blow them up. As you can see in the picture above only the Royal Guard can stand in the way. You should probably always keep the Royal Guards busy by making sure their field of influence is not wasted. Figure a is just to remind you that when a bomb blows he is gone you take him and all the unarmored pieces he took out off the board. Figure b. is the chain reaction. c. is the Royal Guards field of influence. d. is a Royal Guard putting the halt on a chain reaction
. First Armored Division
These pawns move the same as freedom pawns except they are almost invincible when guarded. When your Armored pawn is held in check by one of its team, nothing can kill it except other armored pieces. The main ways to eliminate Armored pawns are with other amored pieces or push them off guard with a Pugal Bishop. Or in the case of two activated Armored pawns working against each other all is equal armor takes out armor. If you don’t have armor you’ll have to block their movements. or push them off guard with a Pugal Bishop, who can push the Armored pawns around. I'll let your imagination work the possibilities of pawns that can't be easily destroyed; they will definitely be part of your game plans.
Activating Armor
Any piece on the team can activate an Armored Pawn, In turn when one possesses the Crystal the Armored Pawns can armor up all the ride ons as long as someone is activating him. All the pieces in b. above represent simple assault against the armored personnel at the top of the briefing board. Armor does not yield to simple assault pieces thus we have start of true multi level chess. Not just the stacking of boards. I do however have over fifty battlefields in which to wage the battles. We will unleash the true sport of kings here. I lay out the mechanics and you build the war machine. I’ll try not to disappoint.
The Royal Guard
This is the Local Bomb Squad. He is one of the Divisive pawns. He's not only useful to disarm bombs; he can be used to activate armor. He disarms bombs using the same pattern as the Devisive Pawn. In order to take out a bomb that’s being watched by the Royal Guard, you have to eliminate the guard or it’s field of influence. Simple as ABC a. is for the way he moves the only difference is he doesn’t have the two-step diagonal option. b. is for his active field c. is for how he can protect a piece and d. is how he can protect or stop a bomb from going off. He is the only piece that can take a bomb out without sacrificing himself. In order to eliminate the royal Guards field you would use one of the Medusas
Mobilizing the Royal Guard
As a Divisional Pawn it rides all the rides and with the possession of the Crystal it can project its field of influence through the piece it’s riding. Figure a. represents the loading of a CenterServe Bishop, it just hops up on from one or two spaces away. The letter b. is a possible projection off from a Bearing Cross. A Royal Guards field of influence is enhanced when riding a Power Piece. Figure c. shows the possible mounting and dismounting positions for Pegasus. The four Royal Guard of the opposing color could capture the enemy Pegasus and use it. Letter d is for the possible dismounts off from a Center Serve.