Qiang-Xiangqi
Changes I have made to the previous version:
1. Less pieces, but now more powerful
-- Fortresses are now harder to make. Shuffling doesn't work, according to game 69686279 and game 69685735, where shuffling just leads to weak pawns / a breakthrough. There are less rooks on the board, and although taking the middle file is a playable opening, unless I have missed something, it is a gambit for White, and it is a worthwhile one, because if Black takes the rook pawn with the jump spell, Black can get his rook trapped/have a bad position if he becomes greedy, and White will have one extra jump spell and two extra tempi for the sergeant.
Sample opening (moves copied from the PGN4 notation): 1. Rm2-m4 .. Vk13-j11
2. Rm4-h4 .. jump@m10&Rm13xδm5
3. Vk2-j4 .. Rm5-m13
If the middle file is taken as White, Black can win a sergeant, but loses development tempi and a jump spell.
If Black tries to be greedy, with ( .. Rm5xδk5
4. δi5-k7 .. Ve13-f11
5. Ul2-m4 .. Rk5-k2
6. Vj4xRk2 )
And black's rook is gone.
However, Black can also try to be greedy with ( .. Rm5-m2
4. Ul2-m4 .. Vj11-k8 - Preventing 5. Vj4-l5, trapping Black's rook
5. δi5-k7 .. Vk8-i9
6. Ve2-h3 .. Fg13-h12
7. Vj4-l5 .. jump@m4&Rm2-m5
8. Vl5-j4 .. Rm5-m9 ) - And White is ahead in development at the cost of a rook pawn whilst Black has to use another jump spell to save his trapped rook, which is still awkwardly placed.
Just like in regular xiangqi, sometimes taking a 'free' pawn/soldier in the opening results in losing a piece/getting into a disadvantage.
2. Torpedo sergeants
-- They are weak in the sense that they are targets, which discourages fortress making and encourages pawn pushing, but strong in the sense that they can move faster (and also jump over other pieces with the help of the jump spell) and promote to stronger pieces, and in some cases it's a stronger choice to skip promotion and create havoc in the opponent's camp, with many tactics available here. Once my sergeant jumped over another sergeant to skip promotion and it eventually lead to a fork, winning material. Now that the sergeants are more useful, they are no longer 'cannon fodder', but now a major part of the game, especially with stronger pieces upon promotion.
3. The wildebeest
-- With a bigger board, the camel-knight combo piece enables for new tactics and the rook is less overvalued relative to the other pieces, even though it is still the most powerful piece. The wildebeest can jump over other pieces and attack weak pawns, and is a strong attacking piece amid the walls. It can mate in the opening, on squares i5 g5 i10 g10, but they are easily defended against.
Trivia
This variant has taken me the whole summer holidays (1 month and 2 weeks) to make (no, I'm NOT complaining if this gets declined, I will invest as much time as it needs), added on to the previously declined version here: https://variants.world/posts/619
This Qiang-Xiangqi 强象棋 version provides a bigger spin on Xiangqi, and I would like to keep the current name, but again, if the CGAs deem the variant to be too dissimilar from Xiangqi, they can decide to rename it as "Qiangqi", or 强棋.
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