For display, maybe even for your own analysis once you learned the pieces, it would be fine. Much more attractive than the average theme set. For any kind of serious, or even casual, play? No. Even if we were friends, I'd refuse to play with it. Nothing worse than in the middle of a game trying to remember which piece is what. Is it as bad as "cats vs. dogs" or "vampires vs. werewolves" ? No, but for actually playing chess you need a Staunton set. Nothing says you can't have more than 1 set; nice weighted plastic sets are cheap and do the job. Get one in addition to your theme set if you go that road. Otherwise save your money for a nice wooden set that you and your friends can cherish for decades. More of my $.02 from the giant jar of pennies...
Chess set
Agreed. I have a terracotta warrior set in a superb chinese case and board. Of course we would have a "Home advantage" playing on it once the pieces were memorised!
I would stick to the Staunton pieces as well. If you want it for display, its a nice looking set. I look at these type sets as impulse buys. It does have a WOW factor. Down the road though you will be asking yoursef... why did I buy this?
cheers for the advice, yeah I was wondering if I might just be sort of throwing money away cos they're not cheap! I guess you don't want anything that detracts from the actual game too much. On a seperate note, teracotta warrior chess sounds amazing haha
I agree that's not a playing set. I also think, unless you really like that set, that it's not worth getting for display or collecting as it won't hold its value; you are just "throwing money away." If you want something similar for a "WOW factor" I'd recommend going for one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-hand-carved-Chinese-chess-set-with-beautiful-vintage-chess-box-/161110393335?pt=Games_US&hash=item2582ed81f7 asking price is about twice what Chessbaron is asking but the pieces look handcarved and collectable. However the board does not match the set and that raises red flags the box might not be right either... but you might put in an offer. If I wanted that kind of set just for the pieces that price doesn't seem unreasonable.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Chinese-Carved-Cattle-Bone-Chess-Set-with-Bird-Theme-/221290787243?pt=Games_US&hash=item3385f571ab This is not rare and not antique, but I do think it's a collector's set. It's at least hand carved, not cast resin like chess baron's set and the price is pretty comparable, though it's birds, not figures.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Chinese-faux-ivory-carved-chess-set-400g-/290985716776?pt=UK_Antiques_Asian_Oriental_Antiques_ET&hash=item43c019ac28 same deal. 20th century Chinese ivory. These aren't rare but some people think they're collectable. If you are interested, don't go nuts. There's a stigma on ivory that new and the set is not worth much, but anyway this one is currently sitting cheaper than the chess baron cast resin mass-produced set.
You get the idea. I'd like to see the terra cotta set.
Hello, I'm looking to buy a chess set, I've got my eye on this Japanese themed one http://www.chessbaron.co.uk/chess-ST2023.htm . It would be for playing with and I'm a little concerned that the pieces are just not distinguishable enough for a real game. Has anyone got some experience with themed chess sets they would like to share?