4-player bulldog chess (strategy discussion)
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Jan 10, 2018
0
#2
Well, bishops go up in value, just like in normal 4-player. And the witches transparency rule matters less, because there is more empty space on the board right from the beginning.
There are 2 variants of 4 player chess. Teams and free for all. Only the free for all variant is point based. Also, in the rules I posted (which is used in team variant), capturing your allies pieces is not allowed.
Since it is a team game, you should value your allies pieces the same as your own.
Jan 10, 2018
0
#5
Oh I see. Capturing for a promotion would help. But 99.9% of the time, it’s really obvious you shouldn’t take your opponents pieces.
hitthepin: that's a good point that bishops are probably worth more (especially compared to knights and guards) - probably because they can travel fast and cover a lot of squares (in the larger board), where the knights and guards still have their slow movements.
Martin0: thanks for pointing out that you can't capture your teammates piece's - I almost missed that.
Is it like four player chess where checkmates only happen when it reaches their turn, allowing another player (preferably teammate) to intervene?
I'll post a diagram of the witch again here (so anyone can discuss here instead of the game):
The witch (white) can move as a queen (orange lines), jump like a knight, or jump orthogonally and diagonally two squares (orange dots). The witch is transparent to friendly pieces and makes all adjacent pieces (friend and foe) transparent to friendly pieces. This means in the diagram the white rook can capture the black queen. If it's Black's move, then the d4 pawn can capture the witch.
(Also, pieces made transparent can be captured. For example, the white rook could stop on d4, capturing the pawn).
Luke_Hands wrote:
Is it like four player chess where checkmates only happen when it reaches their turn, allowing another player (preferably teammate) to intervene?
I believe that's what Martin wrote in the rules, but I haven't thought about it yet.
In our game (for example) I believe I can only call a "checkmate" on the blue or green king if Martin0 and you can't escape it, and it's impossible for my teammate (hitthepin) to blunder and accidentally help you guys escape.
This might make declaring "Checkmate" (to the player to my right) or "We have a mate-in-two" more difficult. But I don't think errors in declaring mate affect the game. What matters is, does the game ever arrive at a point where one king is checkmated, it is his player's turn, and he cannot escape it. If that happens, his team loses.
If my assumptions are wrong I hope someone will clarify. Or is there any other weird or unusual endings possible in this game?😨
Also, a win in a four-player game (teams of two) is probably even more fun than with just two players:
We are basically using the same rules as in teams for 4 player chess. I copied the rules from there and modified the promotion rank to be 2 steps further away since we are playing on a bigger board.
If blue makes a move that puts red in checkmate, then the game is not immediately won. First yellow must make a move and then green make a move. Then when it becomes reds turn the game will end in checkmate. So yes, it is like that @Luke_Hands
Jan 11, 2018
0
#13
So the rook can jump over pieces? Because you said mine could get to m3.
Your witch (yellow pieces) makes adjacent pieces transparent, which includes all three pawns in front of it. Since the m15 pawn is transparent (black circle) your rook can pass right across it (orange line). Not saying it's a good move or not, but it's just an example of how the witch works.
Can friendly pieces go through enemies made transparent? (i.e Bxj16)
Jan 11, 2018
0
#18
Although Martin0 could play Bxj16 in the current position if he wanted to.
Jan 11, 2018
0
#19
So the witch can be captured like a normal piece, right? For example, in the position in post 8, if it were Black’s move, he could play dxe3.
I believe all rules are already in the intro, but to mention again (with example below) transparant pieces are transparent only to pieces the same color as the witch. It doesn't even help teammate's pieces - only pieces specifically the same color.
So for Luke_Hands, the black bishop can move out on the diagonal, capturing the pawn, but not across the white pawn:
Also, the white rook can move out (orange line). Also (but not shown) is White's bishop can capture a Black pawn, and Black's rook can move out and capture the white pawn.
Lastly (not shown), a witch can be captured the same as any other piece at any time.
This thread is for discussing 4-player bulldog (such as this game).
Discussion about specific board positions while a game is in-progress is never allowed. But general concepts about strategy can be discussed. (better play by all players can make the game more fun):
1) One thing to notice is that this is a team game. That means that if I get mated then both me and my teammate (@hitthepin) lose, and both players in the other team win. For this reason, there may be positions later in a game where one player will need to sacrifice their own pieces with no compensation, to prevent his teammate from being mated.
2) Although everyone follows the same rules, and any color piece can capture any other color piece, it is probably almost always bad play to trade pieces with your teammate. (maybe a blocked pawn capturing a knight on the diagonal to promote to queen may be an exception)?
3) I believe normal 4-player chess is point-based (wins decided by points, and not checkmate). In 4-player bulldog the game is again based on checkmate (which I think is better).
Four-player chess games are new to me. What else?