The board looks neat but this concept seems only half baked, since it begins to confuse directionality once a turn is taken, and the new board greatly reduces the number of available moves.
There is just a single space for the pawns on the end to move to, after all, and it isn't well defined what moves the penultimate pawns could make should they move one square forward (can they attack end-pawns that have moved just one square?)
What might be a better variant would be to assign directionality to all pawns (starting as forward), and allow them to take left or right turns, perhaps diagonally. This greatly increases the number of game possibilities while introducing no new confusing scenarios.
A couple other ideas: don't hack the pawn moves, just change the promotion rules to allow for promotion on either side of the board. Or, don't hack the pawn moves and don't change the promotion rules. If a pawn gets stuck on its own side of the board, the pawn acts as a blockade but runs out of moves. This means the only way to promote is to capture an opponent's piece.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. For this board to work I think the pawn design should come with a "face" so you can remember what direction it is pointing as it seems possible to turn a pawn around or make them move sideways.
For example, following the rules of the layout I _think_ the end unit pawns should technically be facing away from the board. That is to say, "A2" pawn's forward direction would actually be H7. That's pretty crazy to think about.
I'd like to get this board, I wouldn't be all that interested in a serious game but I think it'd make a fun time waster and argument creator.
There is just a single space for the pawns on the end to move to, after all, and it isn't well defined what moves the penultimate pawns could make should they move one square forward (can they attack end-pawns that have moved just one square?)
What might be a better variant would be to assign directionality to all pawns (starting as forward), and allow them to take left or right turns, perhaps diagonally. This greatly increases the number of game possibilities while introducing no new confusing scenarios.