Chess Variant 7 - Cowardly Crew, by Terry H Jones

CHESS VARIANT 7 - COWARDLY CREW
by Terry H Jones

"Looking Out for Number #1!"

General
- It can difficult for individual foot soldiers to see the big picture of a battle - especially when their friends are dying all around them. To make it worse, kings have been known to hire mercenaries - whose allegiance can change with what they perceive as the tide of battle. As though things were not bad enough on the squared battlefield, this rule gives the King something else to worry about - and maybe another resource to drawn upon.
Rule
1. A player making a capture may choose to terrorize (and bribe) opposing survivors, and convert them to the true cause - the capturing player's own.
2. The player making a capture may convert the opposing pieces in the adjacent, surrounding squares from the opposing camp to his own.
3. The conversion of the opposing pieces is automatic - no die rolls, no surrender of pawns or other material, etc., subject to these limitations.
4. Pieces adjacent to the defending King will not convert.
5. Pieces will only convert if the attacking piece or the piece just captured is of an equal or higher rank. Example:
  - a white pawn captures a black knight
  - in 2 of the surrounding 8 squares sits a black pawn, another black knight, and a black rook
  - the pawn and knight will convert; the rook will not
  - see Commentary 1 for reasoning
6. A piece may be converted any number of times, flipping and flopping with the winds of war.
7. Conversion is optional. If the capturing player's game is somehow improved by leaving the opposing pieces opposing, so be it.
8. Conversions are a by-product of the player's move and capture. There are no additional moves allowed, the converted pieces do not start moving, etc.
9. Captures en passant count. The squares available for conversion are those around the capturing piece.
10. A player in check may make a capture that, in itself, does not eliminate check, if the capture leads to a conversion that does eliminate check.
11. Converted pieces may immediately give check or mate, if they are so positioned.
Commentary
- The idea behind the rank comparison and conversion limits is that, for example, a knight will not normally be swayed or scared by a pawn - unless that pawn has just defeated another knight, a rook, the queen, etc., which may make him rethink his attitude of arrogance.
- I have the remnants of several cheap chess sets, so it's easy enough to lay my hands on 3 bishops, 10 pawns, etc. If you don't have as much junk as I do, you can reintroduce captured pieces, set converted pieces on checkers, coins, etc.

Fin