Mycenae

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF THE TROJAN HORSE. Your soldiers are hidden inside giant wooden horses, from which you can catch the enemy off guard.


Starting configuration for Mycenae

Mycenaean knights may not capture but may carry other pieces.

At the start of the game, your army is carried inside the knights. The army consists of one king, one rook, two bishops, and three pawns. Secretly write down which pieces are inside which knight.

On your turn, instead of moving, you can load or unload any number of pieces to or from a knight. Loaded or unloaded pieces must be horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent to the knight. You may load another player’s pieces into a knight only with his permission, and he may only unload pieces from a knight on his turn.

Instead of moving, loading, or unloading, you may choose to "burn" a knight that has at least one piece inside it – the knight, all pieces inside it, and all pieces horizontally or vertically adjacent to it are destroyed.

If one of your knights is ever captured or if another player takes control of one of your knights, all pieces inside of it are automatically destroyed. If your king was inside it, you are automatically checkmated.

First appearance: 2nd Design Competition (2nd place finalist).
Creator: Alex Nisnevich
Tags: Complex rules  Time Bomb power  Un-Lightning-able 

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Comments
The Donkey (2008-04-27)

Edit: Different starting setup (XXXXNNNX -> XNXNXXNX) for more mobility + ability to load/unload diagonally and not just laterally + no limit on loading/unloading per turn (previously 2).

Jonathon (2009-08-10)

Player gets a choice at the start of the game whether to have his pieces all visible or to have them all hidden. If his pieces are all visible any player can see what are in his horses at any given time. If his pieces are hidden only the player knows what are in his horses. When a piece is transported it is simply removed from the board, and the player announces that he has loaded it onto a horse.Some moves cannot occur if they were to put a king in check. If the player has chosen all visible then these rules take effect even if the king is in the horse. however if the pieces are hidden then the rule dose not apply if the king is in the horse.