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An incredible depth, an
impressive complexity, a fascinating game finally
revealed in 2012.
Presentation
The name of
Metamachy comes from a Greek root meaning "beyond the
battle". At Metamachy, the number 12, symbol of
perfection, is everywhere.
Metamachy is a board game for two players
using a dozenal 12x12-square board.
There are 60 (5x12) pieces of 12
different types.
Each player has:
1 King, 1 Queen, 1 Eagle, 1 Lion, 2 Princes, 2 Bishops, 2
Knights, 2 Camels, 2 Rooks, 2 Cannons, 2 Elephants and 12
Pawns.
There is a choice of 12 different
starting setups. Black chooses the setup and White makes
the first move.
Goal is to checkmate the opposing King.

1 of the 12 possible starting positions
Moves
-
There is no castling at
Metamachy:
At his first move, the King may jump to a free
square at two squares' distance. For instance, from
f2, it can jump to d1, d2, d3, d4, e4, f4, g4, h4, h3,
h2 or h1). It does not matter if the square jumped
over is occupied or not; however, the jump is
forbidden if that intermediate square is threatened by
an enemy piece. When jumping like a Knight, at least
one of the two intermediate squares must be free of
threat (e.g., if jumping from f2 to h3, either g2 or
g3 must not be under attack). The King's jump is not
permitted if the King is in check. This rule, which
was once prevalent in medieval European chess,
replaces castling.


-
Eagle: moves one
square diagonally and then, slides away of an
indefinite number of squares vertically or
horizontally. It is authorized to go only one square
diagonal. It can not jump and the unobstructed path
must start with the diagonal movement. This piece is
almost as powerful as the Queen and is inspired by the
Giraffe from Tamerlane's
Chess and the Aanca (a mythical giant bird
preying elephants, mistaken for a gryphon) from
Alfonso X's Grant Acedrex.
This piece is also known as Gryphon in many chess
variants.
-
Lion: moves as a King
(a single step move in any direction), or may jump to
a position two squares away, jumping in any orthogonal
or diagonal direction, or jumping as a Knight.
(Inspired by Chu
Shogi, the most popular variant of the
Japanese Chess, where the Lion has the same range but
is more dreadful as it can move twice in a turn).



-
Camel: jumps to the
opposite square of a 2x4 rectangle, like an extended
Knight. No matter what intermediate squares contain.
It is also described as a (3,1) leaper. Note that it
always stays on the same color of square. A well known
piece from medieval Muslim great Chess like Tamerlane's Chess.


-
Cannon: exactly as in
Shako, it is borrowed
from Xiangqi. It moves
without taking like a Rook, but it takes by going in a
straight horizontal and vertical line and jumping over
exactly one piece. When a Cannon takes a piece, there
must be exactly one piece between the original and
final square of the Cannon's move - this piece may be
of either color.

-
Elephant: exactly as
in Shako. It moves
one or two squares diagonally. When an Elephant moves
two squares, no matter what intermediate squares
contain. Note that it always stays on the same color
of square. The Elephant moves as the combined Alfil
and Firzan (Ferz) from Shatranj,
two pieces which were also present in medieval Chess
and have disappeared with the birth of modern moves
for the Bishop and the Queen.

-
Prince: a non-royal
King who moves and captures one square in any
direction, but without being hindered by check. It has
been inspired by medieval games like the Courier chess , an old
chess variant, played in Germany, where it is called
"Man". Like the Pawn, he can also move without
capturing to the second square straight ahead from
any position on the board.

-
Pawn and Prince Promotion:
A Pawn or a Prince reaching the last rank of the board
is immediately replaced by a Queen, an Eagle or a
Lion. Promotion to any other type of piece is not
allowed. It is permitted to promote a Pawn or Prince
to a type of piece already present on the same side;
however; it is considered "good etiquette" to avoid
choosing a piece which is not captured yet, if
possible.
Note that the Pawn must take at least five moves to
reach promotion (taking double steps on rows 3 - 5 - 7
- 9 - 11 - 12), which is the same number of moves
required for a Pawn in standard chess (rows 2 - 4 - 5
- 6 - 7 - 8).
- En Passant capture: Any time a Pawn
or Prince takes a double step and passes through the
capture square of an opposing Pawn, that Pawn may
capture the Pawn or Prince as if it had only moved one
square. This en passant capture must be made
in the immediate move following the double step. Only
a Pawn may capture en passant; the Prince does
not have this option.
Setup rules
At the beginning all pieces but the
Kings, Queens, Eagles and Lions are placed as follows:

Then, Black freely
decides where to place his King, Queen, Eagle and Lion
on squares f11, g11, f12 and g12.
Then, White put his
pieces symmetrically in mirror (if Black King is on f12,
White King goes on f1) and makes the first move.
This agreement
balances the advantage of White starting to play with
Black choosing the setup.
As pieces are
placed in mirror symmetry, positions of Kings on f
squares are exactly equivalent of positions of King on g
squares. Then, it can be demonstrated that it exists 12
different starting positions:
-
The King can be on f11 or
f12: 2 choices
-
Then, the Queen has a
choice of 3 positions: beside the King, beneath
the King or diagonal to the King.
-
Then, the Eagle has a
choice of 2 remaining positions.
-
Then, the left place is
for the Lion. 2x3x2 = 12.
End Of Game: The
end-of-game rules, checkmate, stalemate, etc., are
identical to standard chess.


Homemade Metamachy set and board
Pieces Value
Zillions gives these average values,
normalized to 5 for the Rook :
Pawn: 0.8 ; Camel: 2.1 ;
Elephant: 2.3 ; Knight: 2.4 ; Prince: 3.2 ;
Bishop: 3.4 ; Cannon: 4.9 ; Rook: 5 ;
Lion: 7.4 ; Eagle: 7.8 ; Queen: 8.2
A maybe more realistic estimate would be:
Pawn: 1 ; Camel: 2 ; Elephant:
2.5 ; Knight: 2.5 ; Prince: 3.5 ; Bishop: 3.5
; Cannon: 4 ; Rook: 5 ; Lion: 7.5 ;
Eagle: 8 ; Queen: 9
These values are just given for a very
rough estimate. A lot of players would disagree and give
less or more points to several piece.
You can play Metamachy if you own Z-o-G. Download this
zip-file: cazauxchess.zip

Find Metamachy in the Chessvariants pages
There is a preset to play it there.
Read the very first book about this great game!

The book contains all rules, illustrated
with many diagrams, a lot of technical considerations and
some annoted games. It also reveals the incredible history
and genesis of Metamachy.
The book is in
French, but with many diagrams it is a must have
also for English readers.


Un
tablier de 12 x 12 cases.
Un
total de 5 x 12 pièces, de 12 types
différents :
Roi,
Dame, Fous, Cavaliers, Tours, Pions mais
aussi Aigle,
Lion, Chameaux, Éléphants, Princes et
Canons.
12
manières différentes de les disposer au
départ !
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Amazing: an old Metamachy board found in England

Diagrams made with the fantastic Chess Board Painting
Tools provided by Musketeer Chess
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