Well, what I would use is a "teambuilder" of sorts, where you can make a formation under certain rules, one being that it can have a point value of no more than the default army, which is 41.
My ideas
The B-52:
He moves like a knight but unlimited squares in the L-shape. In other words can move anywhere on the neighbouring rank as long as it's not in the same diagonal nor immediate 90 degree square to. Probably 15 points it's worth
wall maker
once all pieces but the king and 3 other pieces of a opposing team are captured, the wall maker makes a chamber that once the wall maker reaches slowly executes the king.
Archer and ninja would be fun... Might run into some problems with the others. I could see leapfrog endgames being a drawing nightmare.
Necromancer: Moves like a queen with a max of 3 spaces and can place a dead piece from its team anywhere on the board after being captured. Replaced with Jester in Crazy House.
Here's my idea for some pieces
Piece 1:Module Obelisk
There are three modules:The Tinkerer,Swindler,and Priest(they're all different pieces)
The Module Obelisk has some special atributes
1.It's modules can split themselves according to their movement,and even capture while splitting,they can also reunite
2.When a module seprates from the module obelisk,the obelisk loses that separated module's movement
Now,time to introduce all the modules/pieces
Piece 2:Tinkerer
The Tinkerer moves like a king,but has the special ability of upgrading an adjacent piece to it
Here's all of the upgrades the tinkerer can do(only orthodox pieces included):
Pawn:The pawn can now capture forward
Knight:The Knight can now capture an enemy piece between it's L shape movement
Bishop:The Bishop has the added movement of moving like a king
Rook:The Rook has the added ability of piercing through 2 pieces when capturing(except other Rooks,upgraded or not),
Queen:The queen has the added movement of a knight
King:The King has the added ability of castling with a Rook at anytime,provided both are in the same rank,they are not obstructed,the king isIt's added bonb not in check,and that the destination square and squares inbetween are not under attack
Piece 3: Swindler
The Swindler is a Rook,but with a range of two.It has the added ability of placing a single copy of itself of decept opponents.The copy does not cause checks,and cannot capture pieces,but it can still move,and be "captured".
Priest:A bishop with a range of 2.Unlike the swindler,it has no special abilities.
And that is all my piece proposals.
New piece idea: Doctor/Medic (9 points)
The doctor/medic can revive a lost piece, or move one space in any direction. Reviving a piece costs your move, and the doctor/medic is unable to take any other piece.
The idea is probably really stupid. I just like coming up with odd chess pieces
Another interesting piece should be the elephant. Not the traditional, ancient, elephant but a new one. It would move like a king, except it cannot capture unless a certain piece (I'll let you deicide) is in vision. If a misguided piece ever moves to the elephant's range, the elephant can knock the piece back 3 squares. For this reason there should only ever be 1 elephant. If a knocked piece lands on any other piece, your's or opponet's it will capture that piece and stop. There should be some kind of reward for the elephant capturing a certain amount of pieces and then it can go on some kind of berserk mode or something.
I dont think it is strong enough maybe add that it can move three times a turn
Piece Idea: Pawn-Bot (2)
Moves like a pawn that is on the second rank, even when it is on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th ranks, and can move like it is capturing, even when it isn't.
Diagram:
XXOXX XOOOX XXPXX
X = Illegal Move
O = Legal Move
P = Pawn-Bot
Can not promote. No en-passent.
Notation: (PB)
Chariot:
Moves like a knight, as it can only move in an 'L' shape. But whenever it moves, it can extend the length of the L by one space or shorten it by one. I hope that made sense.
Sounds cool. Just I think champion should cost less than 15.
I made my 2 pieces that should be as strong as queen but to be honest they both feel stronger than queen. Also they are quiet more complex than normal chess pieces. Would love to hear your thought as its hard to balance them.
Phoenix
Moves/captures like a knight. At the beggining off every turn(both whites and blacks) this piece sets squares that are 2 squares forward and 2 diagonally forward on fire. If any opponents piece was caught in fire, all orthogonal squares of the piece are burned for 3 turns,trapping pieces that are orthogonally-next. Opponent's pieces cant go past burned squares(but knight can still jump over) while when friendly pieces get to these squares, player makes another move(cant use this ability more than once per turn. Player doesnt get extra move if the 1st move was check).
Enchanter:
Moves like a rook(cannot capture).
At the beggining of a game (or when it is promoted) it gives enchantment of level 1 to 2 pieces. When enchanter is destroyed pieces lose enchantmentents.
Here are the enchantments:
enchantment path 1:when claw gets to any opponent's piece the piece gets destroyed and clutch stops Piece level-ups when it eats a piece. 1.at the start of this player's turn this piece releases an claw going one square forward 2.at the start of this player's turn this piece releases an claw going one square forward and then one square rigt-forward 3. at the start of this player's turn this piece releases an claw going, forward,right-forward and backwards-right
enchantment path 2: protecting bubble: goes at speed of 1 square per turn. If it encounters friendly piece the piece cannot be eaten next turn. If it encounters opponent's piece it gets destroyed When protecting bubble encounters 3 different friendly pieces that havent got bubble before(by this piece) this piece levels up.Protecting bubble cant be applied to the same piece 2 turns in a row. level 1: at the beggining of every turn this piece releases a protecting bubble going forward level 2: at the beggining of every turn this piece releases and 2 protecting bubbles going diagonally forward level 3: at the beggining of every turn this piece releases a protecting bubble going forward and 2 going diagonally forward
Priest-
Can move to any space adjacent to it but takes forward diagonly
Alchemist-
Can move two spaces like a rook and takes two spaces beside it or diagonly
Assasin-
Can move two spaces left or right and takes as many spaces as irlt wants forwards, when you attack theres no turning back!
Piece Idea: Pawn-Bot (2)
Moves like a pawn that is on the second rank, even when it is on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th ranks, and can move like it is capturing, even when it isn't.
Diagram:
XXOXX XOOOX XXPXX
X = Illegal Move
O = Legal Move
P = Pawn-Bot
Can not promote. No en-passent.
Notation: (PB)
Nice way of showing how it moves.
Bracketed values are point value.
Archer - Moves like a Pawn but takes pieces two squares away to its left and right without moving to that space. (1)
Leapfrog - Can only move by jumping over other pieces. Can jump over any number of pieces. Can leapfrog infinitely until it takes. (3)
Bomber - Moves like a King, but takes the piece that takes it. (3)
Ninja - Can move like a Rook, with a maximum of three spaces. Ignores obstructions. (5)
Glider - Can move like a Queen, but it must move all the way it can go in the direction it chooses. (7)
Jester - First move, moves like a Queen, after which it alternates between moving like a Rook and Bishop depending on how it moved initially. (7)
Wizard - Can teleport to any open space on the board, or can take like a king. Cannot move and take in the same turn. (9)
Champion - Moves like a Rook and then like a King in one turn. (15)