Well, yes, in traditional chess. But in traditional chess, pieces that are taken out don’t normally return to the board. Even if every pawn got promoted, there would still be some finiteness.
In chess, pieces can only get killed by pieces of the opposite colour (a white pawn cannot kill a white tower, for example), so I guess it’s also applicable to human adventurers that show up in the middle of a game :P
Hey, ease up, there. I know it’s a little bit trying now, but stick with it. Play the game. Sometimes you get dealt a bad hand, but don’t throw in the towel. It’ll get better. We promise.
In one old variant of “battle chess” for whatever computer system my grandfather had when I was a kid, the Queen DID have an animated ranged attack (magic of some sort).
…then she would waltz over to the site of the attack to dance on her victim’s corpse. Or at least that was how I interpreted it.
Anyways, I’m sure arrows are totally allowed in chess. I mean, when it comes to rules of movement, the King totally got the shaft.
Someone else who played – and remembers – Battle Chess?
<3 *sigh*
That game taught us very little about getting better at chess and quite a lot about setting up weird patterns so you can see all the different animations.
Wonder if there's an emulator version floating around on the tubes?
I think the gnomes would be proud of Frigg, she won her first game of chess. It might not be normal, but she did it in the most proper way, with regicide.
Perhaps one of the cultural differences between Syr’nj’s people and the Sky Elves is their xenophobia and forced isolation? The Sky Elves may have had more cultural exchanges with the world’s other races.
Another possibility is that the trap is designed primarily to prevent Elven or other non-human intrusion. If the rules of chess are arcane knowledge that only high-level scholars have access to, the trap becomes more effective in that most Elven intruders won’t know how to ‘beat’ it.
I dunno about that. The Sky Elves made a freaking floating island so that they could be above – and apart from – the other races. They may be more elitist than xenophobic but they are definitely isolationist.
It is possible that the Sky Elves even made the game themselves and that it later became popular in Human lands. The Wood Elves may just see it as a “Human game” because many Humans play it, not because they invented it.
Chess doesn’t end by killing the king. Chess ends by trapping the king in an inescapable situation. Then you capture the king and put him up to ransom. Since the other country just lost militarily and has a suffering economy, you’re forced to keep the king hostage in one of your lesser palaces with only 15 or so servants and a first class larder (you can’t have the king eat like the filthy commoners after all). He has very limited freedoms, only able to ride and hunt with a nag that is barely a thoroughbred for a horse and only the occasional maid to bed.
Following a period of imprisonment that ranges from 5-10 years, hostilities are renewed. The country that has lost its king has finally, through brutal use of the peasants, reformed its army with the Prince Regent at the head. The Prince Regent of the kingdom is captured over the bloody and beaten bodies of peasants from both sides. Again, he is placed in one of the lesser palaces with only 12 servants and other second class amenities.
Years down the line, the dying peasants of the losing lands finally realize that they’re being screwed over in the system and revolt against the current Regent. Founding a democracy, they stretch their hands out to the peasants of the other land…only to get crushed by their former king and prince combined with all the gentry of the country that captured them. Soon after a bloody beating down of the traitors, the king and prince are granted lands and titles in the conquered land.
Yes, in your version of chess, the squares on which the war is fought represent the peasants. Should the game go on too long, the squares start shifting, moving, confusing the landscape. Continue the game, and the general unrest turns into a veritable earthquake! The squares shoot upwards, crushing the pawns that were resting on it against the ceiling! Reinforcements will be sent, but they will fare no better! Eventually, the king will be surrounded by the angry squares. He will have the choice to either give the square peasants their rights or die by their square fists! Viva la revolution carre!
“Gor for the nuts Frigg, THE NUTS!”
But hey, do constructs REALLY HAVE nuts?
(In the second panel, look for the pain expression in the tower golem’s face!)
He’s on the other side of the board, where the white pieces were. Everyone else was plowing through the black pieces headed toward where the new exit has appeared. I suppose that means he was fighting the rear-guard action.
…Actually, you never capture the king. You see “checkmate” comes from an old phrase meaning “the king is captured,” and it’s traditionally believed that checkmate was never meant to mean the death of the king. Consider it from the point of view of rule of the nobility, it’s a bad idea to teach your progeny that it’s ok to kill the head honcho if you’re the local lord or king… And my inner chess nerd is satiated. For now.
It would appear that they have no knowledge of their previous lives. Other than similar personality traits, the party we see and the people in the tubes might as well be completely different entities.
So, what happens if/when they are released from the tubes? They have strong memories and the beginnings of ingrained personality divergences, and that can’t be good.
Frigg offering useful and tactical information in the middle of a battle? What is this mad anti-backwards world they have been transported to?!?! I blame freaky Sky Elf magic…
Don’t go into the light, stay away from the light!
Come now, it’s not like they’re in a long, dark tunnel/cavern, or anything…
Still, some people can only see their lives in black & white
Ooooh, we’ve got this notion
That we’d quite like to sail the ocean
So we’re building a big boat to leave here for good.
We’re not keen on sinking
So we’re all sitting here a thinking
‘Cause we built it too big and we’ve run out of wood.
eidle eidle eee
eidle eidle eee
We simply can’t leave ’til we get some more wood.
Oooh, we’re not keen on sinking
so that’s why we’re sitting thinking
cause we simply can’t leave ’til we get some more wood.
Oh god XD Those guys were the best part of the first level.
heading toward the light’s always a bad thing unless you want to resign
Now you’re just making light of the situation.
Ah. Her chess lessons came in handy after all….
Interesting though that none of them have that knowledge from their real lives.
That would be metagaming.
Either that or Post-Modernism.
Actually, We’ve no evidence that they’ve kept any memory of who they are outside.
Never underestimate the power of Plotnium-tipped arrows.
Or Phlebotinum-powered bows.
Neither the bows nor the arrows needed to be special. As the Alt-Text indicated, all it took was to bring a bow to a sword fight.
So . . . how did killing the black king stop the white side from attacking them?
the game ends when one of the kings is killed
Well, yes, in traditional chess. But in traditional chess, pieces that are taken out don’t normally return to the board. Even if every pawn got promoted, there would still be some finiteness.
It’s magic chess. It’s like regular chess.
Only with MAGIC!
In chess, pieces can only get killed by pieces of the opposite colour (a white pawn cannot kill a white tower, for example), so I guess it’s also applicable to human adventurers that show up in the middle of a game :P
In traditional Japanese chess, called Shogi, you may take your opponents pieces that you capture and use as your own.
Well, at least they got this off their chess.
KA-DUN-THICH! ;) ^^
They were getting board of killing pawns.
I’m board of chess puns, not just because they’ve had a monopoly in this arc’s checkered past, but because they’ve been stale from the word Go.
Now I get that we’re between a rook and a hard place because of the story, but really, what’s humor without an element of Risk?
Hey, ease up, there. I know it’s a little bit trying now, but stick with it. Play the game. Sometimes you get dealt a bad hand, but don’t throw in the towel. It’ll get better. We promise.
For the slice and dice part, I guess Byron is definitely a good card. He’s simply the best to keep many threats in check, even against sore losers.
Hey, I’m Sorry we had to Trouble you with bored games. No one has a Monopoly on “how to have fun.”
In one old variant of “battle chess” for whatever computer system my grandfather had when I was a kid, the Queen DID have an animated ranged attack (magic of some sort).
…then she would waltz over to the site of the attack to dance on her victim’s corpse. Or at least that was how I interpreted it.
Anyways, I’m sure arrows are totally allowed in chess. I mean, when it comes to rules of movement, the King totally got the shaft.
Which explains a great deal about Frigg’s parthian shot to the gnomes – she just wanted the Queen to know how the kings felt.
*heeble cheeble cheeble*
Someone else who played – and remembers – Battle Chess?
<3 *sigh*
That game taught us very little about getting better at chess and quite a lot about setting up weird patterns so you can see all the different animations.
Wonder if there's an emulator version floating around on the tubes?
Geez, that’s unbieleavlbe. Kudos and such.
Regicide is my new favorite word.
It’s been my gaming group’s favorite for years. Makes it both hard and terrifyingly easy to plan D&D adventures.
To double the pleasure, ensure regicide by defenestration.
Out of curiosity, would death of the queen be reginacide?
Or would it be vaginacide?
. . . too far?
Cheers,
Cote
Their Mystic headshots your King: checkmate.
I bet Syr’nj has always wanted to yell that.
I certainly have.
The king seems to have a tryzub on his shield :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Ukraine
I think it’s a bird actually. We can see the tail and wing tips.
Since the shield has a flat, planar surface, I suppose we could further wonder:
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
I think the gnomes would be proud of Frigg, she won her first game of chess. It might not be normal, but she did it in the most proper way, with regicide.
Regicide – it’s their only way out.
Syr’nj: “No, no, not ME dammit!”
Well, techniquely, she’s not a King. And I’m not sure if she, unlike Lord Farquaad, can become one.
Hahaha, “Everyone, Regicide!” Maybe the best thing I’ve read ever, no exceptions.
I hope one day to see “On my mark, defenestrate!”, but until that happy hour, this will do quite nicely.
I fully support the defenestration proclamation.
Huh. If the non-humans have no knowledge of chess because it’s a human game…
How is it under an elven city as a super-traditional trap?
Perhaps one of the cultural differences between Syr’nj’s people and the Sky Elves is their xenophobia and forced isolation? The Sky Elves may have had more cultural exchanges with the world’s other races.
Another possibility is that the trap is designed primarily to prevent Elven or other non-human intrusion. If the rules of chess are arcane knowledge that only high-level scholars have access to, the trap becomes more effective in that most Elven intruders won’t know how to ‘beat’ it.
I dunno about that. The Sky Elves made a freaking floating island so that they could be above – and apart from – the other races. They may be more elitist than xenophobic but they are definitely isolationist.
It is possible that the Sky Elves even made the game themselves and that it later became popular in Human lands. The Wood Elves may just see it as a “Human game” because many Humans play it, not because they invented it.
But hey, I dunno.
Well. Remember, Frigg only knows because she learned about it a few months ago.
That’s uh…
Chess doesn’t end by killing the king. Chess ends by trapping the king in an inescapable situation. Then you capture the king and put him up to ransom. Since the other country just lost militarily and has a suffering economy, you’re forced to keep the king hostage in one of your lesser palaces with only 15 or so servants and a first class larder (you can’t have the king eat like the filthy commoners after all). He has very limited freedoms, only able to ride and hunt with a nag that is barely a thoroughbred for a horse and only the occasional maid to bed.
Following a period of imprisonment that ranges from 5-10 years, hostilities are renewed. The country that has lost its king has finally, through brutal use of the peasants, reformed its army with the Prince Regent at the head. The Prince Regent of the kingdom is captured over the bloody and beaten bodies of peasants from both sides. Again, he is placed in one of the lesser palaces with only 12 servants and other second class amenities.
Years down the line, the dying peasants of the losing lands finally realize that they’re being screwed over in the system and revolt against the current Regent. Founding a democracy, they stretch their hands out to the peasants of the other land…only to get crushed by their former king and prince combined with all the gentry of the country that captured them. Soon after a bloody beating down of the traitors, the king and prince are granted lands and titles in the conquered land.
THAT is how chess is played.
OK, now you’re just reading Machiavelli.
Yes, in your version of chess, the squares on which the war is fought represent the peasants. Should the game go on too long, the squares start shifting, moving, confusing the landscape. Continue the game, and the general unrest turns into a veritable earthquake! The squares shoot upwards, crushing the pawns that were resting on it against the ceiling! Reinforcements will be sent, but they will fare no better! Eventually, the king will be surrounded by the angry squares. He will have the choice to either give the square peasants their rights or die by their square fists! Viva la revolution carre!
Achievement unlocked!
Post the 20,000th comment!
Gold Star, also.
“Go for the nuts Frigg,
Stay calm – we don’t wnat things to get too nutty. This party gets up to enough crazy hijinks as is.
“Gor for the nuts Frigg, THE NUTS!”
But hey, do constructs REALLY HAVE nuts?
(In the second panel, look for the pain expression in the tower golem’s face!)
Homuncucles
I’m surprised this hasn’t been brought up yet but um…
Where’s Byron?
He’s on the other side of the board, where the white pieces were. Everyone else was plowing through the black pieces headed toward where the new exit has appeared. I suppose that means he was fighting the rear-guard action.
I assumed that Byron and Best were fighting the white pieces and one of them took out the white king.
…Actually, you never capture the king. You see “checkmate” comes from an old phrase meaning “the king is captured,” and it’s traditionally believed that checkmate was never meant to mean the death of the king. Consider it from the point of view of rule of the nobility, it’s a bad idea to teach your progeny that it’s ok to kill the head honcho if you’re the local lord or king… And my inner chess nerd is satiated. For now.
Okay, this is when a new villain comes out of nowhere and completely fucks them over.
Actually you EAT the king!
cue everybody starting OMNOMNOM
Everyone! REGIVORE!
I think I spy our basin chamber staircase in the next room!
That would be too easy…
It would appear that they have no knowledge of their previous lives. Other than similar personality traits, the party we see and the people in the tubes might as well be completely different entities.
So, what happens if/when they are released from the tubes? They have strong memories and the beginnings of ingrained personality divergences, and that can’t be good.
Yes, Syn’yj. Stair at the light.
One arrow, one kill.
Is anyone else concerned because we don’t see Byron in this strip?
Loved watching Syr’nj fight with sword & buckler! A fitting choice for several reasons!
i cant believe no ones said this yet..
/internet meme
“Boom Headshot!”
/internet meme
Ooh, the rook takes it right in the stones.
Hah, I missed that. Guess I should have rooked at the comic more carefully.
awww… i was netting some serious exp on this board!!
Frigg offering useful and tactical information in the middle of a battle? What is this mad anti-backwards world they have been transported to?!?! I blame freaky Sky Elf magic…