Description
Commander Chess, or Cờ tư lệnh (literally "Chess Command") is a xiangqi variant created by Hải Quý Nguyễn.
Cờ tư lệnh is played with 38 pieces (19 per player) on a board that is 11 lines wide and 12 lines long. As in xiangqi, it is played on the vertices of the grid. The board is divided into two lang territories by a river in the middle of the board. The three files on one side of the board form the sea.
Object of the game
To win you must capture the opponent's Commander, or all units of a single division of the opponent's army:
- Sea - Both Navy ships. 2 pieces total.
- Land - Artillery, Tanks, Infantry. 6 pieces total.
- Air - Both Planes. 2 pieces total.
- Commander - 1 piece total.
Pieces and movement
- All pieces move orthogonally (like a castle in standard chess), some also can also move diagonally (like a queen in standard chess).
- A piece can move up to the number of spaces as detailed below.
The pieces on both sides, with their abbreviations, movements, and rules, are:
1 Commander [C]: moves any distance orthogonally; captures 1 point orthogonally; may occupy Headquarters; may not "see" the opposing Commander on an open file
2 Infantry [In]: 1 point orthogonally
2 Tanks [T]: 2 points orthogonally; may capture on sea squares it cannot enter, remaining stationary; carries C, In, or M
1 Militia [M]: 1 point orthogonally
2 Engineer [E]: 1 point orthogonally; carries all pieces, only across river; controls airspace 1 point any direction
2 Artillery [A]: 1–3 points any direction; crosses river only at reefs, by attacking, or carried
2 Anti-aircraft gun [Aa]: 1 point orthogonally; may capture on sea squares it cannot enter; controls airspace 1 point any direction
1 Missile battery [Ms]: 1–2 points orthogonally or 1 point diagonally; controls airspace as it moves
2 Air force [Af]: 1–4 points any direction; may return to its departing point after capturing or carrying, unless capturing opposing Af; carries C, In, or M; destroyed immediately on passing through opposing airspace
2 Navy [N]: 1-4 points any direction on sea, sea banks, and river banks; captures as it moves at sea; shoots 1–3 in any direction at land targets; controls airspace 1 point any direction
2 Headquarters [HQ]: stationary and does not capture; may house only C; protects C, but not itself, from In, M, Aa, and Ms
General rules:
- Pieces capture as they move, and never jump, unless noted.
- Pieces can cross the river but not occupy sea points unless noted.
- [N]Navy piece may not cut across land when moving diagonally.
- Pieces which check the opposing Commander are promoted, gaining 'hero' status and gain special abilities.
- Hero status will mean a piece can move 1 additional space. The piece will also be able to move diagonally. [Af]Planes become stealth planes and are immune to ALL anti-aircraft.
- Anti-Aircraft Pieces (range): [Ms]Missile(2), [Aa]Anti-Aircraft(1), [N]Navy(1). Note this range a circular radius. Pieces join together to form a single ring-of-fire(ROF).
Stack: Pieces that can carry other pieces
Stacks are a group of pieces all at the same location. They may form groups of 2 or 3 pieces.
A stack of pieces can all move in a single turn. The stack may move as a single group or any piece from the stack may instead disembark and move elsewhere. Multiple captures are possible. See the user interface section for specific instructions on moving with the stack.
The following list are pieces that can be carriers followed by the pieces and restrictions of what they can carry:
Stacks maximum group of 3 pieces (1 carrier and 2 other pieces)
- [N]Navy. May carry any combination of [C]Commander, [In]Infantry, [M]Militia, [T]Tank, [Af]Plane.
- [Af]Plane. May carry any combination of [C]Commander, [In]Infantry, [M]Militia, [T]Tank. but not 2 tanks.
- [T]Tank. May carry 1 [In]Infantry and 1 other piece. [C]Commander, [In]Infantry, [M]Militia.
Stacks maximum group of 2 pieces (1 carrier and 1 other piece):
- [HQ]Headquarters, may hold [C]Commander. HQ does not move
- [E]Engineer, may carry heavy weapons [A]Artillery, [Aa]Anti-aircraft, [Ms]Missile Also specifically must be carried across the river from one side to the other.
Examples of unusual play
- A [N] Navy has a gun and may capture 2 pieces in 1 turn. A land piece (not on the bank) with the gun, as well an opponents Navy with its normal capture movement.
- Engineers may only carry pieces from the limited number of river bank spaces.
- [A]Artillery, [Aa] Anti-aircraft and [Ms] Missile may capture (shoot) across the river (but stay still) where normally they would not be able to cross the river.
- [A] Artillery may only jump over pieces when capturing a piece.
- On the Sea/Land border land pieces do not block the movement of a Navy piece.
- A commander that exposes themselves to the opponents commander will immediately lose. (Line-of-sight).
- A plane can commit kamikaze (capture the opponents piece) while staying in opponents anti-aircraft range (ROF); In this instance, when 2 or more Anti-aircraft pieces are present they together form a single ring-of-fire(ROF). Only when the plane leaves ROF or captures its target does it get shot down and removed from play.
- The last [Af] plane committing kamikaze against the opponents last [N] Navy will win the game, even though the plane gets shot down.
- A plane can get shot down during it's own turn due to anti-aircraft pieces, when this happens a player cannot undo their turn.
- Pieces that are not blocked by ANY piece. [Af] Plane, [A] Artillery, [N] Navy and the Navy gun.
User Interface
- Some pieces stack on top of each other. It is recommended to use the squares to the right of the board from top to bottom. It automatically selects the stack to be moves as 1 group, if you would like to split up the pieces then user must select the pieces individually.
'Stay' will mean that the carried piece will disembark and stay in its current position.
- When playing with 'Enforce check' option a player needs to RESIGN if there are no playable moves.
- There are various 'confirm' options available from the context menu (3 lines, burger menu).
