Simon Crowe
United Kingdom
Sheffield
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Shuuro is a chess variant designed by Alessio Cavatore, better known for his work on Warhammer for Games Workshop. Here he's brought those wargaming sensibilities to the classic game.
In the box:
There are 46 pieces for each colour (Red and Blue, there's no Black and White in Shuuro). Don't worry, you wont be using them all at the same time. These are plastic, standard quality.
A cardboard board has a normal 8 x 8 chess game on one side, and a 12 x 12 grid for Shuuro on the other.
8 chunky grey 'plinths' are included for use as terrain, and there are 2 D6 for the few random elements during set up.
Finally there is a rulebook. The rules for Shuuro take up less than 2 pages, though this does not include the chess rules which are also included incase you don't know them.
Set-up:
The first moment that Shuuro differs from chess is that, rather than have a set number of pieces, you build your own chess 'army'. This is done on a points based system. You are given a king but other than that you can spend your points on whatever you want with some restrictions to maximum numbers (e.g. max 3 queens). Unsurprisingly pawns are the cheapest, and queens the most expensive. Note that the standard 16 models in chess comes to well below the total points you have to spend, you'll be able to afford at least one more of each piece.
Once both players have chosen their forces, the board is set up. The board itself is a 12 x 12 grid. In each 6 x 6 quarter two plinths are placed on random squares, using the dice to determine where on a co-ordinate system.
Both players roll a D6, the lowest begins set up by placing their king in the back rank. The other player then does the same. Players then take it in turn to place the rest of their models. The back rank must be filled up (all 12 spaces) before placing models in the second rank (and the second filled before placing in the third) and pawns must be deployed last.
Play:
After set-up both players roll a D6, the highest goes first. From then on it's a game of chess - which I don't think I need to go into the rules for.
The main difference is with the terrain plinths. These are impassable (imagine a model you can't take is sitting in that square) with the exception of knights. Knights can jump over plinths and even land on top of them (where they are safe from other non-knights).
Playing Time:
The box suggests the game lasts 30 minutes, which seems rather short to me for a game of chess.
Session Report:
Chris, who is a chess fan, decided to pick Shuuro up from our local store. He invited Phil and myself over to his place to try it out.
A little of my background first. I used to play chess a fair bit in school, but that was 10 years ago. Since then I probably average less than a game a year. I spend my time more on GW games and eurogames.
After a quick read over of the rules I looked at building my chess army. I decided bishops were fairly cheap and to go heavy on them. As it was a first go I wasn't really thinking about how I would set up. My force ended up as 1 King, 2 Queens, 6 Bishops, 3 Knights, 2 Rooks and 8 Pawns.
My first game was against Phil, who has similar chess playing experience to me. His force was fairly straightforward, a standard chess force with one or two additional pieces of each type (and around 13 pawns).
It was during set up I discovered that I had accidentally built a very aggressive force. With 14 non-pawn pieces it meant at least 2 had to be placed in the second rank. Plus with only 22 pieces total I could leave gaps in the second rank to help free my first rank pieces. Phil on the other hand had a lot of pawns, so his front rank was entirely screened.
I won the roll to start and immediately moved a front rank bishop to take one of his pawns and trap and then take a rook on my right flank. This put Phil massively on the back foot, I don't think he had been expecting an attack so early (since taking a piece first turn is impossible in normal chess). My second rank empty spaces allowed me to follow up with both queens whilst he was struggling to free up his pieces. It was over very quickly (in fact the game took 30 mins including set up, so the box was right!)
Next game was against Chris, who is more of a chess fan than me or Phil and plays a bit more regularly. He had decided to concentrate on knights, he had around 6 of these, to take advantage of the terrain. Again though he had sufficient pawns to cover his front.
Once again I went immediately on the offensive, sending out bishops and queens. Chris however was a little more prepared than Phil. He had set up his force so that anything taking a pawn could immediately be taken in return. He also used his knights well, staying on terrain pieces where they were protected but could still threaten.
Pieces started to be swapped. I pulled a little ahead by virtue of taking a few extra pawns but even with a rook and queen running around his king I could not get any useful breaks. His defence held due to his protective knights and my attack fizzled, but both sides had lost a lot. He made an attack back with a queen, rook and knight, attempting to force a pawn to my end of the board. With my own queen and knights I was able to stop this, though I failed to get any of my pawns to his side either.
Slowly we were both worn away. The game ended with my king, two knights and 2 pawns stuck in terrain against his king. I was unable to pin him down and we drew the game. It had been pretty epic, lasting 3 hours! So much for the suggested playing time of 30 mins. (though in our defense we had been watching some TV at the same time)
Thoughts after 2 plays:
Before playing I had been ready to dismiss Shuuro as an unnecessary chess variant but I certainly enjoyed it, and it is to the game's credit that on my walk home I was occupied with thoughts of how to build my force for next time (bishops are best I'm sure!). I think I enjoyed it because my pieces played quite aggressively. In normal chess I struggle to mount decent attacks or free up my pieces. No such problems here if you choose the right force.
Since chess is so simple (the rules I mean, strategies are obviously complex) the game changes a lot by virtue of the board and set up rules. A 12 x 12 board makes it harder for knights to go quickly on the offensive, and along with the terrain pieces it is going to take a lot longer to get any pawns to the other side. The knights however are excellent on the defense, able to hop on terrain where they are safe.
The relative power of each piece therefore changes due to the board size and terrain. It certainly adds interest, having to relearn the use of various pieces. As mentioned I found the bishop very useful, and the normally powerful rook less so – as it finds itself more easily blocked by terrain and pawns stuck behind terrain.
We were unsure on the use of pawns. It seems like you should be using them, because it's chess, but the 12 or 13 Phil and Chris had meant their other pieces were slow to come into play. With comparatively fewer pawns (8) I was able to free up my other pieces on the set up. It will take some experimentation to see if I could get away with even less (4 less pawns for either another bishop or upgrading a rook to a third queen).
There are a few negatives. With a larger board, more pieces, and with the large terrain blocks, it is sometimes easy to miss pieces. For instance a bishop in a corner partially hidden behind some terrain might be overlooked. So the game requires a little more concentration than normal chess. Also the possible aggressive starts might put off some players who like the slower build up of a normal chess game.
Of course if you don’t like chess I doubt this will change your mind. I don't really know any chess purists so can't tell whether they enjoy these sorts of variants or not, but I found it a refreshing change and have already taken Chris up on the challenge of a rematch.
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Michael Howe
United States
Cromwell
Connecticut
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Thanks for the review. The game sounds okay, but to me it sounds a lot less interesting than a lot of noncommercial chess variants, and I'd be concerned that the blocks would make the game prone to draws. The best game of this type is an unpublished game by R. Wayne Schmittberger (editor of Games magazine) called "Generalized Chess" where players choose a board size and buy their armies, but they have many different pieces types to choose from, not just the standard queen, rook, bishop, knight. It's too bad Wayne's complex and interesting system was never published or produced. I have text version around here somewhere. On chessvariants.org you can also find games called "Pick the Team Chess", "Chess With Different Armies", "Fantasy Grand Chess", and "ABC Grand Chess" which also feature different armies fighting it out. I especially like ABC.
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Alessio Cavatore
United Kingdom
Nottingham
Unspecified
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Hi, I'm the guy who designed Shuuro, and I'd like to break a lance in defence of my baby! :laugh:
When I was designing Shuuro, the reason why I didn't create any 'exotic' new pieces is that I wanted Shuuro to be closer to chess. I wanted the game to be a stylised wargame, where the challenges were the picking of the army and the ever-changing environment (the randomly placed plinths, which represent the many features of a real battlefield). Other than that it was going to be chess. Very much chess.
This, in my opinion, gives ou the feeling you're playing a game you already know, but in a different 'place'.
I'm curious though, why do you think the plinths would increase the chance of a draw? We have never found that to be he case.
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Alessio Cavatore
United Kingdom
Nottingham
Unspecified
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Thanks for the review Simon. Very interesting to read someone else's opinions on Shuuro!
:)
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Is there a mechanism that allows a pawn to move around a barrier, or is it a case where the pawn just gets stranded unless it can make a diagonal capture?
I could see some interest in trying a few additional fantasy pieces in this environ, thinking of Omega Chess with more jumpers to use the blocks better
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Alessio Cavatore
United Kingdom
Nottingham
Unspecified
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No, no mechanism for pawns to go around plinths. Basically, you are not obliged to deploy your pawns behind plinths (unless you have lots of them). We refer to a pawn that gets stuck as a 'defensive pawn', as it still has a defensive value, but not much of an offensive one!
We aren't planning any exotic pieces, but Turanga will have a few alternative rules...
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Rob Vaughn
United States
Pleasant Hill
Missouri
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When is Turanga expected to be available??
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Alessio Cavatore
United Kingdom
Nottingham
Unspecified
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I don't think we can make it in time for this Xmas... so I'd say sometime next year...
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