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Thanks to me for the art (not top notch, I know, but it'll do.)

***

BATTLE CHESS FAQ for PC
By: GaminGGuY
E-Mail: BaxterBrandoBoy@aol.com
Latest Update: April 12, 2001

***

==TABLE OF CONTENTS==

-Legal/Copyright Notice
-Updates and Revisions
-What you will know after you fully read this FAQ
-How to play chess
-Special Moves
-Battle Animations for Battle Chess
-More about Battle Chess
-My "killer" strategy
-Thanks 

***

-Legal/Copyright Notice

This FAQ is fully copyright of GaminGGuY. No site except GameFAQs may use 
this FAQ unless I give them permission by E-Mail. E-Mail me for more 
details.

***

-Updates and Revisions

1.3 (4-12-01)- Couldn't wait, so I added a few more battle animations. 
Will probably update tomorrow, but not for sure.

1.2 (4-12-01)-Wow. I need to fix this up. First of all, I have got my 
graph reversed. Fixed that. Some of my words had no spaces between them.
Fixed that mostly also. And some more smaller details. Tomorrow, I'll add 
more on the castling and battle animations.

1.1 (4-11-01)-Did art and most of FAQ. More battle animations coming soon. I 
may add a strategies section later...

***

-What you will know after you fully read this FAQ

1. If you understand, you will know how to play chess.
2. After I update it, you will know the battle animations of this game.
and more, so read on!!

***

-How to play chess

The typical chess board is made of 8x8 squares. It's like this:

  _________________________________
1 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |    
  |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
2 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |        
  |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
3 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |        
  |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
4 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |        
  |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
5 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |        
  |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
6 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |       
  |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
7 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |        
  |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
8 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |        
  |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
    a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h

Sort of like a graph, which is why I put the numbers and letters in. For 
example, d2 would be 7 squares above d, and 4 squares to the right of 2. 
Get it? Good.

Now the pieces and their movements. There are six pieces. They are the 
pawn, the knight, the bishop, the rook, the queen, and the king. The 
object of chess is to kill the opposing team's king by moving your 
pieces, taking turns with your opponent and trying to capture the 
opponent's pieces. When a piece is captured, it is removed from the 
board. If you kill their king, you win, regardless of any other pieces 
they may still have.

To "capture" a piece, your piece must move to the space that the 
piece that is to be captured is on. 

See near the end of this section for a map of where everyone goes.


Pawn-
The pawn is the least useful piece in chess. That's why there are eight 
of them when you start. If you start on the bottom of the board near 7 
and 8, then all eight of them are arranged in a straight row on each of 
the squares in the 7 rank. If you are on the top part (near 1 and 2) 
then your eight pawns are on the eight squares in the 2 row. By the way, 
when I say rank, I mean row. They mean the same. Anyway, back to the 
pawn. A pawn's movements are very limited. He may only move forward 
one space each turn he is moved. However, there are two exceptions. On 
his very first move, he can move forward two spaces. That is the first 
exception. The second is that he can move diagonally forward (for 
example, if he started in the lower part, e3 to d2) but ONLY when killing 
(or capturing, they mean the same) a piece. Note: On the first move, a 
pawn may move diagonally one space to capture a piece, but he may not 
move two diagonal spaces to capture a piece. 


Knight-
The knight is fairly useful (he's certainly more useful than the pawn). 
You have two of them when you start. If you start on the lower side 
around the 7 and 8 ranks,then your knights start on squares b8 and g8. 
The knight can move in an L shape, that means he can move two spaces 
in one direction and one in another. For example, if the knight is 
on d4, then he can move to any one of these spaces: e2, c2, f3, f5, 
e6, c6, b3, or b5. All of those are in an L shape with d4; see it? 
Also, a knight can move over other pieces, unlike any other piece. 
For example, if a knight is on b6, and he wants to move to c4, but 
there is an obstructing pawn on b5, he may move over it. So, to sum 
up, a knight can move in this pattern:
_____
|   |< knight is here
|___|
|   |
|___|___
|   |   |
|___|___|< knight moves here

or any other L shape that is still two spaces in one direction and one 
space in another.


Bishop-
The bishop is very useful, with one large weakness, which I'll get to 
later. You get two bishops when you start, which, if you are on the 
bottom side (7 and 8) start on c8 and f8, next to the knights. A bishop 
can move diagonally in any direction as many spaces as he likes, but, 
unlike the knight, he can not move over other pieces (if they are in 
his way, he should capture them!!) Now to the major weakness. Since the 
two bishops start on opposite colors, and they can only move diagonally,
then they must stay on that color! This weakness becomed apparent later 
in the game if one of the bishops is captured. Then the other bishop 
has no ability whatsoever to control the other color squares. THAT'S 
the weakness.


Rook-
The rook is useful, but not (in my opinion) as quite as versatile as 
the bishop. Onthe lower side, he starts on a8 and h8. He can move as 
many spaces as he wants inany straight direction (up, down, left, or 
right). He can not move over other pieces, but he can capture them. The 
rook has no large weakness, but instead a few small ones.


Queen-
The most versatile piece. You only get one, unless you get a pawn 
promotion (see special moves section). The queen can move in any 
direction as many spaces as shelikes. She's like a bishop and rook mixed. 
She can not move over pieces, but instead she should capture them. Your 
queen starts on d8 if you're on the lower part.

King-
The most important (but not the best) piece. If you lose your king, you 
lose the game. The king can only move one space in any direction, but he 
can not move into Check (see lower in this section).

Those are all the pieces and their movements.


These are where the pieces start:

               
             Blue Side

_________________________________
| R | Kn| B | K | Q | B | Kn| R |                              
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|                 
| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |                  
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|                  
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |                
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|                  
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |                  
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|                  
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |                  
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|                 
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |                  
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|                  
| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |                  
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|                 
| R | Kn| B | Q | K | B | Kn| R |                  
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|


             Red Side

P=Pawn
Kn=Knight
B=Bishop
R=Rook
Q=Queen
K=King


Now, what is Check, you ask? Well, Check is when the king is in danger
by an opposing piece and if one of three things does not happen, he 
will be captured. What are those three things? 

1. The king is moved into a safe position.

2. A piece of the same color as the king being checked is moved to 
block the path of the checking piece to the king.

3. The checking piece is captured.

If none of these can occur, then the checking piece captures the king 
and the checking piece's team wins. This is called checkmate.

Remember, though, that the king may not move into check.




That's all there is to playing chess. After some practice, you'll 
get it.

***

-Special Moves

There are two special things in chess. The first is castling, and
the second is pawn promotion.


1. Castling- Castling is done to protect your king. To do this move,
neither your rook or king must have been previously moved. 
This is the basic layout for castling:


_________________
|   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|

 ^            ^
king        rook 
starts     starts
here       here


as shown in the map above. Well, you do castling, and it turns to 
this:


_________________
|   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|

      ^   ^
rook is   king is 
here      here


Remember, no pieces can be between the rook and king when castling
occurs. Also, castling counts as only one move, although you are 
moving two pieces.

More about castling coming soon!


2. Pawn Promotion- Pawn Promotion is when a pawn gets to the opposite
of the board (i.e. a pawn that started on rank b and made it to rank
h). When this happens, the pawn turns into a Queen, Bishop, Rook or 
Knight (the player's choice). Then play continues as normal.

***

-Battle Animations

What I mean when I say battle animations is what the pieces do in 
Battle Chess when they encounter each other on the playfield. Here
are the descriptions of what happens in the battles:


Pawn capturing Pawn- The defending pawn teases the attacking pawn. 
The defending pawn blocks high, but the attacking pawn stabs low 
and kills him.

Pawn capturing Knight- The pawn stabs the knight's stomach, and the
knight falls over and dies in defeat.

Pawn capturing Bishop- A hole in the board appears, and the Bishop 
falls but manages to hang on. The pawn breaks the bishop's staff and
sends him sprawling into the hole.

Pawn capturing Rook- The pawn repeatedly hits the Rook on the head
with his spear, and the Rook crumbles to a pile of rocks.

Pawn capturing Queen- The queen shoots a fireball at the pawn, but 
the pawn ducks. The queen tries to walk asay, but the pawn stops 
her. She shoots another fireball, but the pawn rebounds it on her
and kills her.

Pawn capturing King- The pawn knocks the King's crown off his head,
and he disgracefully fades away.


Knight capturing Pawn- They battle for a moment, and then the knight 
uses his sword to break the pawn's spear. The knight then kicks the 
pawn over. 

Knight capturing Knight- the attacking knight cuts off the other 
knight's arms and legs. Then he hits him over to the floor.

Knight capturing Bishop- The knight cuts off the bishop's head, but 
the bishop's ghost attacks the knight. The knight cuts the ghost.

Knight capturing Rook- The knight does a strong sword swipe to the 
rook, crumbling him.

Knight capturing Queen- The queen shoots a fireball at the knight, 
but he reflects it back at her, turning her to a bird and then
to nothingness.

Knight capturing King- The knight cuts off the king's clothes and
laughs at him.


Bishop capturing Pawn- The bishop raises his arms and makes the 
pawn hover. Then he uses his rod to spin the pawn around in the
air until he falls to the ground in a heap.

Bishop capturing Knight- The bishop hits the knight on the head
and knocks him senseless. Then he stabs him with the end of his
rod.

Bishop capturing Bishop- The defending bishop drops his spear and
picks it up. They try to hit each other, and then the attacking 
bishop incinerates the defending with a lightning bolt.

Bishop capturing Rook- The bishop raises his rod and hits the
rook with another lightning bolt. The rook, as usual, crumbles.

Bishop capturing Queen- The bishop hands the queen some flowers.
She smells them, and a ghost comes out of them and attacks her.
She falls rigidly to the ground.

Bishop capturing King- The bishop's rod suddenly turns to a spear,
and he twirls it around. The king then is dizzy and splits into
three parts.


More are coming soon!!

***

-More about Battle Chess

In this section, I will just give a series of facts about this game.

You may play in 2D mode or 3D mode, but it only does the battle 
animations in 3D.

You can set up the board in set up board mode, so make up fun 
situations and see if you can win!

Remember, if you lose your queen that is a big dent in your game-
play.


Some more are coming soon.

***

-My killer strategy

This will be explained on the 7 and 8 ranks.


First, you move the pawn on e7 out two spaces.

Second, move your bishop on f8 to c5.

Third, move your queen on d8 to f6. 

Lastly, move your queen to f2.

If nothing goes wrong, after these four moves the opponent will be
checkmated.
Although a lot of thigs can go wrong, this is a pretty solid 
strategy.
This usually doesn't work on the computer in Battle Chess, but it
may work ona fairly skilled human opponent.

***

-Thanks

Thanks to my dad for helping me play chess.
Thanks to CJayC for posting this on his fantastic site.
Thanks to you for reading this.
Thanks to me for writing this.
Thanks to wraithcommander for helping me on this.

***

-end of document-









 