enochian chess - basics
The golden dawn initiates often played this game as they believed it created balance and harmony.
The primary basis for the enochian system are the 4 elements -
fire
water
air
earth
and once the correct balance of these elements was achieved then the 5th element of spirit could be achieved.
and how these elements interact and relate to each other.
Enochian chess is a four player chess variant in which two teams (always blue (water) & black (earth) versus red (fire) & yellow (air) strive to capture both kings of the opposing team.
Notice that always the two female elements (water and earth) are on the same team and the two male elements (fire and air) are on the same team
Before Play Begins
Prior to the start of a game the players should choose which of the four boards they will use. There are four boards each one relating to a different element ie fire board,water board,air board,earth board. Depending on the type of question are issue you wish to know about. Though if using an ordinary chess board this will surfice and can be given the designation of the element used. The players will also need to determine what color each will play (thereby determining who will be on which team) and what color will go first. Once these issues are settled play may proceed, going clockwise around the board.
Team Play
There is no individual winner in Enochian chess. For example, if the blue army is eliminated from play and the black army goes on to the capture the red and yellow kings, then the team of blue and black have won the game.
Team members are normally forbidden from capturing each other's pieces, unless otherwise noted. Pieces belonging to armies on the same team do not threaten each other. (E.g. The blue and black kings can be adjacent without giving each other check.)
Each side has nine pieces
one king - one queen,one knight one rook, one bishop and four pawns.
Capture of the King
Kings are not mated in Enochian chess, though players must warn their opponents that the king is threatend by declaring "check" as in FIDE chess. A king in check MUST be moved, even if that means putting the king in check again. The player with the king in check may move another piece only if the king is blocked by friendly pieces so that it cannot be moved out of check.
When a king is captured all the pieces of that color become frozen. They remain on the board, but are unable to move, do not threaten other pieces, nor can they be captured. They simply sit on the board acting as blocking terrain.
Seizing the Throne
Moving the king onto the throne square of a friendly player transfers control of the friendly army. The two armies still take separate turns, but are under the control of one player. Frozen pieces may be reactivated by this method. The player retains control of both armies even if the king that seized control is moved off of the throne square. If the usurping king is captured, control of the friendly army reverts to the original player, assuming that the army still has a king to lead it. Otherwise both armies are kingless and those players have lost the game.
Exchange of Prisoners
Two opposing players who have both captured enemy kings may agree to an exchange of prisoners. The exchange can only be made if both players with captured kings agree and neither have lost their own king. The kings are placed upon their own throne squares, or if a throne square is occupied, the nearest empty square.
Frozen pieces revert to normal pieces when their king is brought back into play in this manner.
Priviledged Pawn
If a player is reduced to a king, a queen, and a pawn; a king, a bishop, and a pawn or a king and a pawn, then the pawn is considered to be priviledged. Upon reaching its normal promotion zone a priviledged pawn may be promoted to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight as the player chooses. In effect, the pawn becomes a normal FIDE pawn. However, if a priviledged pawn is promoted to a piece still in play, the original piece is demoted to the pawn of its type.
Pieces
The king moves one step in any direction as in FIDE chess.
The queen moves by leaping two squares in any direction. Note - the queen can leap over other pieces but can only move two spaces at a time..
The rook moves orthogonally as in FIDE chess. Castling is not allowed in Enochian chess.
The bishop moves diagonally as in FIDE chess.
The knight behaves exactly as it does in FIDE chess.
The four classes of pawn depending on which piece the pawn starts in front of (pawn of queen, pawn of rook, pawn of bishop, and pawn of knight) behave much like FIDE pawns, moving one space forward or capturing one space in the forward diagonal. pawns can promote as in FIDE chess, except that promotion of pawns only occurs after a player has lost at least one pawn. Promotion must be delayed if all four of a player's pawn are uncaptured. Also, a pawn may only promote to its type. (A pawn of rook promotes to a rook, a pawn of knight promote to a knight, etc.) In othe words if a pawn started in front of a rook it may only promote to another rook or if a pawn started in front of the throne square it may only promote to a bishop and so on. Furthermore, pawns are not allowed an initial double step.
The pieces start play like this please note that each 1 of the 4 corner sqares is a throne square which may be shared between the king and any other 1 piece at a time. Though once a piece moves off the throne square that piece may not again during the game share the throne square .If the king is taken by an opposing piece whilst on the throne square, any other piece also on the throne square are taken as well. The bishop always starts on the throne square along with the king. Then the queen is placed next to the throne square,then the knight and then the rook. The pawns start in front of each piece.
The pieces playing for the element of fire face south, the pieces playing for the element of water face east, the pieces playing for the element of air face north and the pieces for earth face west.
I have tried this game using normal chess pieces (just to see how the game would play out) from 4 different sets (though it can be played with two different sets) and found it quite entertaining and relaxing though quite challenging also as there are obviously different pieces coming at you from different angles and although you have a teammate you cannot always rely on them to back you up as they may have other more immediate dangers to deal with.
Once the rules have been grasped you can move on to the divination aspect which started by players rolling a dice to determine which piece to move and
once the game has ended then a reading was created from the result and where each piece had ended up on the board.
Blessings
crystal dawn