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I have now introduced the Gladiatrix on an alternative board, the 'long-board' (is there a better name?), which is a Capablanca board stood on end. I found that, in this powerful piece context, the play on the H-board was somewhat cramped. The long-board has interesting properties. All the strategical factors, like the distance between the wings, remain the same as in standard chess. This type of big-board is also good for the knights. The pawns promote next to the last rank (that is, on the same rank as usual). By denoting the first rank as '0', one can keep standard chess notation. I believe that the long-board is a convenient way of introducing extra pieces, whilst maintaining a complexity that is not too far from standard chess. The gist is that the armies are not placed on the first rank, but on the next rank, while the first rank is left empty, except for the extra pieces. As the armies are near (that is, at the same distance as in standard chess), the forces will come into contact earlier. If one wants a game with early activity, this could be an important factor. /Mats