Ankh-Morpork chess aka Stealth chess

If, like me, you are a fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy novels, you are certainly familiar with the great city of Ankh-Morpork.

But you may not be aware that Discworld has its own chess variant, referred to as Ankh-Morpork chess or Stealth chess.

I thought of Ankh-Morpork chess when I saw a set listed on eBay as a 'King Arthur' set.

I'm not sure what is especially 'King Arthur' about the design of the pieces, but they made me think immediately of Discworld, and Ankh-Morpork in particular. So the next step is clear, right? Make a board for Ankh-Morpork chess to fit this set!

I decided to use wooden discs (Discworld, get it?) for the 'squares', and also wanted to play a bit with different heights: have king and queen stand on a higher stack of wooden discs, with the height then generally coming down to the sides and centre of the board. 

I'll explain later what the wooden columns on the side are for ...

Rather than paint the board in a single straight colour, I thought I could try and capture the river Ankh as it is described in the novels. Applying brown wood stain in multiple incomplete layers, with flows, swirls and eddies, creates the image I have of the river pretty well. 

And then it was simply a matter of creating disc stacks between 1 and 5 high, gluing discs together, painting them, and gluing them to the board.

As a finishing touch, I added the coat of arms of Ankh-Morpork to the painted columns ...

... and attached these to the corners of the board.

Time to add the pieces! Ankh-Morpork chess has the normal complement of pieces, plus a pair of assassins. Obviously, these assassins weren't part of the set listed on eBay, and I thought long and hard about how to get myself two pairs of assassins that were of a roughly similar design to the other pieces. In the end, I decided to use pieces from my set for hnefatafl (more on this ancient northwestern European group of games here; although they're sometimes referred to as Viking chess or Celtic chess, they're most definitely not related to chess).

And this is what the full set for Ankh-Morpork chess looks like on its custom-made board:

The extra hnefatafl pieces are indeed sort of similar in design, but are clearly a lot smaller. I think that actually makes sense: they're meant to represent assassins, which will act in the background, almost invisible.

I think the various ideas came together well, and the height differences are visible but subtle.

I'm definitely happy with it!

Karim Rashid set

Karim Rashid chess (and backgammon) sets are occasionally listed on eBay, mostly with prices that are way above what I would be willing to pay. I must admit, though, that I do like the look of the chess sets: very organic and flowing. So when a set was listed for a very low buy-it-now price, I pounced; don't think the seller knew what he/she was actually selling ...

The board is made from perspex and, to be honest, not anything special other than that the 'squares' are circles and the board is raised. But the pieces are a different story. They seem to be made from some sort of silicone, and are coloured fluorescent green and orange. 

As I said above, the design of the pieces is modern and flowing, and, I'll say it again, very organic. They're almost edible, reminding me of certain sweets.

Happy to have been able to add this set to the collection!

Flintstones set

The Flintstones is one of the animated cartoon series I grew up with as a child, and I especially loved the inventive ways in which modern-day appliances were implemented using stone-age tools and animals. Of course, a Flintstone chess set had to be added to the collection (with thanks to eBay).

As with many of these sets based on tv series or movies, the board is pretty basic.

One side has Barney and Betty Rubble as king and queen, Hoppy as bishop, Bamm-Bamm as knight, Barney's car as rook, and Snoots as pawns.

The other side has Fred and Wilma Flintstone as king and queen, Dino as bishop, Pebbles as knight, Fred's car as rook, and Wooly as pawns.

The pieces are made of Plastoy, like in my smurfs, Simpsons and Disney H&V sets.

Notice that the vehicles on both sides are too large for the size of the squares on the board ...

Yabba-dabba-doo!

'The Rose Chess' set

The Rose Chess sets feature flat Staunton-style pieces made from lead and were produced in the early 1940s. They are commonly listed on eBay, so it's pretty easy to get your hands on a set for not very much.

All listings I've seen are for a box with the pieces. Allegedly, there was also a board which seemed to allow for the pieces to be secured by 'turning'; I've never seen even a picture of such a board. But I did have an old and pretty battered thick cardboard board .....

..... and I feel it fits the pieces quite well.

The set I got is in pretty good nick; some of the paint has flaked off, but I've never seen a listing with pieces in perfect condition, and I've certainly seen pieces in worse condition.

Nice addition to the 'vintage' part of my collection!

Lord of the Rings set

I first read Lord of the Rings as a young boy, and I've long lost count as to how many times I've read and re-read the books. So it seems only appropriate that at some point in time, a Lord of the rings chess set would be added to the collection.

Popping up on eBay quite frequently is a resin Lord of the Rings set, consisting of 'busts' of several of the key characters. As it is listed so regularly, I could simply wait until I got my hands on one for not very much.

The set does not come with a board, so that was mine to create. I was keen to incorporate 'rings' in the board design in some way; looking at a range of options, I finally decided on 'snap' curtain rings, which came in two colours (old gold and silver), and very conveniently with 32 per set.

As finishing touch I got a pair of 'one rings' plus a small gold-plated chain off Amazon.

And this is what the completed board then looks like!

And again, with the pieces added.

Black pieces include Saruman as king, a ringwraith as queen, and several orks (including Lurtz) as bishops, knights, rooks and pawns.

The white pieces have Gandalf as king, Galadriel as queen, Frodo as bishop, Aragorn as knight, Gimli as rook, and Sam as pawn.

Judge for yourself; I'm quite pleased with this board, and the set in general.