Courier Chess

thingiverse

Courier Chess Set 1508 This is a set of 3-D printing programs for a chess set loosely based on the painting "The Chess Players" by Lucas van Leyden, painted in or around 1508. The painting portrays a man and woman playing Courier Chess, a chess variant popular in Northern Europe for several centuries, surrounded by several onlookers. Courier Chess is played on a board of 8 by 12 cells, and includes additional pieces added to the usual ones. Each side has 12 Pawns, and in addition to the usual King, Queen, two Bishops, two Knights, and two Rooks, includes a "Mann", a "Schleich", and two "Couriers". If you prefer to print a conventional chess set from these programs, simply omit the Mann, Schleich, and Couriers, and print just eight Pawns per side. Whether you choose to print a set for Courier Chess or for conventional chess, these pieces offer designs characteristic of the 16th and late 15th Century. You can enjoy this chess set at Renaissance festivals or reenactments, knowing that you are playing with equipment in the style of the era. We have endeavored to follow the size of the chess pieces in the painting. Printed at 100%, these chess pieces will suit a chessboard with cells 1-1/4 inches/ 32 mm to 1-1/2 inches/ 38 mm square. You can size these up (or down) to suit whatever size chessboard you choose. The Pawns in the painting were quite small: we have sized them up slightly to make them easier to hold. If you prefer smaller Pawns as shown in the painting, you can print the Pawns at 90% the size of the other pieces. The voids in the bases can be filled with lead to weight your chess set, or with rare earth to make your chess set magnetic. If you are going to stain, paint, and/or varnish your chess pieces, leaving the support material in the voids allows you to hold the chess pieces on skewers or toothpicks. In the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, chess pieces were often white and black, while chessboards were checkered red-and-white, black-and-white, or dark and light wood. In the Lucas van Leyden painting, the chess pieces appear to be gold and black, while the chess board is checkered red and gold, with a dark raised border. Courier Chess is a chess variant that originated in the Middle Ages, and survived in places into the 18th Century. The familiar pieces have their pre-1490 moves: Kings move by one space in any direction; Queens move by one space diagonally; Bishops have a leap of two spaces diagonally; Knights and Rooks have their modern moves, while Pawns move by just one space. Beside the King is a Mann, who moves like a King but is not subject to check or checkmate; beside the Queen is a Schleich who moves by one space orthogonally. Between these pieces and the Bishops are two Couriers who move like modern Bishops. At the commencement of play, the Rooks' Pawns and the Queen's Pawn move forward two spaces, and the Queen moves two spaces directly forward to stand behind her Pawn. Simon Spalding fullersteaching@yahoo.com ***** This project was the third collaboration with Simon Spalding, and my first stab at using OnShape as a digital lathe. On the first pass I made a lot of rookie mistakes, using many steps where only a few were needed once I learned the tools a bit better. Three versions later I managed to get the right scale from the start, learned how to save time and effort with circular patterns, and got the pieces to have more consistent measurements and curves. It was a great learning experience, glad to finally get this published. Any questions about the historical nature of this set can be addressed to Simon at the email address above, and I will try to answer anything on modelling or future edits here in comments. -Ian R.