Shatranj & Medieval Chess

Chess hasn't always been played by its modern orthodox rules. It's fun to play by the old rules sometimes, and with old-style pieces. Most notably, it originally featured a wazir (or vizier) and elephants in place of the more powerful modern queen and bishops.

Rules of the Game

Design Notes

These chessmen are in the styles of pre-Islamic Persia (for the game of Shatranj) and late medieval Northern Europe (for the similar game of Medieval Chess that followed).

The board has 32mm squares (an ordinary historic size) and prints on a 270x270mm print bed. I modeled it as a parametric OpenSCAD script, which can actually be used to generate a checkered grid with any number of ranks and files, not just 8x8.

Supports are unnecessary. Since the shapes are inherently more stable than those of modern Staunton-style chessmen, weighting is also unnecessary. Note that the king consists of two parts to be pressed together post-print.

To avoid warping the board, stick it well to the bed (I use hairspray) and allow it to cool completely before peeling it off.

Suggested Print Settings

• Global

  • Nozzle Size: 0.4mm

  • Wall Generator: Arachne

  • Infill: 15% Cross Hatch

  • Solid Infill Angle: 0°

  • Prime Tower: None

• Plates 1 & 3 - Armies

  • Layer Height: 0.15mm

  • Walls: 3

  • Seam Position: Random

  • Outer Brim: 5mm so they don’t slide around

  • Brim-object gap: 0.2mm for easy separation

  • Print 2 Shatranj armies (traditionally of ruby & emerald)

  • Print 2 Medieval Chess armored (traditionally one in white & the other in black or red)

Credits

I modeled the board myself. The harder work of the chessman models was done by Victronix. Her work is included here with her permission at 75% of the original scale. The volume of each chessman is roughly proportional to its value.

See Also