Courier Chess Set - Medieval Size, 2pc Option

A larger version of my medieval German Courier Chess Set, printable as two identical interlocking halves on a 270x270mm print bed. This brings it into the historically accurate size range, with 32mm squares.

An equally large one-piece model is included as well, but that’ll require a 400x270mm print bed.

The Game

Chess hasn't always been played by its modern orthodox rules. One notable contributor to the evolution of chess is the 12th-century German game of Courier Chess, which the Germans called Läuferspiel or Kurierspiel (“Runners’ Game”). It is this version that's depicted in Lucas van Leyden's famous 1508 painting "The Game of Chess". And it’s super fun!

Rules of the Game

Both the French term courier and the German läufer refer to the “runner”, a fast diagonal-sliding piece that we now call the “bishop”. This is the first version of chess in which such a piece appeared. Courier Chess also has a sage, a fool, and an archer to really fun things up. It’s every bit as awesome as it sounds.

The trouble is that 12x8 "widescreen" chessboards and the additional pieces necessary to play this game have been hard to come by in the past couple of centuries. Well, with a 3D printer that's a solvable problem.

Design Notes

My goal is to produce the most historically accurate practicable recreation of actual medieval Courier Chess that can be done with a two-piece board on a 270x270mm print bed. 

The board consists of two identical interlocking halves, featuring ball-and-groove joints. Assembled, it measures 262 x 390 x 5mm. It prints face-down to produce a surface as smooth and consistent as the print bed itself. I modeled it as an OpenSCAD script.

I've provided a Snapmaker Orca project consisting of a full Courier Chess army of 25 (including an extra queen for promotion) on plate 1, a fitment test on plate 2, and a half board on plate 2. If you use a different slicer than Snapmaker Orca, you may need to reselect colors.

Print a white army and a black. Try the fitment test before printing the board halves, in case you need to make clearance adjustments. It's an intentionally tight fit, but you can use a slight negative X-Y Size Compensation if you find it too tight.

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. The joints are ball-and-groove, a variant of tongue-and-groove optimized for 3D printing.

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

The volume of each chessman is roughly proportional to its value.

Suggested Print Settings

• Global

  • Material: PLA

  • Print bed: Textured PEI

  • Nozzle Size: 0.4mm

  • Layer Height: 0.15mm

  • Walls: 2

  • Walls on Top Layer: 1

  • Wall Generator: Arachne

  • Infill: 15% Cross Hatch

  • Prime Tower: None

• Plate 1 - Chessmen

  • Walls: 3

  • Seam Position: Random

  • Top Infill: Concentric

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

  • Brim-object gap: 0.2mm for easy removal

• Plate 2 - Fit Test

  • X-Y contour compensation: about -0.04mm (for a smidge of clearance)

• Plate 3 - Board

  • X-Y contour compensation:  to match best results of Fit Test

  • Squares

    • Bottom surface pattern: Monotonic

  • Frame

    • Bottom surface pattern: Concentric

• Color Scheme: Medieval German

  • White army in ivory

  • Black army in coal

  • Frame in mahogany

  • Checkered squares

    • Dark squares in burgundy

    • Light squares in malt clay

    • Colors must alternate, but it's up to you which squares are light and which are dark.

      • Historically, this choice was made inconsistently.

      • In van Leyden's painting, the rightmost square of each player's first rank was light.

      • In some of my photos, that square is dark.

      • In the latest version of my design, it is light to match the painting.

Credits

Both the board and the chessmen are based on van Leyden's painting. I modeled the board myself in OpenSCAD. The chessman models, by Victronix, are included with her permission at 75% of their original scale.

See Also