Nasmichael: you can get a zillions of games implementation of american chess. if you look at chessvariants.org there is a page for american chess. i also wrote an application which facilitates email play but has no ai for play against the computer. the 'look' of the pieces in zillions was taken from the pbem prototype. you can see a screen shot at chessvariants.org or at http://americanchess.tripod.com

Lambik: say, if you don't already have a 2,0 2,1 2,2 jumper, may i suggest the 'squirrel' addition to 'short range strong pieces?'... this piece is also known as the 'colonel' in 'american chess'... basically, jumps two in any direction... 16 possible squares to jump to (if it's not situated within 2 of the edge of the board)... i find it to be like a more-powerful knight... very versatile, but on the larger boards... limited range...

for long range/strong, my favorite is probably the pao/vao combination... a cannon with orthogonal/diagonal capabilities combined... anyway, superchess sounds like it will be a lot of fun... i can only hope american chess one day finds similar appeal... in any event i will have to play a game or two of superchess, once fencer gets it programmed...

i have developed a new variant and someone at chessvariants.org was kind enough to write a zillions of games implementation for 'american chess'... http://americanchess.tripod.com ... thanks for your consideration