Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-14138255-20140919000743/@comment-9090085-20141002194105

Maki Kuronami wrote: I think you literally took the Ironwood route. Which Ozpin disapproves of.

Ha ha, no, I play rather like Ironwood when playing chess - I throw my pawns into the fray and try to take out my enemy's pieces when possible even if I would lose pieces.

Chess metaphors are almost always a little strained, simply because they don't really mach up to real battlefield roles and are closer to important roles in medieval society(Rooks are castles, Bishops are advisers, etc.). Still, this amateur player would like to give a quick run down(for kicks):

Pawns - the weakest and most numerous piece on the board, pawns represent the basic troops - to be used and thrown away. However, they also have the potential, if you put the time and effort into them, to become any other piece - except the King.

Rooks - the "heavy hitters", rooks can be thought of as troops who excel at frontal assaults. Unfortunately, their straightforward movements make them easy to predict.

Knights - "Unpredictable" is what Knights are - with weird movement and the ability to bypass intervening troops, Knights can easily slip behind enemy lines and wreak havoc. They're hard to use however, and positioned sloppily will go down like any other piece.

Bishops - Bishops are much like Rooks, except that they move diagonally rather then vertically and horizontally. This makes them a bit harder to predict, but also limits their attack options a little. I don't really have a good analogy for what they are...

Queen - The most powerful piece on the board, combining the power of the Rook and Bishop, the Queen is your ace unit. There's only one though, and even the Queen doesn't have the Knight's unpredictability.

King - The most valuable piece on the board, and the second weakest, the loss of the King is the loss of the game. The General, the Strategist, the Commander - regardless as to their combat capabilities(which may be incredible), the "planner" character is one who is more useful giving orders from the rear then fighting on the front lines.

Now, while I'm not the best at picking up on these things, I will point out that team RWBY, who picked the White Knights, seem to have acted in a manner befitting of that piece: Three times they have appeared before their enemies unexpectedly, much like how a Knight will suddenly appear behind your lines.