I wonder whether the author of Conflict was trying to make an uber-realistic simulation, or a fun game. If the latter, the game was a great success, it's a fantastic game. At some point you have to let chess be chess, you shouldn't add in all sorts of "realistic" rules about how the bishops can try to convert each other using theology or how the king can steal a knight's horse, turning the knight into a pawn but increasing the king's movement range, etc. etc.