I will be creating a pnp version for all you fine folks as well as a physical market-ready prototype that I will be posting many pics of!
The idea of a massive war game always appealed to me but I found lots of them to be either a) too long b) too darn complex for their own good or c) a rough combination of both. I want to create a simple war strategy game that is fun to play. I believe that this simplicity will broaden the audience for war strategy games to other groups that maybe like the idea but don't like how much stuff you gotta handle (AKA people like me)
So, without further ado, the concept(Thus far)..
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| Tentative game title and logo. |
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| Infantryman 'Yin' of the Blue Dynasty |
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| Infantryman 'Yang' of the Red Dynasty |
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| The Dynasy's respective infantry units with imperial symbols. This is the initial concept for the board game's box top cover. |
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| Early concept for the board game's dust jacket. This slides of to reveal a reformatted version of the image with both mice. |
Game Rules optimized for the physical version [v.1a2]:
This is an extremely early, untested, build of the game's basic workings with a bit of design conceptualized. The next(and most important) step is to test the crap out of it! All of these numbers are guesses; estimates of how many pieces the game will actually need. I need to finalize these numbers as soon as I can so I can plan out a production schedule!
'A tactical battle of the ages!'
Goal: Get X squads of mice into the opposing team’s castle! Recommended 5 squads per game.
Time to complete(expected for final version): 30-45min
Set up:
Each player chooses a Dynasty to command.(Red, or Blue) Once that is settled, each player takes their respective Blinn Blocks(Dice), Infantry Bag(The see-through plastic bag filled with infantry tokens), and places their Dynasty’s Start/Castle Tile(The trapezoid with the word, “Start” on it) across from one another on an even plane. As a rule of thumb, the further away the castles, the longer the game will take.
Turn progression:
White always gets the first move.
Every turn, each player rolls his/her Blinn Blocks to determine how much Blinn they are allotted for that turn. The player then uses his/her Blinn to fund tasks around the board such as:
- Buy more infantry.
This is an extremely early, untested, build of the game's basic workings with a bit of design conceptualized. The next(and most important) step is to test the crap out of it! All of these numbers are guesses; estimates of how many pieces the game will actually need. I need to finalize these numbers as soon as I can so I can plan out a production schedule!
'A tactical battle of the ages!'
Goal: Get X squads of mice into the opposing team’s castle! Recommended 5 squads per game.
Time to complete(expected for final version): 30-45min
Set up:
Each player chooses a Dynasty to command.(Red, or Blue) Once that is settled, each player takes their respective Blinn Blocks(Dice), Infantry Bag(The see-through plastic bag filled with infantry tokens), and places their Dynasty’s Start/Castle Tile(The trapezoid with the word, “Start” on it) across from one another on an even plane. As a rule of thumb, the further away the castles, the longer the game will take.
Turn progression:
White always gets the first move.
Every turn, each player rolls his/her Blinn Blocks to determine how much Blinn they are allotted for that turn. The player then uses his/her Blinn to fund tasks around the board such as:
- Buy more infantry.
- Advance infantry.
- Scout terrain. (You may respond to new terrain you encounter on your current turn.)
- Store some Blinn for later. (See ‘The Blinn Bank’)
After the player can’t do anything or decides that he/she is finished with their turn does it become the other player’s turn.
Blinn:
- Scout terrain. (You may respond to new terrain you encounter on your current turn.)
- Store some Blinn for later. (See ‘The Blinn Bank’)
After the player can’t do anything or decides that he/she is finished with their turn does it become the other player’s turn.
Blinn:
The currency of the game, Blinn is allotted to you by your government each turn via rolling your Blinn Blocks. (The dice)
The Blinn Bank:
The imperial storehouse of the Blinn you wish to save for a rainy day. In the box are two notepads for each player. This is where you write down how much Blinn you wish to store for later use. We recommend the line tally system. Erase or scribble out the Blinn that you use! If you hate writing, use a calculator instead!
Squads:
You may have as many squads on 1 space as you’d like! Cost to spawn 1 new squad = 2 Blinn.
All new squads, with the exception of Mercenary Camps, spawn on the Start/Castle Tile.
Cost to advance 1 squad 1 space = 1 Blinn.
Scouting:
To advance closer to your opponent’s castle, you may send 1 squad ahead 1 space into unknown terrain. Cost = 1 Blinn.
When you do so, draw a Terrain Tile(Hexagon piece) from the Terrain Bag(The big grey bag) to see what’s ahead in that direction. If you are unsure what a Terrain Tile does, flip the tile around, the instructions are on the back! You may also reference the Terrain Encyclopedia located at the end of this guide.
Combat:
When opposing squads meet, a battle ensues! 1 squad from each opposing unit attacks at a time. Both players roll 1 Blinn Block to decide which team’s squad was victorious. This pattern continues until only 1 team’s squads remain in the fight.
Terrain Encyclopedia:
The Blinn Bank:
The imperial storehouse of the Blinn you wish to save for a rainy day. In the box are two notepads for each player. This is where you write down how much Blinn you wish to store for later use. We recommend the line tally system. Erase or scribble out the Blinn that you use! If you hate writing, use a calculator instead!
Squads:
You may have as many squads on 1 space as you’d like! Cost to spawn 1 new squad = 2 Blinn.
All new squads, with the exception of Mercenary Camps, spawn on the Start/Castle Tile.
Cost to advance 1 squad 1 space = 1 Blinn.
Scouting:
To advance closer to your opponent’s castle, you may send 1 squad ahead 1 space into unknown terrain. Cost = 1 Blinn.
When you do so, draw a Terrain Tile(Hexagon piece) from the Terrain Bag(The big grey bag) to see what’s ahead in that direction. If you are unsure what a Terrain Tile does, flip the tile around, the instructions are on the back! You may also reference the Terrain Encyclopedia located at the end of this guide.
Combat:
When opposing squads meet, a battle ensues! 1 squad from each opposing unit attacks at a time. Both players roll 1 Blinn Block to decide which team’s squad was victorious. This pattern continues until only 1 team’s squads remain in the fight.
Terrain Encyclopedia:
- Rock: These are impassable. (Destruction necessary?)
- Chasm/River Rapids: You’re army cannot pass unless you build a bridge across.
- Bridge: Costs 15 Blinn to build and can be destroyed by 1 of the builder player’s infantrymen.
- Mercenary Camp: Double the mice at half the price! 2 mice = 1 Blinn. The number of mice in the camp is determined by your last Blinn Block roll. You may choose to buy as many or few mice as you would like from the camp. Purchased mice from the camp spawn on the space. The camp disappears after the turn ends regardless of how many mice you purchased. Replace the space with a Grassy Field and put the Mercenary Camp tile back in the Terrain Bag.
- Band of Thieves: “Fine or fight!” Your squad has been surrounded by a band of thieves and cannot move! You have 2 options here:
1. “Fine!” Pay the Bandit’s fine. Price is determined by 10 x Your last Blinn Block roll and remains at that price until the Band of Thieves is dealt with.
Once the price is paid, only players that pay the fine are allowed to use and pass through that space.
2. Fight! Wreck ‘em!
The number of bandits to defeat is 2 x your last Blinn Block roll. This fight is a bit different: You must roll both of your Blinn Blocks 3 times and the total of all 3 Blinn Block rolls must equal 21 or above. If you win, the thieves disappear and you get to keep your squad perfectly in tact! But, if you loose, your squad get’s captured by bandits! You can attempt to battle the bandits for your squad by sending a squad of equal or higher number to the Band of Thieves Space.
Once you defeat all the Bandits, replace the space with a Grassy Field and put the Band of Thieves tile back in the Terrain Bag.
- Grassy Field: A space with no traps! No strings attached!
- Bubsy Cogre: Your squad is doomed! This ancient monster is known to wipe out entire squads with a single blow! You loose every infantryman on the space you scouted from including your scout. Once you have cleared your infantry pieces from the board, replace this space with a Rock and put the Bubsy Cogre tile back in the Terrain Bag.
- Big Bag-o-Blinn: Your squad literally comes across a massive bag of Blinn free for the taking! You receive double the amount of Blinn on your last Blinn Block roll.
- Quicksand!: Lose half of the infantrymen on the space you scouted from including your scout. This space remains on the board and you may build a bridge to cross it on a future turn.
- Forest: Cost of advancing on and through this space is doubled!
Developer’s Notes:
List of pieces:
2 White 6-sided dice with Blue dots.
2 Black 6-sided dice with Red dots.
2 Start Castle trapezoids. (1 for each team)
30 squad tokens [Red]
30 squad tokens [Blue]
2 plastic bags for the infantry pieces.
1 Terrain Tile Bag
2 Notepads (1 for each player)
Quantity of each Terrain Tile(45):
Grassy Field: 16
Forest: 8
Rock: 8
Chasm: 4
Quicksand: 2
Bubsy Cogre: 1
Big Bag-o-Blinn: 2
Band of Thieves: 2
Mercenary Camp: 2
[PUT THIS AMOUNT IN A BLACK BAG PRIOR TO STARTING THE GAME. THIS IS HOW MANY SHOULD BE IN A BAG AT A TIME]
Total: 106
So, what'cha think?
If ya want to try it out, here are some hexagon templates! They are blank as I don't know how many you will actually need as the number is potentially infinite. So, for now, use my Developer's Notes as a guide for how many to make. Just use a pen and write down what kind of terrain tile they are on each of 'em. Also, use some money like nickles and pennies for each person's team.
If ya want to try it out, here are some hexagon templates! They are blank as I don't know how many you will actually need as the number is potentially infinite. So, for now, use my Developer's Notes as a guide for how many to make. Just use a pen and write down what kind of terrain tile they are on each of 'em. Also, use some money like nickles and pennies for each person's team.
Just fold each piece of paper into 1 hexagon and cut to make 12 hexagons easy!
Enjoy!!
Enjoy!!
I'll see y'all real soon! ;D
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