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12 Generations of War's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #5 | 3.951 | 4.176 |
| Overall | #10 | 3.376 | 3.569 |
| Design | #11 | 3.338 | 3.529 |
| Adherence to the Theme | #14 | 2.838 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Great! I don't need minis to play! But I do need a hundred d6s... Hmm...
My personal favourite I've read so far and one I'm tempted to play [if I can get the d6s together :D]
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I’m actually about to turn this one into a school project, lol, I think it’s versatile enough to represent the Vietnam War? Let’s hope my professor is just blown away by the creativity! :D
Also, after 2 playtests there are some major updates I wanna make to it, I don’t know how playable it is without those updates
For a Nam variant, you'll probably want to invert which side uses the weariness tracker, and'll probably have to rejigger some of the math to accommodate that.
Oh, and I'm looking forward to seeing those edits you mentioned.
As soon as Sunday rolls around I’m going to upload all the edits into a non-OPR format and send them onto itch.
I kept the Rebels having the weariness tracker for Nam, but changed the descriptions. The first three are a fresh supply drop from the Communists, the next turns are things slowly getting worse as they don’t get new supplies, then the Tet Offensive, final re-supply at the end. Still worked!
I don't think this game uses enough dice. Seriously though, while I understand why they're being used, I think the sheer quantity, and varieties required are a real barrier to entry. There will need to be 36 to design the map, 36 of a different color for the Empire, 36 of yet another for the Rebels, and it would probably be helpful to have at least 6 of yet another two colors for each player to roll in combat, so it's not just 96 dice, but specific quantities across about 5 colors/designs. I think that the sole usage of dice as pieces is likely to make this an absolute trick to read what's going on at a glance as well. The movement system is also a bit finicky, and I'm not sure why it doesn't specify that a fleet can move between any number of stars so long as the total distance is 4" or less, instead of a specific limit of 2 stars 2" or less.
The generational weariness tracker is an interesting wrinkle, and probably where this game fits closest to the theme, particularly coupled with the notion of the Rebellion respawning. It's clearly a failure gradient with real victory more a question of endurance rather than winning specific battles, though I'm not sure how tightly it otherwise matches. The distinctions in how the two factions generate units and the unique resource should also give this thing some legs once players have managed to gather up enough dice. Bonus points for correct usage of the singular 'die' instead of just calling it a 'dice' though.
Thank you for your review! You can move one long jump that’s 4” away or 2 2” jumps in rules. The two moves is to help whatever player is moving with spreading out their forces and dropping off troops to garrison different planets.
I’ve heard the dice one before. I usually buy these 36 dice sets from game stores, they’re tinier but they’re stacked like 4 groups of 9. I guess technically you only need the 36 dice to make the map, after that I never saw a need for the full 36 dice for each faction, but I kept in because I have like 5 of these 36 dice color sets (they’re only like 15$) and so I thought they were really common for wargamers to have.
Nonetheless! Your dice considerations are totally valid, sir!
I understand how the multi-system move works, I'm just not sure why it functions like that rather than allowing a fleet to move between any number of stars so long as the total distance is 4" or less.
On the dice thing my local game stores sell dice at most 16 at a time, and at a somewhat painful markup. I'll have to see about ordering a ton of the 5mm dice and using those, since they'd be fun.
Oh man! I’m sorry to hear that! Over here I get 36 10mm dice for around 15$ depending on the store, so it seemed totally legit to say, “Yeah, get like, 100+ dice.” Lol
The reason for not just anything under 4” is because the rebellion would be able to just cascade through clumps of imperial planets and turn the tide of the war overnight because remember, the Imperial player cannot “double-tap” their star systems like the Rebels can, so losing a third of the board in a turn is CRIPPLING to their economy.
With a move of 4" through a 2'x2' board, and at most 3 fleets moving through a maximum of 36 systems, how could the Empire manage to lose key systems that quickly? They broadly only need 3 given the activation limits, and they do have an advantage in starting ships.
Because of the way the dice fall there’s usually one large cluster with branches (it looks like a galaxy). That cluster would be wiped in a turn or two if the Empire player didn’t have at least one ship in every planet, which is semi-unreasonable
That said - could you tell me a bit about the 'redesigning failure' element of this game? I'm intrigued, a lot of it just seemed like "failure but it takes longer"
For sure!
The part of the game that is Redesigning Failure is different from each sides point of view:
The Imperial player is slowly being eaten away at over the course of the game. Every misplay and every lost territory corrodes their possibility space, and likewise, every time they take back territory they gain it back, giving them opportunities to rebound and collapse do to major chokepoints in their infrastructure being taken out. It’s similar to some games where they have you slowly lose the ability to lose your limbs over the course of play from taking damage, but this time from the point of view of a galactic empire instead of a mech suit or fantasy hero.
The Rebel player experiences a different form of failure because they can A) come back to life if they are ever fully wiped off the map, and B) they can utilize the same star system multiple times in a turn. So, if they are ever confined to a single system, or are cut in half after an amazing Imperial turn, they can bounce back instead of just being entirely crushed by the weight of the evil empire! Like getting caught in a stealth game, but then finding safety and recovering.
In both the Imperial player’s and Rebel player’s POVs there are multiple stages and kinds of failure (failing to be able to go through with a plan, failing a crucial attack, failing to predict the enemy player’s movements) some way worse than others, all but one being recoverable (the Imperial player losing their Capital). Which is what I believe the theme was all about.
And also, it only turned into Star Wars after I added the Death Stars- I MEAN “Annihilators” ;)
Before that, I was thinking of a book series called “The Lost Fleet”, highly recommend it. It’s like the TV show JAG, but in space, and mixed with the Lost Roman Legion.
Should have called the Empire Syndics then. Are the sequels with aliens any good? I've never gotten around to reading them.
Also it seems like the best usage of the Annihilator is to clump the rebels up, deny them systems and lock them into place, rather than fighting with the thing given the time cost of fixing it. Does that square with your experiences?
Also given the number of systems involved, and the activation limits, how much of the Sector will typically see play?
Man, I didn’t get around to reading them either, smh. I only got the original 5 books read to completion.
To be honest, I didn’t get to playtest it. My wife and I were busy all weekend. That was my assumption with the Annihilator, kind of like in Star Wars, the point of the Death Star wasn’t to destroy the rebel fleets, that was the Star Destroyers’ job, the Death Star just blows up planets and is a serious tank.
Also, @PixelAmerica on the OPR discord, that’s my name there too if you wanna chat more
I saw your question asking who I was, but I try to keep my various digital identities compartmentalized.
Fair :P
Page 2, Column 3, Table 1, You have the table header as Example Table.
I wish I could’ve gone over the whole thing again with a fine-tooth comb, maybe after the Jam, out of time right now
It's all good, there's a couple of Ryan's ideas we didn't get to implement in ours either.