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Vijilant Semi Serious Sims1 year ago(+1)

Hi Ryszard,

Yes, alternating cards as you say. I had thought to limit the size of the hand, or allow players to forgo a turn in order to play more on the next turn, but these would not fit in my word count budget! At first it can slow the game down as players place their first units, but once things are moving, it's almost too quick.

No stacking limits, correct.

Blocking is not clear in the rules - I have thought of it as though the units cannot move forward past the enemy, but can move back.

See you Thursday/Friday!

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RTokarczuk1 year ago

Re: blocking and some of my thoughts

And Your idea is the same as I read it initially... but then I thought of a possibility of 'freezing'/locking up enemy units with the best defensive unit (or units) - not to eliminate them... but to keep them fixed in place. Time limit of 4 rounds may mean that if the units get stuck on the hill-side or valley-side, they may not be available to the player where it counts.
Also, You have arranged the defensive values in such a way that every unit is able to defeat every unit, so this tactic may simply not work with certain.

It is, however, interesting/ puzzling (in a positive sense) that the attacker can only achieve 'no effect' or 'enemy eliminated' result... there is no way to hurt yourself with a bad die roll :)

Side note:
Is there a significance to the fact that unit symbols on the KIA side are reverted? Take a look at red infantry counter with a city skill - it looks like the symbol ended up rotated 180 grades :) 

Thursday/ Friday I hope to have more questions. I like the lore and that this is the original setting.

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Vijilant Semi Serious Sims1 year ago (2 edits)

"It is, however, interesting/ puzzling (in a positive sense) that the attacker can only achieve 'no effect' or 'enemy eliminated' result... there is no way to hurt yourself with a bad die roll :)"


[edit - I missed your point about the blocking strategy to stop them respawning. I think it can work sometimes, but as you say the unit values aren't really set up for this. Maybe in future designs. At the same time, I tend to shy away from mechanics that can be gamed in a way that wouldn't make sense in a real conflict, where possible]

Mm, this was because with one card played at a time, I thought it would be ok to leave the choice to return fire up to the commander. If it were more like a standard wargame where you play many units attacking at once, I would build in a return fire mechanic I think. In the larger version of this game I was working on before the jam, dead units get to return fire at half strength, and there is an overwatch system.

Good spotting on the KIA thing! I think I'll leave it - upside down = dead, no? haha


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RTokarczuk1 year ago

One thing that kept confusing me in my solo games was the meaning of "a round" and "a turn". In the rules, those two are introduced in a section 'round structure' and it starts with:

"On their turn, the player chooses a card..."

I had to reread this few times and keep reading about the subsequent usages of 'a round' (a card can be used only once per a turn and per a round, nukes are claimed at the end of a round, not a turn).

Part of it is my own grasp of language: I always thought that 'a turn' is a longer unit than 'a round' - that players take rounds in a single turn of the game.

The designers managed to create a game where a lot of depends on decisions of players - which unit to send, when and which way. I'd like assymetrical sides with different ratings/ special abilities but this design works. It is simple - it certainly serves as a teaser for the "bigger game" that is in the works :)

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Vijilant Semi Serious Sims1 year ago (1 edit)

Ah, you may be correct about rounds vs turns. I am by no means a seasoned wargamer - I may be getting the convention wrong! I've jumped in the deep end despite minimal recent experience.

I was thinking of boxing - you take turns hitting each other (effectively) for a while, then the "round" ends, and then you start over.

Yes, I agree about symmetry. I did it this way to save myself having to playtest as much :p - the next/bigger version is very asymmetrical, a kind of clifftop scifi Dday landing scenario.

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