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Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

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Anonymous

If anyone's into abstract games and would liek to playtest it ther's a free copy in it for ya.

See here for details:
http://www.swarmboardgame.com/?q=node/4

Cheers,
JV

Anonymous
Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

Guess no one likes abstarct games around here then..

sedjtroll
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Joined: 07/21/2008
Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

Most of the people here design themed games, but there are some who like abstracts. Check out the Game Design Workshop and other forums for entries such as Fire and Ice, Micropul, and Cannon.

I know that Hedge-O-Matic is a bg fan of Abstracts as well (designing them anyway).

jwarrend
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Joined: 08/03/2008
Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

jv222 wrote:
Guess no one likes abstarct games around here then..

Not necessarily. For one thing, traffic is usually pretty slow on weekends to begin with, and this being a holiday weekend, it was probably even slower than usual, so it's highly likely that not that many people even saw your post yet. It takes people some time to respond, so you have to be patient.

However, I would also suspect that in general, requests for playtesters are only scattershot in their success rate. The reason is not too hard to see. Speaking for mysef, I have a hard enough time asking my friends to playtest one of my games, let alone someone else's, and my playtesting time is limited enough that I just am not able to playtest someone else's game in general. If I did, my own designs would never get anywhere!

However, there are definitely some altruistic souls on the boards here, and the enticement of getting to keep the proto is a good idea, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if someone takes you up on the offer. I also wouldn't be surprised if you have better success attracting playtesters at a gaming discussion group rather than a designer group, since the loyalties of such people are less divided.

And of course, as you know, there's the GDW for discussion of rulebooks, provided one is interested and willing to return the favor.

Sorry I can't help, but good luck!

-Jeff

Anonymous
Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the info, all good advice.

Cheers,
JV :)

Anonymous
Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

Good news everyone!

If you want to playtest Swarm you may do so, right now, by downloading a board print-out.

For further details see this link:
http://www.swarmboardgame.com/?q=node/6

Cheers,
JV :)

OutsideLime
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

Hi,

I am reading over the Swarm ruleset and I think you need a text description of how Capturing is undertaken, in addition to the illustrations. I can't seem to understand the process based on just the illustrations.

Thanks,

~Josh

Anonymous
Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

OutsideLime wrote:
Hi,

I am reading over the Swarm ruleset and I think you need a text description of how Capturing is undertaken, in addition to the illustrations. I can't seem to understand the process based on just the illustrations.

Thanks,

~Josh

Hiya,

I have reworked that now. Any chance you could have a look and let me know if you think it is ok..?

http://www.swarmboardgame.com/?q=node/4

Cheers,
JV :)

Scurra
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Joined: 09/11/2008
Re: Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

jv222 wrote:
If anyone's into abstract games and would like to playtest it ther's a free copy in it for ya.
So do we get a free copy on Friday then?
Or haven't you forgiven me for your first visit yet? ;-))

CDRodeffer
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Joined: 08/04/2008
Re: Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

jv222 wrote:
If anyone's into abstract games and would liek to playtest it ther's a free copy in it for ya.

Well I, for one, am very interested in abstracts. I just downloaded the rules you posted. I think I can whip up pieces to play test with, but if you had a printable board, that would make things easier.

Three early concerns:

1) Six actions per turn sounds like an awful lot for the diceless version. It could allow someone to completely surround a lone piece out of nowhere in one turn. How did you arrive at that number of actions?

2) A related question for the version played with dice -- how did you arrive at rolling 2d6 to determine the number of actions. The long-term average should be 6.5 actions, which still seems like a lot. Did you consider 1d6, 1d8 or 2d4?

3) Is there a significant first player advantage in the diceless version (six actions per turn)? If so, one way to balance it might be to give the first player only three actions on his/her first turn, and then six actions every turn thereafter. Or perhaps a series of two, three, four, five, six and then six thereafter.

Clark

Anonymous
Re: Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

CDRodeffer wrote:
jv222 wrote:
If anyone's into abstract games and would liek to playtest it ther's a free copy in it for ya.

Well I, for one, am very interested in abstracts. I just downloaded the rules you posted. I think I can whip up pieces to play test with, but if you had a printable board, that would make things easier.

Clark

Yes the printable board and pieces are here...

http://www.swarmboardgame.com/?q=node/6

Regarding your concerns, six moves seems to work very well. Actually this game is somewhot like a bumble bee. The laws of physics says it shouldn't fly, but it still does.... (see below for more details on this)

JV :)

Anonymous
Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

>Is 6 moves to many?

The short answer to this appears to be 'no'. We have playtested quite a few games (100+) with the six moves rule and it appears to be just right. Actually it feels very exciting to play.

1 move is out of the question, it is very boring. 3 moves doesn't feel like enough, still boring. Six moves works very well because in practice it is just enough to do some damage, keep the game fast paced, but not to fast.

Even in the dice game, when players regularly roll 9+, the game does not seem to fast.

> How did you arrive at that number of actions?

The main reason was because it fitted in so nicely with the fact that hexagons have six sides per square and that the dice are six sided. It all seemed to 'fit'. Plus game play showed that it was just enough. Especially when you take into account the cost of moving your opponents pieces.

> It could allow someone to completely surround a lone piece out of nowhere in one turn.

Yes. Wonderful isnt it! That is why you must play defensivly as well as offencively.

> how did you arrive at rolling 2d6 to determine the number of actions.

Once again, through extensive game play, also because I love backgammon, I wanted to make the game feel natural to a backgammon player. Hence the advantage when doubling.

> Is there a significant first player advantage in the diceless version (six actions per turn)?

In practice, there is a 'small' advantage, but not huge.

> one way to balance it might be to give the first player only three actions on his/her first turn

Well that would complicate things. I think a better option is for players to take it in turns with who starts. Like chess.

Cheers,
JV

Anonymous
And also...

Another reason why six moves is not to many is that just after you capture a piece, you are leaving your pieces set up for your opponent to use against you. IN order to play safely you should capture your opponent's piece and then move your pieces back to safety.

Even with six moves this can seem an impossible feet, and, if you are not careful, you can find your self in sacrificial exchanges, much like chess.

OutsideLime
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Playtest 'Swarm' for a free copy!

Quote:
I have reworked that now. Any chance you could have a look and let me know if you think it is ok..?

Muuuuch better... now all is clear. I would title the illustrations thusly for additional clarity:

Example 1 - Basic Capturing
Example 2 - Six-Sided Encirclement
Example 3 - Multiple Piece Encirclement

This will help the reader tie the images to the text descriptions.

Your game seems very smooth and I look forward to giving it a spin... I have been reading the posts here and am curious to see how the movement limits play out in practice.

~Josh

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