I love playing big games (8ish players), but waiting for your turn to play just gets flat out ridiculous at times. So over the past year or so, I've been designing out this idea of a game to drastically reduce that effect.
I have a very rough rulebook, but I would suggest not reading it until you read this summary first http://blog.treybert.com/?page_id=3 . If I had to say what game it is like, it would be similar to a Modern Warfare (domination) / Battlefield video game, but on a table of course.
The game would be setup on a tiled board with 2 teams. Each player on each team would have a number of units that would make up their squad. The objective would be to control various locations on the map which in turn would determine scoring.
Players control their units by issuing commands via cards. On each card there is a Command Cost (using a command point) and a speed. The speed will determine the order in which Orders are resolved. Players have a limited number of command points and cards per game round.
Once the game round begins, any player is allowed to play a card (face up). Once the first card is played, this starts the Order Sequence. From this point, all other players are free to play a card. Players may play multiple cards, but never in direct succession (meaning you can't play another card if you played the previous card). Once 10 seconds have passed with no activity (an arbitrary time), the Order Sequence ends and the individual orders are resolved with the highest Speed values going first.
Once all orders are resolved, players are then allowed to play cards again. This continues until all players are out of command points. Players then draw new cards, get more command points, and the game continues until one team has won. I know thats vague, but more detailed rules are in my rule book above.
The main thing that happens (well, that I plan to happen) is players are allowed to freely take as long as they want to plan their moves. However, the longer they do so, the more likely their opponents will make a move. At the same time though, if you make your moves very quickly, you may leave the door open to allow your opponent to craft a highly calculated move. Thats the plan at least.
Thats the general gist of it, any thoughts would really be good. So far I just about to do my first play test. Are there any games out there that have a similar mechanic? Any comments will be much appreciated. Thanks
Thanks for the reply genericm.
I believe my explanation was probably a little unclear. Each card is used as an action which enables a unit to both move and shoot. The only variables on the cards is the cost, speed, and bonuses (such as a bonus to movement or attack). In each round, players are limited by their hands and command points. These are only replenished at the end of the round and not after they are played.
I see your point though, all these +'s are going to be quite taxing. The way I see it in my mind is each participating player would tally up their +'s to their own single d12 roll. Once I start play testing I'l know if all the bonuses gets out of control.
As per the flippable unit tokens, thats a great idea. My mindset has always been set on miniatures and didn't even think about alternatives. Thanks.