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Miniatures Game - breaking the turn order, ideas?

5 replies [Last post]
Fri, 12/09/2011 - 12:27
omni989
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Joined: 04/30/2011

Hi All

I am designing a miniatures game and would like to bring something new to the traditional turn order options available.

So currently the ones I can think of are:

1,Basic Turn based - One player completes all moves, shooting etc with his entire force then his opponent does the same.

2,Alternate Activation -An initiative roll off. Each player completes all moves etc with one model then his opponent does the same with one model then back and fourth until all models for both players have completed.

3,Initiative order - All units from all Players are activated in order of their individual initiative.

One idea I have:
I have 3 classes of unit so could do collective initiative - speed 1, 2 3
I thought of using alternate activation for each class. So same as above but all speed 1 must complete activation before any speed 2 or 3, then 2's activate and finally 3's.

Does anyone have any other ideas for something different for a turn based miniatures game with multiple units?
The first option is not preferred because it means one player sits and waits whilst his opponent moves his whole force

Any ideas would be much appreciated

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Fri, 12/09/2011 - 12:41
#1
MondaysHero
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Joined: 07/08/2011
Card Deck Order

Okay, so, as a point of reference, say each unit had a card like Privateer Press does.
At the beginning of the turn, both player's cards are shuffled together to form a deck. The deck is then turned over one card at a time. One player might get the shaft, having several of is opponent's cards dealt (meaning they get to to activate) first, but it also means that the second half of the turn belongs soley to him, and his opponent will have little if no units to react with.

Or, altenatively, each player has a separate deck, and they reveal the top cards simultaneouslyl, the faster unit activating first.

How does that sound?
-Monday's Hero

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Fri, 12/09/2011 - 16:57
#2
Catelf
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Joined: 10/05/2009
An idea from Blood Bowl, perhaps?

In the game Blood Bowl, unless i'm mistaken, the respective turn starts as #1 ... But!
As soon as any of the player's forces fail at an action, any action, the rest of the turn is forfeited, and the opponent's turn begin.
The opponent goes by the same rules, of course.

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Fri, 12/09/2011 - 18:36
#3
kos
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Joined: 01/17/2011
Groups of units

Many miniatures games use the concept of grouping units together, typically into groups of 3-5 models. Depending on the scale this could be squads, platoons, regiments, etc. Typically the units in a group must stay within a certain distance to maintain unit cohesion, and may be jointly affected by other rules like targeting and morale effects.

You can then use either option (2) or (3) above, applying it to a single group rather than an individual model. Thus if you have 20 models each, rather than switching back and forth 20 times in a single round you only switch 4-5 times, which makes the game flow much faster. It is also easier to keep track of initiative for half a dozen groups rather than 20+ models.

Regards,
kos

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Sat, 12/10/2011 - 13:30
#4
omni989
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Joined: 04/30/2011
Thank you

Hey thanks for the ideas guys.

I am currently trying to get the card idea to work.

There are only 5 units in this game on each side.
Players place the cards in the order they want to activate them and simultaneously flip the top card.
Each unit has an initiative value - if it is higher than the opponnents value then that unit goes first.
If it is a tie then you roll a dice to decide. Or the player that activated the last unit goes last.
If your opponent kills your unit before you activate it you get to flip another card and activate that unit.

This works and is fun but:
It adds more cards to a game which already has a card system
It is severely weakened once you start out numbering your opponent

Woud be good to use a system like this but without cards and without adding too much management.
The system needs to introduce a random element but still give certain amount of control because initiative in a skirmish game is very powerful

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Sun, 12/11/2011 - 18:53
#5
Koen Hendrix
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Joined: 11/24/2010
How about a 'tick' system, keeping track of time on a roundel?

How about a system using time units ('ticks'), on a round track? Fast units might use 2 ticks and powerful units 5 ticks.

Each player puts a pawn on a time roundel (a circle track, like a clock, with say 16 spaces). Whoever's behind on the time roundel activates a unit with any speed, and move your pawn an equal number of spaces forward on the time roundel.

Example: You activate a speed 3 unit, you move your pawn 3 spaces. The other player's now 3 spaces behind, so he activates a speed 2 unit. Still 1 space behind, so he goes again, this time activating a speed 5 unit. He's now 4 units ahead, meaning you have 4 ticks until it's the other player's turn again. And so on. If you land on the same space as the other player, the turn switches.

Benefits:
No extra cards, works with any amount of players, very little waiting, agonizing choices between activating two fast units or one strong one. And you can incorporate non-unit actions (upgrading a unit? capturing a building?) in the same system, just make it cost time units.

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