Insania Lupina - Werewolves vs. humans in medieval France // Your feelings are more than welcome !

Well, i actually don't know where to start... so let's go...

CITIES
In Insania Lupina, the board game is a map of medieval France.
A dozen ( to make it simple ) important cities of that time are featured on the board. They're linked together by roads.

One of the goals of the player is to protect or assault these cities.

Each city has a value. This value represents the population rate, its wealth, etc...
2 is for the less important city, 5 is the capital.

These cities are also represented by tiles and cards.

• The City tiles are put in a bag at the very beginning of the game.
  Players will draw tiles from this bag when they need to. ( Secret Movement or Tracking the Werewolf Leader )
• The City cards will be used to determined where a special event occurs ( Plague, Storm, etc... )

This Population value will also be used to determine the strength to resist to an assault.

Supports Points
The more cities a Player owns, the more Support Points he will get at the beginning of the turn.
Support Points are used to gain additional Action Points or the support of some Special Characters for a turn.
Support Points are to be kept secret.

Shops & Equipment
The "Human" Player will need to acquire some items to help them achieving their goals ( better swords or shields, bible, potions, wolf traps, silver weapons, etc... ).
These items all have a cost. The cost of an item also indicates in which kind of city you can find it.
A 4pts item can be acquired only in 4+ Population Cities, whereas a 1pt item can be found anywhere.

Plague Virulence
The amount of Population in a city influences the Virulence of a Plague epidemic.

Curse & Blessing
Cities can be cursed or blessed by characters having these abilities.
A Curse or a Blessing acts as a modifiers on the Population value of the city.

Food
Food is produced by Peasants and is required to sustain the human war effort.
Peasants can be placed within city areas to produce food. Larger cities will produce more food.

Click here to see the Prototype Map

I wanted my game to have variable player order, even if it's only a 2 players game... I think that not being able to play at the very moment you absolutely need to do it can spice it up... Even if there are only a few characters represented in the game, I consider that they can benefit from the support of some parts of the population.
Each city has a Population Value. When you "conquer" a city, it provides some Support Points at the beginning of each turn. These Support Points can be used in several ways, like determining who is going to play first...

SECRET BIDDING : WHO IS THE DOMINANT?
At the beginning of each turn, each player receive a total amount of Support Points equivalent to his total Population Value + 1D6.

To determine who is going to be the Dominant Player (first player) during this turn, the players will have to face a secret bidding "duel". Each player secretely decides how many Support Points he is willing to spend to gain the privilege to act first. The players then simultaneously reveal their bid. The winner is the highest bidder.

• The players have to pay the bidded Support Points, whether they won or not
• If a player thinks that he will need all his Support Points later during his turn, he can choose to bid a "Zero" token.
• If the result is a tie, the winner is determined by rolling 2 Curse/Blessing ( custom ) dice. If the Cross symbols outnumber the Wolf Head symbol : the winner is the Human player / if the Wolf Head symbol outnumbers the Cross symbol : the winner is the Wolf player

Being the Dominant Player can be decisive since the first player will have the opportunity to choose which Ally Character he's going to put into play during this turn ( Allies are neutral non-playable characters. They can be played by both sides during the game and confer special abilities to the players )

In the 14th century only, the bubonic plague, known as Black Death, killed more than 100 million people in Europe. The eruption of the Plague shook the whole society and caused numerous persecutions. Foreigners and Jews ( among others ) were thought to be the cause of this divine punishment. The Plague affected both people and animals, reducing dramatically food supplies. Several waves of varying virulence Plague attacks were recorded at that time, making people flee from their homeland trying to save their lives.
I wanted this very important thematic element to be part of Insania Lupina. In the game, Werewolves symbolize all heretics and other scapegoats of that period, and they naturally are seen as the cause of the coming of Black Death upon France.

BLACK DEATH : SPREADING THE DISEASE

• A Plague infection can happen if a Moon Phase Card featuring this dramatic Event is drawn.
• The Dominant Player then places the Black Death event card besides the Moon Phase Deck.

Original Location of The Infection

• The original location of the infection is determined by picking the City Card placed on top of its deck and placing it face-up besides the Black Death card.
• The name of the City featured on the card will be the starting point of the epidemic.

Destination of The Epidemic

• The virus will always spread towards the biggest city around ( The city with the highest Population Value )
• In case of a tie, the Werewolf Player will choose.

Virulence of the Epidemic
The Virulence of the Epidemic indicates its strength and the range of its spread.

• The Virulence is determined by adding a D6 to the Population Value of the Original Location of the infection.
• A number of Plague tokens equal to the Virulence value is placed on the Black Death card.
• A token is then immediately removed from the Black Death Card and placed on the infected city.
• From now on, during each Plague Spreading Phase, a token will be removed each turn from this pool and placed on the board, on an area adjacent to the last placed Plague token towards the Destination of the Plague.

The Influence of the Climate on the Plague
People believed that winter or extreme temperatures would kill the virus and save them from death.

• The Climate Cards feature a Skull symbol, representing the Plague, and a value. This value is a modifier and will affect the movement of the epidemic. If a "Heavy Rain" card is in play, the epidemic will benefit from this situation and will progress by +1 area. That means that 2 Plague tokens instead one 1, will be removed from the Black Death Card and placed on the board.

Maturation of the Virus
When a Plague token reach the destination of the epidemic, the virus is said to be "matured" and its spread will stop here.

• Both Original and Destination Cities are destroyed.
• A Plague token is placed on both cities to indicate they're not counting as cities anymore for the rest of the game.
• A character can cross a destroyed city safely
• If the Plague reaches a city area containing human characters, a number of characters equal to the number of Virulence tokens remaining on the Black Death card are to be removed immediately from the game.

Characters & Black Death

• All non-human characters can cross the Plague path ( an arean containing a Plague token ) without fear.
• Human characters can walk on a Plague infected area, but will have to face the consequences.
• A Blessing/Curse die will be rolled for each action done in an infected area.
  - If a Curse ( Wolf head ) symbol appears, the character must suffer 1 wound.
• The Plague Doctor character is an exception. He only will roll 2 dice.
  - The Curse and Blessing symbols are canceling each other
  - If 2 Curse symbols appear, he must suffer 2 wound
  - If 2 Blessing symbols appear, he may recover from 1 wound

A Cure ?
The "human" player can try to stop or slow down the spreading of the disease by enroling the Plague Doctor character.

• The Plague Doctor can use Healing tokens to counter Plague tokens
• A Healing token always cancel a Plague token
• The Doctor can place some tokens on the path of the virus. In this case, the Plague and the Healing tokens cancel each other and they are both removed from the board
• The Doctor can place a Healing token within a city area, whenever he wants to. In this case, this city will be considered as protected against the Plague if its corresponding card is revealed and supposed to be the Original Location of the infection. ( the Plague token cannot be placed on the city because of the presence of the Healing token that cancels it. In this case, the City card is removed from the game, and another card must be picked up.

In Insania Lupina, you can find 3 types of characters :

• The Faithful : they consider themselves as soldiers of Christ
• The Heretics : they're perceived and treated as such
• The Allies : they're neutral characters and don't take position

They're not used during the game in the same manner...

THE FAITHFUL & THE HERETICS
They're both playable characters who can be enrolled and actually moved on the board.

The Character Card
Each character has a Character Card that sums up his statistics and abilities.

• Action : the number of actions a character can perform during his turn
• Combat : a unique value representing the fight mastery of a character
• Health : represents the number of wounds that a character can suffer before being removed from the board
• Value : represents the overall importance of a character
• Special Abilities : several graphic symbols are used to represent the various special abilities and bonuses of the different characters

To enroll a character, the player has to spend a number of Support Points ( gained by taking possession of cities ) equal to the Value of the character.

The Faithful
United by faith and the will to stop the forces of Satan, represented to them by the Werewolf clan.

• Peasant / Cultivator : the base of the medieval society. He cannot besiege any city by himself but plays a double role as he can fight and move on the board or can be used as a Cultivator. In this case, he cannot fight or move anymore but produces food in the city area he settled in. It is necessary to feed the Faithful characters.
• Soldier : a military trained character. He benefits from a special die for his combat rolls and can besiege a Small City.
• Veteran : a military trained leader. He also benefits from various bonuses, can besiege a Medium City and has the "Commandment" trait ( a special ability that allows him to dispatch wounds or damages as he wishes).
• Knight : a military trained mounted character. He can move faster, benefits from bonuses, can assault a Big City and uses a Blessed Sword(Special effects against some opponents)
• Priest : he can use the Prayers Tokens at the disposal of the player to ask God for a blessing over a character or a city.
• Doctor : the beaked plague doctor. He can use the Healing Points at the disposal of the player to stop or slow down a plague epidemic or restore health of other characters.
• Forester : fast and strong, the forester can use traps and is not affected, unlike other characters, by the weather modifiers. On another hand, he's more subject to Lycanthropic infection than other humans.

The Heretics : The Werewolf Clan
The Werewolf clan and its allies represent those considered as heretics because of their refusal of denying ancient beliefs to embrace christianism. They're led by a great werewolf, the Father of All Wolves. Terribly injured by the flames of the inquisition pyre, he managed to escape and is now hiding, waiting patiently to recover and regain his power.

• Wolf : The wolves are more influenced than actually controlled by the player. When gathered in pack, they benefit from a bonus combat die. They don't recover automatically from 1 wound each turn, unlike other characters. They cannot besiege a city by themselves. They can cross a city but never end their turn in one.
• Lycanthrope : are they mad men convinced to be wolves or real werewolves ? All Lycanthropes on the board benefit from a bonus from full moon to the rest of the game. They can besiege a Small City.
• Lesser Werewolf : a fully transformed creature, though at the bottom of the pack hierarchy. They can infect a victim and besiege a Medium City.
• Pack Leader : the Alpha of the pack, a strong and dangerous creature. He benefits from bonuses, can assault a Big City and infect victims. He also has the "Commandment" trait
• Witch : she can use the Curse Tokens at the disposal of the player to curse a character or a city. Her power is linked to the power of the Werewolwes. The more Werewolves on the board, the more powerful and influent she grows. She cannot besiege a city.
• Malombre : the only unmaterial creature of the game. The Malombre takes the shapeless form of a dark red beast. It can only be hurt by a Priest or the blessed weapon of a Knight. It cannot besiege a city.
• The Father of All Wolves : fast, strong and resistant, the Werewolf Leader starts the game hidden somewhere on the map. Deeply wounded at the beginning of the game, he recovers from 1 wound each turn. He can be revealed at any time by the player, or remain hidden. He can besiege any city, has the « commandment » trait, benefits from various bonuses. The game will end when he dies.

ALLIES : NEUTRAL CHARACTERS
Even if they heavily influence the game, they're not actual playable characters.
They cannot be moved on the board or perform actions.

How to Enrol Neutral Characters
Each Ally, or Neutral Character has a Character Card that sums up his abilities.
These abilities differs, depending on who has enrolled this character.
A Neutral character will not act the same way if he's been enrolled by the Faithful or the Werewolf Clan.

The Dominant Player ( the first player ) can choose to enroll 1 Neutral Character by turn.
The only limitation is that he cannot enroll the same character two times in a row.

The first player position is gained by winning the secret bidding phase that occurs at the very beginning of each turn.

All bidded Support Points are lost.

The Allies

• Sailor : Cities by the sea don't produce food / Humans can use maritime ways
• Merchant : Food production is reduced / Food production is increased + Faithful can purchase items
• Tale-Teller : The Faithful player must reveal his Support Points / the Werewolf player must randomly discard one of his Influence Card
• Mercenary : Damage & Defense Bonuses for this turn
• Inn Tenant : One extra wound is automatically recovered from
• Inquisitor : Peasants cannot act during this turn / the Witch must give a Trace Token directly to the Faithful player for each of her action
• Builder : Builds a siege engine that can be used during this turn. (its power is related to the number of Support Points spent on it by the Player)

PREPARATION PHASE

• 1. Support Points are attributed to players
• 2. Dominant Player ( First player ) is determined ( Secret bidding )

CONTEXTUAL PHASE

• 1. Moon Phase Progression ( turn counter is advanced )
• 2. The Dominant player picks up contextual cards and applies their effects immediately :
  a. Climate Card
  b. Moon Card
  c. City Card ( only when required by a climate or moon card )
• 3. Spreading of the Plague ( only when required )

GAME PHASE
The Dominant player performs his entire turn first, then the second player.
A Faithful and an Heretic turn are differents :

Faithful turn

• 1. An Ally ( neutral character ) is chosen
• 2. Characters enrolled at the end of the previous turn are put into play
• 3. Rest & Food
  1 wound is automatically healed
  Each character into play must be feed ( no feeding = 1 wound/character )
• 4. Investigation & Accusation ( to find the hidden werewolf leader)
• 5. Actions ( Movements, special abilities, etc...)
• 6. Combat
• 7. Siege
• 8. Food Production
• 9. New characters are enrolled

Heretic turn

• 1. An Ally ( neutral character ) is chosen
• 2. Characters enrolled at the end of the previous turn are put into play
• 3. Rest
  1 wound is automatically healed
• 4. Secret Movement ( the hidden werewolf leader moves )
• 5. Wolves Movements & Actions
• 6. Actions ( Movements, special abilities, etc...)
• 7. Combat
• 8. Siege
• 9. New characters are enrolled

Thanks a lot for your help !

The game is about conquering France by claiming cities or destroying all opponent's forces for the Werewolf Player or by protecting cities and forcing the Wrewolf Leader to reveal himseld and destroy him to eradicate the Insania Lupina

Core Mechanic : claiming cities give you some Support Points that you can use to hire some characters or equip them...

Controlling a city in the game is basically taking possession of it.

• If the city is still a "free" city, a player who wants to claim this city has to enter in this area with units who have the ability to do that. A single Soldier with a Value of 3 will be able to claim cities of Population 2 or 3.
• Once the city is "controlled", it brings some Support Points to its controller each turn
• Once the city is "controlled", it changes the way it can used by the Werewolf Leader :
  City free or controlled by the Werewolves : the Werewolf Leader can hide there
  City controlled by the Humans : the Werewolf cannot hide there if he picks up this city card during his Secret Movement Phase, he must directly give a Trace Token to his opponent and draws another city card

Once tour troops have invaded a city, a Possession Token is placed on this city... it acts like a flag, showing that now this city is under your influence.
A city is considered yours when no opponents are remaining in the city area.
This Possession Token, add a +1 bonus to the Resistance of this City against other invasions... the other player can send troops to invade this city later
Your troops are not forced to stay in the city itself during the next turns. The city remains yours even if all your troops left.
If your characters stay in the city, they act as additional bonus resistance, adding their cumulated Values to the total Resistance of the City. In our case the city would have its Population + Possession Token + cumulated Values of your characters staying in this city.

Troops can cross free cities without capturing them.( if their Value is not high enough for instance ). Troops cannot cross the other player's cities.

All characters can move everywhere else on the board/map except :

• Humans can only travel by the city when the Sailor ( Neutral Ally who can be enrolled for a turn )
• Werewolves and wolves cannot use the maritime ways
• Wolves can move through a city area but cannot end their movement in a city.

Characters move by using their Action points, from one point to another. Each Character has an Action value. a Soldier with Action :3 can move up to 3 points distance on the board, or keep some Action points ( starting a fight costs 1 Action point, for instance )

Following that idea, I thought that the Insania Lupina ( a werewolf infection ) could be extended to the plague itself... like if they were responsible for it.

The Weather mechanic... I agree.. I think it's more boring and slowing down the game that anything. I intend to keep the most interresting Climate cards and throw them into the Moon Cards deck.

An interresting point of view again.
I think it's a question of ratio... I'll try to explain myself.
The number of Plague-triggering cards must remain pretty low in the Moon Cards deck. In fact, I thought of adding only 1 card per 20 Moon Cards. I also thought of using these cards to "balance" things in 3 players game variant. Let's say you want to play with a friend of yours against me playing the Werewolf clan... That would be 2 human players ( and brains ^^ ) against 1... In this case, I thought that I could add some Plague-triggering cards to the Moon Cards deck... to make it more difficult for the human players.

I also thought of including the Plague as an additional rule, to extend replayability.

During the first playtests, I even tried to link that to the Moon phases.. the infected characters turning into werewolves when the Moon turns full... It was a nice idea, but actually not that interresting... ( you tend to sacrifice the infected characters )