War Columns

I'd personally prefer a more original theme (for example greek heroes, monsters and gods). But having a more original theme may put off more players than it attracts, so I don't know.

There's probably no correct answer here. On the one hand, as noted, it's been done and done and done. On the other hand, the archetypes "Wizard", "Rogue", "Sodier", and "Priest" are quickly understood by players, and may help them grasp the mechanics of my game that much faster. This will have to be a wait and see.

I like that idea, thanks. It may help declutter some of my cards.

Well, the reason they look so much like Magic cards is that they ARE, basically, Magic cards. :) I used MtG Editor to make them (found at http://mtglair.de/editor.shtml and the art is directly taken from Magic cards. Obviously all of that will need to be changed in the future, but I have zero artistic ability, I think the card art really helps the feel of the game and MtG Editor is great for whipping up prototype cards very quickly.

Absolutely. The highlights are:

1 - Obviously, the use of dice. I wanted more of a miniatures feel when it came to combat rather than the wholly deterministic approach used by Magic.

2 - War Columns uses an action point system. You have 5 actions per turn and can use those actions to draw a card, play a card, order a card (i.e. attack or use a special ability) or increase your supply.

3- Rather than holding resources in your hand (i.e. land cards), in War Columns you automatically gain 3 supply per turn and may increase it further by using action points as previously mentioned. Card costs range roughly from 5 to 18 supply.

4 - Rather than using "mana color" to differentiate decks, the Units themselves make the decks different. For example, if you want to cast a Fireball from your hand, you'll need some readied Wizards in play to do so, and wil need to "exhaust" (basically a double "tap") as well. If you want to resurrect a Unit, you'll need some readied Priests. Discard an opponent's cards? Readied Rogues. All of the "Strategy" cards require readied Units of a certain type, as do some other Units (Beasts often need Soldiers, Summoned Units needs Wizards or Priests). Thus, your available actions will be determined largely by what sorts of Units you have in your deck.

5 - "Support" cards, which are always in play, require Upkeep, either by paying some Supply every turn or by tiring Units of a certain type. Thus, it would be extremely difficult to have more than two "Support" cards in play due to the constant drain on your available resources.

6 - Unit position is critical. You can only attack your opponent's Leader if he has an empty column, and the attacking Unit must be in that same column. Close Combat Units can only attack Units that are directly in front of them, and Ranged Units have specified ranges for their attacks. Thus, you'll want stronger Units up front and your weaker Units with special abilities in the rear.

Those are the main differences. You know, perhaps it's just the Magic style cards that's making me worry about this one. :)

I really like that idea! I'll tinker a bit and see what comes of it. Thanks. :)

Non-transitive dice is a cool idea. My concerns would be a) the difficulty balancing non-transitive dice in an already difficult to balance game and b) the number of dice that would need to be included in the game. It's worth looking at though. Perhaps, rather than basing it on profession (which would be tough as the game also includes Beasts, Summoned Units and Undead) each Unit could have an attack type (i.e. slashing, piercing, crushing and energy) and an armor type (metal, cloth, hide and none). It could still be tough to balance, but the effort might be worth it.

It was extremely helpful. I appreciate your time and will keep everyone apprised of the game's progress.

Jeff K.

OK, I've made my first change based on one of The General's ideas.

A unit being attacked can now be assisted by adjacent units (in the same column or immediately to the left or right). These units add their armor dice when rolling for defense, and any wounds sustained can be distributed among all of the units involved.

The catch is that any assisting unit must be Ready (i.e. not Tired or Exhausted), and the act of assisting will Tire the unit.

Also, when an attacked unit counter-attacks, it must be Ready or Tired, and the act of counter-attacking will Tire a Ready unit and Exhaust a Tired unit. Assisting units may NOT counter-attack - only the unit that was targeted by the attack.

Thoughts?

Jeff K.

I'll hopefully be able to playtest it tomorrow evening. I'm thinking this rule may help out the Soldier deck a bit (and they've needed it lately). That deck tends to have units with higher health, and thus you have more options for spreading out the Wounds. I think it will also offer more tactical choices - Tiring or Exhausting a unit during your turn means it won't be able to assist in defense during your opponent's turn.

And, yes, adjacent units can assist in attacks as well. This was necessary to help deal with very powerful units (like dragons) that are unusually difficult to kill. The balance here is that a coordinated attack takes one more action than usual. A normal attack, with one unit, costs one action. A coordinated attack costs one action + one action per unit involved. Thus, even a small coordinated attack with two units costs three of your five available actions, and the largest possible coordinated attack with four units will cost you all of your available actions for that turn.

Other things I'm considering adding (after this next round of "playability" play testing) include:
1 - Different armor/attack types, using icons as you suggested
2 - Battle Condition cards that can be played between the two armies (one card per column), perhaps from a seperate deck (each player with their own "mini-deck" of terrain). Different Battle Conditions (i.e. forests, swamps, rain, high winds, etc.) would effect different unit types in a variety of ways.
3 - Giving close combat units different attack "directions" (i.e. straight ahead, diagonal left and diagonal right).

Some (or all) of these will probably be found to make the game too cumbersome, but time will tell.

Jeff K.