Legends At War - a game of mythic strategy

Added a new preview - Chapter 4: Abilities

http://www.game-o-gami.com/2012/10/05/game-design-legends-at-war-abilities/

Abilities have fun and interesting consequences for players’ choices during battles, and can have a huge impact on your deck-building strategy. Some abilities are reserved for particular Pantheons and Dominions, while others are shared across these groups. There are over a dozen abilities planned for the Legends At War master set, and even more will be released in expansions!

Two more game mode previews are now up. Where a Skirmish match can be played in 20 minutes, a Campaign is a more epic struggle that averages around 60 minutes to play. Enjoy!

Pantheon Campaign
http://www.game-o-gami.com/2012/10/15/game-design-legends-at-war-pantheo...

Ragnarok Campaign
http://www.game-o-gami.com/2012/10/17/game-design-legends-at-war-ragnaro...

New Updates!

Beta v1.25 of the Legends At War rulebook is now available for download: http://www.game-o-gami.com//wp-content/uploads/2012/12/game-o-gami_Legen...

Here's a google spreadsheet of the Character Cards Data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlN5hHGpRZgedDFfd1BsZ2VfQnJ...

Both the rules and character stats are going through beta-testing and balance changes. Lots of editing remains to be done, to make the rules more streamlined and better organized. That's where awesome, intelligent people like yourselves come in! :)
Any suggestions you have for improvements to the rules, things that need to be clarified, or your impressions of the game (without actually having played it yet) are very welcome and appreciated. Thank you!

Fresh from version 1.5, here are the rules for the Battle Phase!
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Chapter 6: Battle
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The Battle Phase is the most exciting part of a match! During a battle, players play their cards to open spaces, with the goal of controlling the most cards on the board when the phase is over. Once all players have finished building their decks and the board, the Battle Phase begins.

-Battle Begins-
At the start of a battle, each player shuffles their deck and draws 5 cards to their hand. Next, each player plays 1 card face down on the board, going in turn order (established during the setup phase, and at the end of the previous battle.) When a player plays a card, he puts a control token on it. A card that is played face down cannot be placed adjacent to another face down card. After playing their card, each player draws 1 card from their deck to their hand.

Once all players have played their face down cards, flip those cards over so that they are face up. Then apply card abilities as necessary. All Ranged Attack, Skinwalker, and Maneuver abilities are negated for this turn. No card may attack another card on this turn.

In the Ragnarok game variant, cards are only played face down at the beginning of Round 1’s battle. During later rounds in Ragnarok, all cards are played face up. This also means that during rounds 2 and 3, the first card played by each player can attack other cards and does not have its Ranged Attack, Skinwalker or Maneuver abilities negated.

-Turns-
For the remainder of the battle, players take turns playing their cards to the board. Every turn has the following steps, performed in this order:

1) Play a Card
2) Pre-Attack Abilities
3) Resolve Attacks
4) Post-Attack Abilities
5) Reaction Abilities
6) Draw a Card

Step 1) Play a Card- A player who has any cards remaining in his hand must play one to an open board space. A space which does not have a card on it is considered an “open space.” All cards must orient in the same direction, towards “north” on the board. When a player plays a card, he places a control token on that card to mark that he controls it. Any cards controlled by the same player are allied to each other. Any cards which are not controlled by the same player are enemy cards.

Step 2) Pre-Attack Abilities - Apply any Pre-Attack Abilities belonging to the card that was played. If the space where the card was played is in the area of effect of any Pre-Attack Persistent Abilities, those abilities are also applied. All of these abilities occur simultaneously.

Step 3) Resolve Attacks - The card played on this turn will attack all enemy cards that are within its attack range. A card’s attack range consists of the four spaces adjacent to it: north, south, east, and west. If a card has the Ranged Attack ability, its attack range will include additional spaces.
When an attack occurs, compare the values of the stats on the touching edges of the attacking and defending cards. For example, if the attack is coming from the north, then the attacker’s south stat will be compared to the defender’s north stat. If the attack is coming from the west, then the attacker’s east stat will be compared to the defender’s west stat, etc…
If the defender's stat is greater than or equal to the attacker’s stat, then the attack fails and the defending player maintains control of his own card. If the attacker's stat is greater than the defender’s stat, then the attack is successful and the defending card is captured. The attacker places his control token on the newly captured card, replacing the previous control token.
Attacking an enemy card within attack range is automatic – players cannot choose to skip an attack. If multiple cards are being attacked during this step, all of these attacks occur simultaneously. Normally, only cards played on the current turn can capture other cards, because defending cards cannot counter-attack. The Web ability is an exception to this rule, because cards with this ability will counter-attack if an attack against them fails. The Traitor ability is another exception to this rule, because it causes a captured card to launch its own attacks against additional enemy cards.
Some abilities, such as the Slayer ability, are applied during this step - after all attacks are resolved, but before the Post-Attack Step.

Step 4) Post-Attack Abilities - After attacks are resolved, some abilities may now take effect or may no longer be in effect, depending upon the new allegiances of the cards on the board.
Apply any Post-Attack Abilities belonging to the card that was played. If the space where the card was played is in the area of effect of any Post-Attack Persistent Abilities, those abilities are also applied. If any cards were captured during the previous step, apply any other Post-Attack Abilities on the board as necessary, based on the new allegiance of those cards. All of these abilities occur simultaneously.

Step 5) Reaction Abilities - Some abilities, such as Maneuver, Traitor, and Web, are Reaction Abilities. Apply any Reaction Abilities which are triggered by the events of this turn. These abilities are applied in reverse order, beginning with the most recently played card, and ending with the card which has been on the board the longest amount of time.

Step 6) Draw a Card - The player draws 1 card from his deck to his hand. His turn ends, and the next player going clockwise begins his turn.

-Battle’s End-
The Battle Phase ends when either there are no more open spaces on the board, or no player has cards remaining in their hand. The end of a battle is the end of that round. The winner of the round is the player who controls the most cards on the board at the end of the battle. This player will go first during the next round.

-Resolving Ties-
A tie happens when more than one player controls the highest number of cards on the board at the end of a battle. To determine the winner when this happens, each player in the tie adds up the total of the levels of the cards they control on the board. The tied player with the highest level count wins that round.

If the level count also results in a tie, then it is a “complete tie.” All players in the complete tie are considered to have won the round. Going clockwise, the player in the complete tie who is sitting furthest away from the player who went first during this round, will go first during the next round. In the Standard game mode, if a complete tie occurs, no player gets the victory card for that round. At the end of a match, if a complete tie occurs, then all players tied for the level count win the match.

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Your thoughts on these rules, especially their clarity, is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance! :)

I posted an article about the visual evolution for the game, leading up to the above image, on BGG:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/950515/legends-at-war-art-and-graphi...

The Beta v2.0 rulebook for "Legends At War" has been released! This is the rules set that will be used for the upcoming print-and-play release. Your thoughts and suggestions are very very much appreciated, as always. You can download the PDF here:

http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/93140/rules-beta-v2-0-edition

Included in this version of the rules, is a new 2v2 "Team Battle" variant. I've posted the rules for this variant below, hoping for some useful feedback. :)

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How to Play - TEAM BATTLE
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Team Battle is a variant of the Standard game, for 4 players competing in teams of 2. Teammates ally their pantheons, combine control tokens, and share a single capture pile. The team with the most victory points at the end of the third round wins the match.

SETTING UP
One complete pantheon is needed per player in the match. Sort the cards into their respective pantheons, so there are at least 4 complete pantheons for players to choose from. Choose the board pieces you want to play with, or simply gather a random selection. At least four board pieces are needed for this match.

Decide the members of each team. Teammates must sit opposite of each other, so that the teams will take alternating turns during the match. For example, Player 1 (Team A) will take his turn, followed by Player 2 (Team B), Player 3 (Team A), and Player 4 (Team B). Each team is assigned a distinct color for their control tokens.

Determine who goes first. You can do this by a coin toss, or by letting an experienced player volunteer to go first. The turn order begins with this player, and then continues going clockwise.

Going in turn order, each player chooses a pantheon to play, taking all 18 cards from that set. All players add the 9 level I cards from their chosen pantheons to their decks, and set the remaining cards down as their reinforcement piles. Over the course of the match, each player will have 2 sets of cards under their control: a deck, and a reinforcement pile. Each player will also have access to his team’s capture pile, which he shares with his teammate. During the match, teammates can communicate their plans publicly, but cannot physically reveal their hands, decks, or reinforcement piles to each other.

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ROUND 1
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BOARD PHASE
Going in turn order, each player selects one board piece and lays it down to create the combined board. The first player places his board piece in whatever orientation he chooses. The other players must place their pieces so that at least two spaces on the new piece touch edges with spaces already placed down. See “Chapter 2: The Boards” for more information. When all players have finished placing their board pieces, the Battle Phase begins.

BATTLE PHASE
See “Chapter 6: Battle” for the rules of the Battle Phase. In the Team Battle Variant, the rules of Battle change in the following ways:

1) Teammates share control tokens, and ownership of cards on the board. All cards with a particular team’s control token on them are considered allied, regardless of which teammate played them or captured them.

2) Because cards controlled by a team are allied, cards placed on the board by a player do not attack other cards controlled by his team.

The battle ends when either no more open spaces remain on the board, or when any player has no cards remaining in his hand at the start of his turn.

END OF ROUND 1
The winner of this round is the team which controls the most cards on the board at the end of the battle. In the case of a tie, see “Resolving Ties.” The team which wins Round 1 gets the 1-point victory card. In the case of a complete tie, neither team gets the victory card for this round. The team which won this round chooses which teammate will go first during the next round.

Each team removes the cards under their control from the board, along with all control tokens and markers. Cards under a player’s team’s control from his own pantheon return to his deck. Cards under a team’s control from the opponents’ pantheons are added to the team’s capture pile. Any cards in a player’s hand or deck from opponents’ pantheons are also added to his team’s capture pile. All other cards in a player’s hand return to his deck.

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ROUND 2
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REINFORCEMENT PHASE
Round 2 begins with the Reinforcement Phase. During this phase, the players will add powerful new cards from their reinforcement piles to their decks. Players do this simultaneously, ignoring turn order. Cards taken from the reinforcement piles are not revealed to the other players, including teammates.

Players who have less than 9 cards in their deck choose level II cards from their reinforcement piles, adding these cards to their decks. A player does this until either he has 9 cards in his deck, or has no more level II cards remaining in his reinforcement pile, whichever occurs first. Players cannot add level III cards to their decks until Round 3.

Next, the players may discard cards of their choice from their team’s capture piles, placing these cards face up in the Underworld. For each captured level I card that a player discards in this way, he may choose a level II card from his reinforcement pile and add it to his deck. Teammates must agree upon which player is discarding which card(s) from their shared capture pile.

BATTLE PHASE
Once all players have announced that they are finished reinforcing, a new Battle begins. The player who goes first can choose a new direction as north on the board, when he plays his face down card. The battle ends when either no more open spaces remain on the board, or when any player has no cards remaining in his hand at the start of his turn.

END OF ROUND 2
The winner of this round is the team which controls the most cards on the board at the end of the battle. In the case of a tie, see “Resolving Ties.” The team which wins Round 2 gets the 3-point victory card. In the case of a complete tie, neither team gets the victory card for this round. The team which won this round chooses which teammate will go first during the next round.

Each team removes the cards under their control from the board, along with all control tokens and markers. Cards under a player’s team’s control from his own pantheon return to his deck. Cards under a team’s control from the opponents’ pantheons are added to the team’s capture pile. Any cards in a player’s hand or deck from opponents’ pantheons are also added to his team’s capture pile. All other cards in a player’s hand return to his deck.

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ROUND 3
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REINFORCEMENT PHASE
Round 3 begins with the Reinforcement Phase. Players who have less than 9 cards in their deck choose level III and level II cards from their reinforcement piles, adding these cards to their decks. A player does this until either he has 9 cards in his deck, or has no more cards remaining in his reinforcement pile, whichever occurs first.

Next, the players may discard cards of their choice from their team’s capture piles, placing these cards face up in the Underworld. For each captured level I card that a player discards in this way, he may choose a level II card from his reinforcement pile and add it to his deck. For each captured level II card that a player discards in this way, he may choose a level III card from his reinforcement pile and add it to his deck. Teammates must agree upon which player is discarding which card(s) from their shared capture pile.

BATTLE PHASE
After the Reinforcement Phase, the final Battle begins. The player who goes first can choose a new direction as north on the board, when he plays his face down card. The battle ends when either no more open spaces remain on the board, or when any player has no cards remaining in his hand at the start of his turn.

END OF ROUND 3
The winner of this round is the team which controls the most cards on the board at the end of the battle. In the case of a tie, see “Resolving Ties.” The team which wins Round 3 gets the 5-point victory card. In the case of a complete tie, neither team gets the victory card for this round.

Each team removes the cards under their control from the board, along with all control tokens and markers. Cards under a player’s team’s control from his own pantheon return to his deck. Cards under a team’s control from the opponents’ pantheons are added to the team’s capture pile. Any cards in a player’s hand or deck from opponents’ pantheons are also added to his team’s capture pile. All other cards in a player’s hand return to his deck. Any cards remaining in a player’s reinforcement pile are discarded to the Underworld.

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END OF THE MATCH
After the end of Round 3, count the number of victory points each team has. Each card in a team’s capture pile is worth 1 victory point to that team. If a team has any victory cards, that team adds the values on those cards to its victory point total. The team with the most victory points wins the match.

In the case of a tie, each team adds up the total levels of the cards in their capture piles and decks. The team with the highest level total wins. If this number also results in a tie, then the match is a draw.

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What do you think?

I am very excited about this particular variant, as I feel it combines the best-of-both-worlds of the more strategic 2-player matches, and more social 4-player matches. :)

Hey Mistre, thanks for the feedback! :) If you haven't yet seen what the components would look like, there are some mockup images of the game setup in the rulebook PDF (linked above) and on BGG:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1731219/legends-at-war
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1729619/legends-at-war

Legends At War will be Kickstarted, though I haven't nailed down a date yet. I'm hoping within the next few months. A free print-and-play version will be released soon, for those who want to try the game out for themselves. At this point, the gameplay is really solid, but there's A LOT of art yet to be completed.

What is your legend-themed game? Can you post a link to the blog? :)

Thanks again!
- Sanhueza

First off, thank you mistre for sending the links and sharing a little bit about your game. I'll send you a PM to answer your questions. :)

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Secondly, for everyone here at the BGDF community, I'm seeking a little bit of design advice.

Currently, 3 of the character card abilities in Legends At War are integral to the game (in my opinion) but slightly problematic. These abilities are Support, Curse, and Dispel.

SUPPORT gives a +1 bonus to all of the stats of allied cards within a given area of effect.
CURSE gives a -1 penalty to all of the stats of enemy cards within a given area of effect.
DISPEL cancels out the abilities of enemy cards within a given area of effect.

These abilities are fun, pretty straight-forward, and in my opinion, add an important element to the game of setting up zones of control (both around your cards, and at long distances.) The problem is that they require constant attention from the players, because the results of these abilities can change from turn to turn, as new cards are added to the board and old cards gets captured and change allegiance. This is fun in a tactical sense, but a chore to keep track of. Counters (+1 bonus, -1 penalty, and dispel) are used to keep track of the effects, and because the effects can change so often, they can be removed and added frequently - which makes playing LAW a bit fiddly at times.

Besides being fiddly, there is also the chance that players might miss making a necessary bonus/penalty change. If this were a video game, there would be no problem; the computer could keep track of everything easily for the players. But since this is all handled manually, it's a little tedious.

I'm not entirely convinced that this tedium outweighs the fun and strategy that these abilities (persistent abilities with area effect) offer, but I am trying to brainstorm some possible solutions and could use your help! Here are some ideas suggested already during playtests:

1) Remove these abilities (or at least reduce the number of cards which have them) from the initial Master Set release of the game. Save them for expansions, assuming that experienced players who enjoy the game enough to own the expansions will be seeking out the additional strategies and not be discouraged by bookkeeping with the counters.

2) Change the effects of these abilities to target ALL cards, not just specifically allies or enemies. This means that there would be much less fiddling around with the counters and looking out for alliance changes. However, this could make players feel that these abilities are not worth using ("Give +1 bonuses to my enemies and -1 penalties to my allies? Bleh!")

3) Change the effects to activate only once and be permanent, and not change when alliances change. For example, the Support ability could give a +1 bonus to the allied cards in its area of effect when the supporting card is played. And it could give a +1 bonus to any new allied cards played within its area of effect on later turns. BUT if the supporting card or the cards in the area of effect get captured, those bonuses still remain because the +1 counter is permanent.

What do YOU think? Any suggestions? Thank you!