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New Fantasy Strategy Board Game

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BMSII
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A few days ago, I begun planning a board game. The game is played on a 4x16 board. Each player has a castle represented by 2 "castle pieces" on each corner of each player's side of the board. New units spawn between the castle pieces.
Behind the castle are the miners, which collect resources for the players. Each player has 5 miners. The statue has 25 Health. For each 5 Health lost, a miner dies. Miners can go out of the castle, but they cannot collect resources there.
Each player has 9 types of units, which have 6 basic stats. Health, (HP) Damage, (DP) Speed, (SP) Limit, (LT) Range, (RG) and Cost. (Not determined yet) Here are the 9 units and their stats.

Miner- 5 HP, 1 DP, 3 SP, 5 LT, 1 RG.

Barbarian- 10 HP, 4 DP, 3 SP, 5 LT, 1 RG

Elf- 5 HP, 2 DP, 4 SP, 5 LT, 3 RG

Cleric- 15 HP, 1 DP, 2 SP, 1 LT, 1 RG

Red Mage- 15 HP, 2 DP, 2 SP, 1 LT, 1 RG (Spells to be determined)

Knight- 20 HP, 4 DP, 4 SP, 3 LT, 1

Horseman- 20 HP, 3 DP , 5 SP, 3 LT, 1 RG

Dragon- 10 HP, 3 DP , 1 SP, 3 LT, 3 RG

Dwarf- 25 HP, 5 DP , 1 SP, 1 LT, 3 RG

On your first turn, you get 3 miners. You decide what unit/units you want to purchase, (maximum of 2) and then you put the unit/units in between your castle pieces.
From your second turn on, you do these steps:

Step 1- Move your units. Each square counts as 1 space. You can move the unit up to the unit's speed number.

Step 2- Initiate combat. Units with 1 range can attack any other enemy unit 1 square away from them. (You can attack diagonally.) Units with 3 range can attack any enemy up to 3 spaces away from them in a straight line (unless they are 1 space diagonally from them.)All range 3 units can only attack once, unless they are next to an enemy unit.
If any 2 units on opposite sides are next to each other, you can initiate combat. After you attack, the enemy can chose to fight back or retreat. During your turn, if you want to retreat, you can. If neither of you choose to retreat, you continue to fight until either side's units are dead.
If you have 2 or more units in range of the enemy unit, you can use those extra units in combat. You just have to make all of your units, and then the enemy can attack. If the enemy has extra units in range of your units, (including range 3 units) they can use those extra units too. Combat ends when all units on one side are either dead or retreated.
If you or the enemy chooses to retreat, whoever is retreating must move their units in combat out of range of all enemy units in order to successfully retreat. (they can move up to their unit's/units' speed number) If a retreating unit is not out of range of all enemy units, all enemy units in range can attack them. Then, the retreating unit can move again. (They can move up to their speed number) This continues until the unit is dead or out of range of all enemy units.
Step 3- Purchase units. Depending on what resources will be available to the player through mining and left-over resources from previous turns, and the cost of each unit, the player will have to decide what units to purchase and how much to save. Once finished choosing what units to purchase, (limit of 2) the resources not used will be saved for future turns. Once you have decided what unit/units to purchase, put them between your castle pieces. Units you just purchased cannot be moved until your next turn.

More updates will come as the game expands. Right now, my priorities are:
1:Figure out costs
2:Figure out Red Mage's spells
3:Figure out what other upgrades, abilities, or spells I want.
4:Figure out what each upgrade, ability, and spell's cost and which ones are automatically unlocked.
5:Figure out what units to rename and figure out other factions. (I want one to be a "light army" with elves, dwarves, humans, etc., and I want another to be a "dark army" with orcs, undead, etc., and possibly an in-between faction.)
That's all I have figured out now! Please leave comments and suggestions below. I am looking forward to more thoughts!

Willem Verheij
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If you go with a fantasy

If you go with a fantasy theme, I would advice to make different factions since as it is it seems like a rather wild mix of units.

I dont know what amount of players you aim for at maximum, but I assume 2-4? Then you could have four different factions.

All players using the same faction with the same units of simply a different color tends to work better with a historic setting because armies would be more identical then.

Rory J. Somers
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Joined: 09/28/2016
A few thoughts...

Would a 4x16 board mean that a player will really only attack their opponent on the short edge of the board, as the player diagonally opposite is quite some distance away?

Another potential issue here is force build-up; how does a player get more men, and as a tactic, would the first few game turns simply be generating a larger enough force worth sending out. Players would have to need to do something other then just generate more soldiers - i.e castle defenses, improvements, unlocking new units etc. so that player shave a range of choices in what they do each turn , each with a positive outcome, but while they are doing thhis, they are not doing that.

The more "thats" you have, the more diverse a playing field you are creating.

BMSII
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Just a heads-up, I'm not

Just a heads-up, I'm not finished writing the instructions yet.

Rory J. Somers
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Not knocking

Please don't take my comments as a "knock" at all, I'm new to BGDF, and have only in the last few months have i started designing tabletop games.

A strategic fantasy style castle battle game is just very much my cup of tea, so any insight, advice, ideas etc. are just that. I'm looking forward to hearing more about this project as it progresses.

X3M
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Joined: 10/28/2013
First of all. Welcome to the

First of all. Welcome to the forums. I hope you can gain a lot from this place. And good luck with your board game. I like this, back to basics, idea.

Second. I got some questions popping up.

What does Limit do? That one I can't picture.

How do you approach the diagonal movement/range. Do you apply 1.5? Or something different?

How is combat resolved exactly? Dice? Other methods?

By which games/movies are you inspired?

BMSII
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Joined: 10/30/2016
Limit is the maximum amount

Limit is the maximum amount of a specific unit you can have. For example, you can have 5 Barbarians max.

Units can't move diagonally, but they can attack diagonally, and when attacking diagonally, they deal the same amount of damage as when they attack adjacent squares.

For now, combat is resolved by each hit deals the specified amount of damage to 1 adjacent enemy, and it hits every time. (So, without dice or anything like that.)

I was inspired by a lot of games and movies. I got my unit system (1 Economic Unit, 2 Melee Units, 1 Assassin, 2 Ranged Units, 2 Spellcasters, and 1 Tank) from a game I really like. I really liked the system, so I adapted it to my game.

X3M
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BMSII wrote:Limit is the

BMSII wrote:
Limit is the maximum amount of a specific unit you can have. For example, you can have 5 Barbarians max.

Makes sense. I use that principle as a balance technique. In the manual, it would be best to explain what this statistic does. And as strange as it might sound. The others too.

BMSII wrote:

Units can't move diagonally, but they can attack diagonally, and when attacking diagonally, they deal the same amount of damage as when they attack adjacent squares.

How far can they attack diagonally, when the range is 3? You have not made this clear yet. Mentioning that the damage remains the same is odd. Normally, it is mentioned that it will change, since that is the exception to most games instead.

BMSII wrote:

For now, combat is resolved by each hit deals the specified amount of damage to 1 adjacent enemy, and it hits every time. (So, without dice or anything like that.)

Keep in mind that having no randomness. Means that players might calculate the outcome in their heads. And that some players don't need to retreat. Since they know that they are going to win.
I think, there will be a lot of one sided battle's. Where the attacker simply wins, once he/she attacks.

BMSII
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Reply to X3M

So, range 3 units can only attack 1 square diagonally.

About the battles, what would your suggestions be?

X3M
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No need to PM for getting a

No need to PM for getting a response. All in due time, all in due time.

***

While adding randomness is one way to go. What truly adds to the game becoming a game is the unknowing (which randomness also provides).

You could create some sort of fog of war. These can be dice, cards, or other random/"hidden to both players" events.

Also, having something in store for the other player, who doesn't know about it yet. Might add to the game.

Guessing what the other player might put on the field is a start. But not really sufficient to make the game.

If you keep the randomness and fog of war out of the picture. Perhaps adding enough complexity that skill becomes a factor would be the best.

***

I know these are some indirect suggestions. But the choices are still wide open.

BMSII
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Joined: 10/30/2016
Thanks for all the

Thanks for all the comments/suggestions! I am working hard on the game, and I will update you each time I've got an update for the game!

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