So i've been wanting to make a tactical tabletop game about possitioning and board control. The obvious answers are there in front of me but I've been trying to think of something more free form than a grid or hex based system. Specifically I want to have a game that allows you to move in any direction. Now games like Pirates (the popout collectible game) and Warhammer 40k (amongst others) have systems that are omni directional but they both require rulers (or some other method of measuring distance, like the length of a card).
I'm trying to brainstorm a way to have gridless movement in a tabletop game and have had a few ideas but all are either too loose (as in there is no way to regulate the movement so it's fair) or are basically ruler alternates. The one idea I keep coming back to though is dual sided cards that "flip" to move.
Basically these cards would be roughly playing card proportioned and to move them you would flip the card over so that one of the 4 edges of the card acted as a "hinge" attached to the table.
This has a couple of benefits, It allows really interesting design of a game where managing which side of your card is up durring which turn is crucial to gameplay. Possibly cards that can only attack when side A or B is up, or cards that grant certain bonuses when a certain side is up. This seems like a unique enough idea that with careful design of the pieces could be diverse enough to build a fairly good game around.
Also there are no rulers, and no other pieces required to play but the cards themselves.
Some major drawbacks exist though, You can't use tokens since the card is constantly flipping and I'm worried it will be very hard to not "mess up" the cards. Specifically making sure you don't drop or rotate a card incorrectly.
My question is this, do you think this system is possible or has something like this been done before? Or is it too unwieldy to be practical? Any input is welcome.
Both of those games exhibit something I want to avoid. With a relatively complex movement mechanic and the inherent complexity of double sided cards, I want to keep the rest of the game as simple as possible. Those games both seem to have, at least at first glance, a high level of complexity in their "unit" designs for each card/dice/token. Were I to implement on this idea I would most likely have a set number of unit types (say 4) and then give each player and equal number of each. Something like 4 of each or something. With a simple base you can let the player decisions make up the bulk of the game, instead of the card design. It's the difference between mtgand chess. I want a more chess like game.
Does any of that make sense?
Thanks a bunch for the links though, it's always interesting to see how others interpret a mechanic