I am running into a problem with a card combat mechanic. Below are the steps that are taking place in combat what I would like to do. Would love any suggestions!
General idea of the game:
There will be 5 different spaces where workers/armies are sent. You roll the dice (this is your worker/army, you have two of them, pips will represent current strength) and then all discuss (negotiate) where a certain worker/army will be placed, then you simultaneously reveal the location using a card. You then place your army and repeat the above steps with your second worker/army.
Each space will have 2 resources on it (each round) as well as an action. If you lose combat you are bumped out of this space and are unable to collect the resources or action associate with that space.
Combat:
- Once each player has designated their workers/armies to an area, if this space is occupied by another player then combat would ensue (if they fail to negotiate).
- Each player has a set of combat cards with the following values: +3,+2,+1,-1,-2,-3,Re-roll. Each of these cards manipulates their personal die, thus changing the values of their armies. They must play one card from their hand during combat.
Example: Player 1 contributes a 2-pip to an area while player 2 contributes a 3-pip to an area. Both players fail to negotiate and now combat takes place. Player 1 selects a +1 combat card while player 2 places a +2 combat card. Player 2 is the victor of the combat with a value of 5 to 3
- After each battle, the player must discard the combat card into a personal discard pile face down and are not able to use that card in the future.
*At this point I enjoy the system above; it makes negotiations more important when love on good cards and will eventually weaken those who get in combat a lot.
I would like there to be a mechanic where players can receive the cards back into their hand, but want to keep the balance that the system provides by weakening those who fight too much. Please provide any suggestions that would get combat cards back into players hands or any tweaks to the above system! Thanks!
So the game is limited to maximum 7 battles? If that isn't the intention, then you definitely need a way to regain cards.
Perhaps just picking up the entire pile once you play the last card.. players are getting punished if they fight too much, but this is a counter mechanism that rewards them if they punish themselves enough. That can add a lot of dynamics into a system, especially since if there are more than two players, it changes the sets of cards that are being played against each other.
What happens if there is a draw, by the way?
I am wanting a way to receive some cards back into hand (not all at once) and am willing to drop the negative ones and have a set of (1,1,2,3,4,5,reroll). If there is a draw, both lose, which is the risk of fighting. This is why negotiating would be important