I had an idea about a game similar to diplomacy (the completely non-random area control game) that would be on a global scale with 3-5 players. In the game you would control one of 5 world powers and attempt to control a certain amount of territories. Each territory holds a valuable resource (Minerals, Oil, Food) that are used to produce developments and units to help take over other territories. There are no territories neutral in a 5 -player game, however in 3 and 4 player games the other nations can be captured with no resistance. The core of the game though is to negotiate and make alliances with the other nations. This can be to make non-aggression pacts, trade resources, gang up on other nations, etc, but ultimately to help you win. There are 4 phases- Negotiation, Movement, Combat, and Build. Each are taken almost simultaneously because the orders for each are secret until revealed. No changes can be made after that.
At the start of turn, the ("diplomat?") marker is passed to the next player. The (diplomat?) carries out the orders each player submitted during each phase this turn. He may also look at one piece of information passes during negotiations or one of the orders during movement or one players' army/navy/air contents. Negotiations are written out onto notes and put into envelopes. Each player has an envelope for respective nations. The target may write back and resources and developments can be exchanged, as well as non-binding promises. During movement, each player may move their armies and navies one territory each. Armies can only move on land, navies only on water and coast areas. Aircraft can move 3, but must land in a friendly land or navy area. Only one army/navy/air can be in any territory at once unless you intend to attack. Armies can be "transported" across water if you have a sort of bridge crossing water with navies
Combat is different. Armies, Navies, and Aircraft (what do you call large groups of those anyway?) always are made up of at least one "unit". Each type has 3 units that work sort of like rock paper scissors against everything else. When a figure is built, other players know that it is an army(example), but don't know if it has tanks or artillery or infantry in it, or a combination of all or some. When combat happens, each player lines up their units in a line, and assign positions 1,2,3, 4 etc. to them in order. Then they are revealed and matched up. same units or ones that don't affect each other are placed at the end of the line. The chart for unit strengths and weaknesses is as follows;
Armies-
Infantry- good vs. artillery, carriers, and gunships
Tanks- good vs. infantry, submarines, and fighters
Artillery- good vs. tanks, battleships, and bombers
Navies-
Battleships- Tanks, Submarines, Fighters
Carriers- Artillery, Battleships, Gunships
Submarines- Infantry, Carriers, Bombers
Aircraft-
Bombers- Infantry, Battleships, Fighters
Fighters- Artillery, Carriers, Gunships
Gunships- Tanks, Submarines, Bombers
The battle is over when either all of one player's units are destroyed or it is impossible for any person to win. I that is the case, the attacking player retreats and his units are placed back in the army in the zone he attacked from.
Finally, build happens last. Each player collects 1 resource from each of thier territories. . Minerals-mountains, Food-Plains, Oil-Tundra, Desert, and some coast. Each nation has at least one of these resources. Then they can spend one to do something in each territory. Only one build can be done in each territory. They can build a unit into an existing army/navy etc., build a new army/navy etc., or pay 3 of any to buy a development card. Armies and their units cost food, Navies and their units cost Minerals, Aircraft and their units cost Oil. Development cards help in battle or gain random effects.
Each nation also has bonuses.
America+Canada+UK+Australia- May produce 1 extra resources of your choice.
Europe+Russia- May look at 2 different envelope when diplomat
China+Japan+Korea+Indochina-May build twice in each region. May not move next turn
Middle East+Africa- May attack twice. May not build this turn
Central+South America+Caribbean- May move an extra space with everything. May not attack this turn.
The game is over when a certain amount of regions is captured (15?) Each nation starts with about 5 or 6
What do you think?
Note: Development cards are renamed Action cards to show that they are not related to buildings.
Airforce, obviously. Why didn't I think of that?
The board is a world map more similar to Axis and Allies, but not nearly as many regions.
You build units during the build phase by just paying the resource and putting a token on the respective army. Most likely these would be behind a player screen and your figures would have corresponding numbers. You pay 1 resource to build figures or units, but the figures cost is just to put a unit in it as it cannot march around with nothing in it.(like you can in Civilization by FFG) All army figures/units and aircraft must be built on land or coast (half-land, half-water) and naval figures/units must be built on coast, no exceptions. No buildings required
You get resources at the start of the build phase, 1 per region (For example, Egypt is a desert and has an oil icon in it. The middle East player would gain 1 oil from that region.) Buildings are not required. In fact, buildings are not in the game at all.
I never thought of that in combat, but I suppose if you win that battle, you take that resource from that player (For example, Russia invades Egypt and succeeds. Russia takes an oil from the Middle East player.
I probably didn't explain combat well enough. I'm going to give a step-by-step on how combat works.
Russia has a Fleet 2 in West Mediterranean Sea(sea). Middle East has an Army 3 in Egypt(coast). During the movement phase, Russia moves Fleet 2 to Egypt. In combat, each player takes the 10-space battle sheet. (numbered 1-10) Each player places all battle forces in a line starting from 1 in their order choice( secretly; neither player knows what is in each space.)
Egypt places his Infantry in space 1, and his Tank in Space 2
Russia places his Battleship in space 1, his Submarine in Space 2, and his Carrier in Space 3
Egypt than plays a Action card that says "Missile Attack: before Battle. Destroy a naval unit in a space of your choice. He decides to destroy the unit in space 3, which is revealed as a Carrier. If there were more units behind, they would move to fill space 3.
Round 1. The space 1 is revealed for both players. Referring to the Strength chart from before, neither a Battleship nor Infantry do anything to each other, so they both move to the ends of their lines. The next units then move up. Round 2.The tank and carrier are then revealed, and the tank destroys the carrier. The carrier is placed in the common supply area. The tank is moved to the end of the line again.
Round 3. the Battleship and Infantry square off , resulting in a draw again. The Infantry moves to the end, but the Battleship is Russia's only unit left so it stays.
Round 4. The battleship and tank are revealed, and the battleship destroys the tank. Egypt's tank is placed in t he common supply area.
Round 5. The battleship and infantry are at it again, and are the last two units left. Normally, this would result in a draw and retreat by Russia, but Russia plays the Action card "Crush Them When They're Weak: Battle: When the enemy has only one unit left, destroy it. If your unit would be destroyed, save it."
Conclusion: Russia narrowly wins the battle with a timely action card. His fleet moves into Egypt and takes an oil resource from the Middle East player. Russia then moved 1 up the required territory track (15 for a win)
Yes, of course you can lie, that's the point of the game is to try any way you can to win. Of course, you may want to win their trust for a portion of the game and may take that deal... (and just as a notice, it is rare that resource levels would get that high, more around 5 or 6 from overstock because you always want to build when you can.
Thanks for your feedback Nightwalker!