15 & 16 March, 2014
Had two playtests this past weekend at Tennessee Game Days IX, and was pleased with the outcome of each. Of course, I neglected to take photographs...That was unfortunate, since I had my first-ever three player game (with two other people) and even a four-player game.
- Changed the NUMBER 2 cards slightly. There are now three NUMBER 2 * cards in each player deck. This increases the availability of special effects: fortifying (grabbing a green chip) or building barriers.
- Players can now build two barriers with a single special effect action. Walls are still worth 1VP each for the owner of the hex in which they're placed. Allowing more walls to be built increases the likelihood that they'll be used.
- The drastic action cards - MOLE PANIC and HAWK - can now be used for just the RESUPPLY bonus. The only exception to this (at least right now) is if a player plays a NUMBER card first. Secondly, the player can "stack" these cards as long as they're used just for the RESUPPLY bonus they provide. In other words, a player can use a HAWK card and a MOLE PANIC card just for its RESUPPLY bonus, and stack two or more of them on top of one another, adding to the RESUPPLY bonus that turn.
This maneuver also helps players empty their hand sooner, so they can still end up discarding their entire hand in order to draw a full hand of 5 cards to start their next turn. The advantage of this is that the player can use these additional RESUPPLY bonuses to "fill up" their currently-controlled hexes, and prevent invasions/takeovers. - I will clarify in the rules that players are welcome to discard their entire hand at any time to draw a full hand of five cards. However, there's now a better chance of a player hanging on to their cards and instead using the RESUPPLY bonus of each. This will exhaust their hand, allowing them to draw a full hand of five cards anyway.
- I discussed the notion of adding a combat mechanic with a few other designers, and the result was that the game doesn't seem to need one to make it more attractive. The draw of the game seems to be the balance between stretching one's units across the board effectively, while still defending border territories enough that their interior territories are protected.
Of course, a publisher may still want to see combat in some way, which would force me to either reject their suggestion (and any possibility of being published by them) or scramble to develop the combat mechanic to accommodate. I'm still not sure how to approach this situation.
All in all, the convention was useful for me, if expensive. I'm confident in this design, and I think my next steps are writing up the rules, clarifying the special cases in the rules, and then mmmmmmaybe sending it out for some blind playtests... We'll see.
No photos this time. I was in too much of a blur while at the convention to remember documenting MY OWN projects instead of other peoples'.
