VoodooGroves
First Post
A few years ago I was chatting with a friend about what kind of miniatures game a smart game company should start.
I thought Chainmail might have been it. It wasn't. Mage knight seems close, but it isn't really either.
That said, here's kind of what I was thinking about.
First and foremost, I like miniatures, so the game had to have that element.
Second, the game needed to be uber-profitable (because in my world I'm greedy) and that is done by either having a huge base of players or some sort of habit-forming buy-everything-we-make concept.
This brings us to something I had termed "Warband Quest"
Here's the basic gist. You buy a box. It has a group of miniatures in it (maybe the Princess Vixen and her retinue). It also has a stack of cards that describe the people involved, their skills and abilities. These all have a basic point value associated with them. Most are relatively equal in power, but there will be some that are just tougher than others.
In addition, it comes with two fold out grid maps (reversible maybe as well) depicting a few different settings (maybe a town, a crypt, a dungeon, a ruined castle or tower, a graveyard, outdoor settings, a boat on a dock, whatever). These have related cards and information about them and are all maybe 12x12 or so max.
There are other cards as well that refer to "special events or actions", "items" or other "treasure". These may require "activation points" or similar to use or bring into play.
You and your buddy decide to play. You select which warband you will use and you build your deck. A table shows the "handicap" based on the warband's relative point costs to each other. The grand lich Zzzzin might be alot stronger than the Princess Vixen and her bodyguard. This table determines the amount of points that each side has at the start of the battle and attempts to balance the various forces.
Game play starts by each side choosing 2 maps, and they are laid in a 2 maps by 2 maps grid with the player having the weakest warband placing first, etc. Then, the weakest warband determines who places their models first, and each side puts their warband on one single map.
Then you take turns, using whatever arbitrary system is used to resolve the combat. Each turn, your side gets a number of "activation points" used to move, attack and take special actions. Maybe some actions or abilities are easier for certain folks to do - like liches maybe can summon or control the other player's undead easily, etc. Either way, play progresses with those being somewhat (although not complete) balancing force.
At the end of the battle (again, using whatever arbitrary way that is determined) the winner gets a reward. The reward is some amount of the non-terrain and non-warband cards from the other person (items, special abilities and actions, etc.). Ideally, if you play a higher value warband, the handicap system will bring you closer in power but if you do win, you still get a decent reward. If you play the more powerful and win, maybe you get a lesser reward. This could be something like "draw three random cards, the weaker side gets to pick which one card the winner gets" if they are close in power, maybe its just "draw one random card as reward from the opponent".
Remember, Magic had the ante system that, if used properly, was a great way to play and get better. It rewarded the little guy for winning against the strong guy by (theorhetically) distributing the stronger cards away from the loser. In reality, however, NEARLY EVERYONE WHO PLAYED NEVER TRADED AWAY A SINGLE CARD. This was the "magic" behind "Magic". Instead, they all went out and blew their salaries buying new decks to get the cards they wanted.
Same difference, only my game comes packaged with a handful of cool miniatures and terrain maps. And really, you could sell booster decks of just items and abilities (but they wouldn't be as cool as if they came with a Troll mini...).
The next step was to make a way to "create your own warband" using blank warband cards and a system to determine the warband's value after adding folks to it, followed by a way to "gain experience" (although the item trade really is meant to do this).
But alas, that has not come to be...
I thought Chainmail might have been it. It wasn't. Mage knight seems close, but it isn't really either.
That said, here's kind of what I was thinking about.
First and foremost, I like miniatures, so the game had to have that element.
Second, the game needed to be uber-profitable (because in my world I'm greedy) and that is done by either having a huge base of players or some sort of habit-forming buy-everything-we-make concept.
This brings us to something I had termed "Warband Quest"
Here's the basic gist. You buy a box. It has a group of miniatures in it (maybe the Princess Vixen and her retinue). It also has a stack of cards that describe the people involved, their skills and abilities. These all have a basic point value associated with them. Most are relatively equal in power, but there will be some that are just tougher than others.
In addition, it comes with two fold out grid maps (reversible maybe as well) depicting a few different settings (maybe a town, a crypt, a dungeon, a ruined castle or tower, a graveyard, outdoor settings, a boat on a dock, whatever). These have related cards and information about them and are all maybe 12x12 or so max.
There are other cards as well that refer to "special events or actions", "items" or other "treasure". These may require "activation points" or similar to use or bring into play.
You and your buddy decide to play. You select which warband you will use and you build your deck. A table shows the "handicap" based on the warband's relative point costs to each other. The grand lich Zzzzin might be alot stronger than the Princess Vixen and her bodyguard. This table determines the amount of points that each side has at the start of the battle and attempts to balance the various forces.
Game play starts by each side choosing 2 maps, and they are laid in a 2 maps by 2 maps grid with the player having the weakest warband placing first, etc. Then, the weakest warband determines who places their models first, and each side puts their warband on one single map.
Then you take turns, using whatever arbitrary system is used to resolve the combat. Each turn, your side gets a number of "activation points" used to move, attack and take special actions. Maybe some actions or abilities are easier for certain folks to do - like liches maybe can summon or control the other player's undead easily, etc. Either way, play progresses with those being somewhat (although not complete) balancing force.
At the end of the battle (again, using whatever arbitrary way that is determined) the winner gets a reward. The reward is some amount of the non-terrain and non-warband cards from the other person (items, special abilities and actions, etc.). Ideally, if you play a higher value warband, the handicap system will bring you closer in power but if you do win, you still get a decent reward. If you play the more powerful and win, maybe you get a lesser reward. This could be something like "draw three random cards, the weaker side gets to pick which one card the winner gets" if they are close in power, maybe its just "draw one random card as reward from the opponent".
Remember, Magic had the ante system that, if used properly, was a great way to play and get better. It rewarded the little guy for winning against the strong guy by (theorhetically) distributing the stronger cards away from the loser. In reality, however, NEARLY EVERYONE WHO PLAYED NEVER TRADED AWAY A SINGLE CARD. This was the "magic" behind "Magic". Instead, they all went out and blew their salaries buying new decks to get the cards they wanted.
Same difference, only my game comes packaged with a handful of cool miniatures and terrain maps. And really, you could sell booster decks of just items and abilities (but they wouldn't be as cool as if they came with a Troll mini...).
The next step was to make a way to "create your own warband" using blank warband cards and a system to determine the warband's value after adding folks to it, followed by a way to "gain experience" (although the item trade really is meant to do this).
But alas, that has not come to be...
