We were talking about new games that require very few pieces (like
Treehouse) but are more entertaining for us jaded old players% I
started on this about three hours ago and I just haven't been able to
sleep since, I had to get it out on paper (err... text). This game is
not at all play tested (except in my head) so please try it out and
tell me what you think.
TREE HUNTERS
Backstory:
You are a general leading a fighting force of forest dwelling peoples.
You must balance your two goals of attacking some enemies while
defending against others, all the while maintaining a nimble
distribution of forces.
Equipment:
Each player requires one nest (aka: tree). Nests need not be distinct
from each other. (Therefore you can support five players with either
a Treehouse set or a Classic Stash.)
A scratch pad and pen (or a few tokens) may be desired for score keeping.
Definitions:
Offensive - a piece that is lying down such that one of its triangular
faces is parallel to the ground ("flat") is in the offensive position.
Defensive - a piece that is standing up so that its imaginary square
base is parallel to the ground ("upright") is in the defensive
position.
Poised - a piece that is neither offensive nor defensive ("weird") is
in the poised position.
Unit - a unit is two or more pieces which are touching AND share a
footprint (i.e., when viewed from directly overhead they appear to
overlap). For example: two pieces nested are a unit. Two pieces
pushed up next to each other are not. Unity is transitive: if two
pieces are united to a third then they are united to each other and
form one super-unit.
Offensive rating - the offensive rating of a unit is equal to the sum
of the pips of the offensive pieces plus the number of additional
pieces in the unit after the first. Thus a defensive small piece
standing in the base of an offensive large piece has an offensive
rating of 3 (offensive pips) plus 1 (extra piece) for a total of 4.
Defensive rating - the defensive rating of a unit is equal to the sum
of the pips of the defensive pieces plus the number of additional
pieces in the unit after the first. Thus, the same unit as described
under offensive rating has a defensive rating of 1 (defensive pips)
plus 1 (extra piece) for a total of 2.
Total offense - the sum of the offensive ratings of all your units.
Total defense - the sum of the defensive ratings of all your units.
Predator - the player to your right. You are defending yourself
against him and he is attacking you.
Prey - the player to your left. You are attacking him and he is
defending against you.
Play:
Play begins with each player having their nest in front of them
stacked large on medium on small (nested). The first player is the
one whose birthinstant had the least time between it and the next new
moon. (The author recommends this site:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.html for reference and
notes that his time is less than four days.)
A turn has two stages. Score and Move.
Score - if your total offense exceeds the total defense of your prey,
you score points equal to the difference UNLESS the total offense of
your predator exceeds your total defense. Essentially, if you are
holding off the people trying to kill you AND succeeding against the
people you're trying to kill, you score. It is important that this
stage occurs before moving because you will need to plan ahead and
catch your prey off guard.
Move - you may move one piece as well as all your poised pieces to
anywhere you wish so long as you do not disturb any of your pieces
which are not being moved.
Play continues until one player reaches a set number of points. The
author recommends 8 because it is the maximum theoretical amount which
can be scored at once, but should that ever happen, shame on everyone
you are playing with.
Strategy notes:
Elaborate configuration of your pieces is encouraged. Mundane
stacking makes powerful but unweildy units. Bizarre Jenga-like set
ups may yeild interesting strategic results. To get to these states,
make use of poised pieces.
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I hear that there's a wiki for this kind of thing...