Mapmaker(s):Coriolis
Number of Territories:52
Special Features: I've been making fantasy maps for a while and wanted to try making a board game. My intent is to make this for fans of the Palladium Fantasy Roleplaying Game to play on the table top. I wasn't planning on making this into something to be played on this website, but I'm certainly open to the idea.
My goals
1. Make this cheap. I don't want anyone to spend much more than a nominal printing fee. anything else needed to play beside the board should consist of common/cheap items.
2. Make this fun and easy to play.
3. Include some setting-specific elements in the game.
Concept and Materials Needed
I intend to make this game board workable for conquest-style game you care to adopt to it. That said, I'm using the framework of RISK with some variations. To play my adaptation, you'll need the board along with the following items:
1. Some very small post-it-note stacks in enough color varieties for everyone playing. These are to mark the territories each player controls.
2. Some stackable small markers for armies. I suggest pennies, nickels, and dimes, and have each army count as one cent.
3. Some distinctive small game pieces that can fit on top of a stack of change. These will represent a general with a special rune weapon.
4. About half a dozen six-sided dice.
5. A deck of standard-size playing cards.
6. Some blank business cards and a pen.
Rules: Use the rules of RISK with the following variations:
1. Use a standard deck of cards for your RISK cards. Each card corresponds to a province, and each province will be marked accordingly (Imperial Province will be the King of Diamonds, for instance). Instead of cannon, horse, and soldier, use even numbers, odd numbers, and face cards to pick cards to play (Suits don't matter; they just help you find the province).
2. Every three RISK cards are worth 10 armies. This doesn't increase.
3. You may show and trade or give your RISK cards to other players who aren't actively involved in attack or defense.
4. When you play your RISK cards, you draw one adventure card (the business cards) for each card representing a territory you own.
5. If have a RISK card of a province you own, you may turn that in during your turn for an adventure card (you get no armies for this, just the adventure card).
6. You may show and trade your adventure cards to other players who aren't actively involved in attack or defense, but you may only play them during your turn.
7. You may hold as many adventure cards as you like in your hand, and you may play any and all of them during your turn.
8. When a player is eliminated, any of their remaining un-played RISK and Adventure cards go to the eliminating player. Any of their adventure cards that are in play go to the bottom of the Adventure deck.
9. All foreign provinces (Isle of the Cyclops, Phi, Orcish Empire) have 10 armies. They do not recruit, they do not normally attack, and they can only defend. They can be captured, but they aren't part of any region and don't give recruiting bonuses. Note that while barbarians from the Old Kingdom can attack the Old Kingdom Frontier, the Old Kingdom cannot be attacked or conquered.
10. Rune weapons can be assigned to armies. No army stack can have more than one rune weapon, though they can transfer troops during the Reinforcement phase at the end of their player's turns. If an army with a rune weapon is defeated, the rune weapon is removed from the board and its adventure card goes to the bottom of the adventure card deck.
11. Provinces with fortified cities (three or five-pointed star behind the city icon) get an extra die on defense (3 instead of 2, or 2 instead of 1 if only 1 army is present). They can still lose only a maximum of two armies per defense, but they can cost an attacking army up to three armies in a single attack.
12. Players who capture a Regional Capital (cities with a wreath behind them) immediately draw an adventure card.
13. Regions in the Western Empire Conquest game count as continents in RISK. If you own every province in a region, you get the following bonuses to your recruitment every turn:
Ophid's Grasslands Colony: 1
Yin-Sloth Jungles Periphery: 2
Old Kingdom Frontier: 2
Tarldet Plains: 3
Scarlet Mountains: 3
Lower Barraduk: 4
Middle Kingdoms: 4
Southern Middle Kingdoms: 2
West Kighfalton: 5
Upper Kighfalton: 4
Koerdian Mountains: 3
Vequerrel Woodlands: 2
14. Game Scenarios:
A. Civil War: Suitable for two players. One player starts with the loyalist regions, while the other starts with the Rebel regions. Play until one side gets wiped out.
B. Team Civil War: Similar to Civil War. Two players play as the Imperial House and House Kaze. Everyone else picks other regional houses and they must cooperate to defeat the other side. Play until either the Imperial or rebel side gets wiped out.
C. War for Succession: The Emperor is dead! Players choose a noble house and vie to become the next Emperor! You can either eliminate your foes or persuade them to surrender and join your cause (first player to surrender to the winner gets second place, second to surrender gets third, et cetera).
D. Barbarian Invasion! I haven't worked out the details on this one, but basically one player starts out with a gigantic horde and invades from the Old Kingdom. The other (others?) try to stop the horde before it sacks every city in the Empire!
What Makes This Map Worthy of Being Made: well, I already made the map; I'd just like to put together a conquest-style board game for fans and friends to enjoy. I've made plenty of maps and been published as a map artist; I just don't know much about board game design or conquest game design and was hoping for some advice/feedback.
Map Image:
- Click image to enlarge.
This version of the map includes a lot of detail that I won't be including in the game board map, but I'll likely keep the icons and borders. I'm trying to work out how I'll mark out which provinces can attack which.
I'm happy to have your thoughts on my ideas for making this into viable table-top conquest game. I'm also happy to have your thoughts on the map itself. I especially welcome criticism and suggestions. Thanks for your time!
