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[BFD] Blitzkrieg for Dummies - Breakthrough, Encircle, Destroy

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ThunderHawk3

ThunderHawk3

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Aug 4, 2011
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Blitzkrieg for Dummies - Breakthrough, Encircle, Destroy

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Hi all,

I've developed a new game I call Blitzkrieg for Dummies [BFD]. BFD (Blitzkrieg for Dummies) is all about conquering the map with very limited resources and very little time to do so - through clever diplomacy or good strategy, whichever you can use to your advantage.

The Rules post will follow. The gist of it is that there's a diplomacy and deployment phase, where you position units, followed by the war phase. Then you have just five turns to defeat your opponents.

The starting colors are preset (see above). To join just tell me what color you want. (Obviously you can't join if you're one of the small number of people on my permanent ban list.)

IE:

In (blue please)

I'll start the game once all five slots are filled.

I set up an IRC channel on Coldfront at #BFD_Main. It'll probably help communication, to the extent that you'll need to communicate with one another. You can go to http://www.coldfront.net/tiramisu/ and type /join #BFD_Main to join.
 
Rules

Blitzkrieg for Dummies

Short Rules
  • There are two phases, both of which last only five turns
  • You use money to buy units in the Diplomacy phase
  • You can choose to attack during the diplomacy phase, starting the war phase
  • Every unit has a strength
  • Units deal half their strength in damage to each other when they fight
  • If a unit is attacked by a stronger unit, it retreats
  • Units are destroyed when then run out of strength
  • Units that would retreat but can't (ie: are encircled) are destroyed
  • Units are in supply if they are linked to supply caches by hexes you control
  • If a player runs out of supply caches, that player is defeated
  • The player that controls the most territory at the end of the game wins
  • Defeating another player gives you a powerful blitzkrieg token
  • Blitzkrieg tokens, when played, let you take an extra turn immediately

BFD is separated into halves ("phases"): 1) the Diplomacy phase, during which you do diplomacy and unit deployment and redeployment, and 2) the War phase, during which you try to conquer the map. Each phase lasts a maximum of five turns. Whoever ends the game with the most territory wins.

Diplomacy Phase Rules

During the diplomacy phase, each player starts with $200^ with which they can buy units and place them wherever they please within their own territory. There can only be one unit in any given hex.

^White player starts with $300 instead

Note that purchase and deployment orders should be PMed to me rather than posted in thread, since the identity of your units not on a border will be unknown to your opponents at the start of the game, and your opponents will not know if you have any tokens.

After the initial deployment, the map will be updated and then we'll start Diplomacy Phase Turn 1. From this point on, every player gets $50 every turn (does not carry over between turns) to spend however they choose. As above, you should make your purchases and deployments in secret, over PM. Instead of purchasing, you may choose to ATTACK! If you choose to attack, the Diplomacy Phase immediately ends and the Battle Phase begins - for all players. Deployments other players made are not carried out. If you chose to attack, you critically become first in the turn order for the battle phase, which can be a big advantage.

If no one chooses to attack after five turns of diplomacy, the battle phase begins automatically.

Unit Costs

$5 - Militia
$5 - Decoys (x2)
$5 - Garrison
$5 - Minefield
$10 - Infantry
$15 - Engineers
$20 - Artillery
$25 - Paratroopers (Airborne)
$30 - Armor

x2 cost - Elite unit

$5 - Road
$10 - Supply Cache
$30 - Order 227 Token
$50 - Blitzkrieg Token

Unit Descriptors

$5 - Militia - 5 str, 2 moves - ignores supply
$5 - Decoys (x2) - 0 str, 1 moves - destroyed if attacked
$5 - Garrison - 10 str, 1 moves - cannot attack
$5 - Minefield - Not a unit. A unit that strikes an enemy minefield (attacks or attempts to move through) cannot move or attack for the rest of the turn. The minefield halves the unit's strength. The minefield then disappears. Can be cleared by engineers. Your units can pass through your own minefields.
$10 - Infantry - 10 str, 2 moves - the workhorse of any army, no special qualities
$15 - Engineers - 10 str, 2 moves - can clear a minefield or build a road instead of attacking
$20 - Artillery - 10 str, 2 moves - attacks from range 3, destroyed instantly if attacked in "melee", cannot attack and move in the same turn
$25 - Paratroopers (Airborne) - As infantry, except paratroopers are not on the map and act like a token until played. When played, Paratroopers appear instantly at any clear hex you designate. They count as in supply for their first turn after deployment. Otherwise they act like ordinary infantry.
$30 - Armor (Tanks) - 20 str, 4 moves, 2 attacks - cannot attack if without supply (and only has 1 move if without supply, as normal)

x2 - Elite Unit - elite units have 1.5x starting strength and can move 1 hex further while in supply

*Militia cannot be made elite.
**You cannot put more than one minefield in a hex.

War Phase Rules

The turn order in the battle phase is partially determined by the diplomacy phase. Players who chose to attack in the last turn of the diplomacy phase get priority placement in the turn order (ie: are placed at the top of the turn order).

Each player gets to take their turn in order. When every player has taken 5 turns in the battle phase, not counting extra turns due to expenditure of blitzkrieg tokens, the game ends.

During your battle phase you may play tokens, move every one of your units in any order, and play tokens whenever you feel like it. Your orders during this phase are public. You may stop and request a map update at any time. When you're ready to end your turn, tell me so clearly and we'll move on the next player.

You do not know what tokens other players have. Units that start away from the borders between players are covered in the "fog of war" initially. Other players will be able to see there is a unit in that hex but they will not know what kind of unit. Unguarded supply caches will appear as units under the fog of war.

The identities of these units are revealed if they attack, are attacked, or if the controlling player ends his turn with these units on a border.

Combat Rules

Basically here's how combat works in BFD:
Every unit has a numerical strength. When two units fight each other, they do damage to each other equal to half their strength, rounded up. If a unit is attacked by a unit of higher strength, the defender retreats. (Artillery attacks work differently and never cause a retreat.)

IE: Suppose a 10 strength unit attacks an 8 strength unit. The first does 5 damage to the second and the second does 4 damage to the first, leaving them at 6 strength and 3 strength, respectively. The second unit retreats because it was attacked by a stronger unit.

Only one unit can be in a hex in a time. Just because you caused a unit to retreat doesn't mean you must advance to occupy the hex it vacated. Units can occupy the same hexes as minefields, roads, and supply caches, as these are not units.

If you attack into a minefield where there is also an enemy unit, the minefield's effect activates before the battle.

Attacks are not the same as moves. A unit can attack any unit in an adjacent hex. (Except artillery, which can attack units up to three hexes away.) IE: Infantry can move twice then attack. Armor can move four times and attack twice all in the same turns!

Elite units get x1.5 strength and +1 move but cost twice as much as regular units.

If you attack a supply cache, you gain control of that cache and other benefits (see below).

When a unit you control moves through a hex, you take control of that hex.

Units that run out of strength are destroyed.

Encirclement - if an encircled unit is attacked by a stronger unit it is automatically destroyed. (Encircled means it has no valid retreat path - that means it can be in a larger pocket, or even blocked by friendly units.)

Retreating

Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor and cowardice is the better part of discretion.

If a unit is attacked by a stronger unit, it automatically retreats. It tries to retreat into the adjacent, empty hex YOU CONTROL that is furthest from the unit that attacked it. (in the event of a tie, right-handed retreats are preferred) If no such hexes are available, the unit can instead retreat two hexes, "across" a friendly unit.

Units cannot retreat into hexes controlled by another player.

If a unit has no valid retreat paths, it is destroyed under the encirclement rule. That means it can be boxed in by friendly units as well as enemy units.

You can temporarily stop your units from retreating using the Order 227 token. If this token is played, your units will fight to the death instead of retreating until your next turn.

Supply

A unit is in supply if it starts its turn connected by a string of hexes you control to a supply cache you control. If it doesn't, it is without supply.

Units without supply can only move one hex per turn. Armor without supply cannot attack. Units without supply get no advantage from roads.

Capturing enemy supply cache has big advantages. The unit that captures the supply cache is healed to full strength. If you capture an opponent's final supply cache, you additionally gain a free blitzkrieg token. Capturing a cache counts as an attack.

If you lose all your supply caches you are defeated, so take care not to lose all of them.

Roads

I initially planned a much more complicated role for roads in Blitzkrieg for Dummies, but now they just make units move faster. Armor can move for free along roads if they are in supply. Infantry and all other units can move at half-movement cost, so long as they are in supply.

Tokens

There are two powerful tokens in Blitzkrieg for Dummies.

The first is the Order 227 token. Once played, the Order 227 token prevents any of your units from retreating until your next turn. They still take battle damage and can be destroyed as usual, but cannot be destroyed due to encirclement.

The second is the Blitzkrieg token. The Blitzkrieg token allows you to take another turn immediately after finishing your current turn.

Victory

The game ends after 5 turns of battle phase or when only one player remains. In the former case, whoever controls the most territory wins.

If a player is defeated, all his remaining units disappear.
 
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Maps
aTqO3tZ.png

(Symbol reference)
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Player Roster (now reflects turn order)

Kaisersohaib (gray)
Rovsea (white)
Haresus (green)
Raulazo (yellow)
barkardes (blue)
 
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Gray.
 
I want to choose blue but I don't know if I can play this just on phone.I will be on a holiday so I won't be able to use my computer next week.And it seems orders are hard to define without a picture.
If you say I can,I will choose blue.
 
The proud people of yellownia will crush their enemies :p
 
((Not planning on joining, but isn't white intrinsically at a disadvantage because they are the only nation that can be attacked on all side, and borders all of their enemies. Not only that but it's easier to reach them than the other players, so they're a natural first target.))
 
barkardes said:
((White has 300$ instead of 200$ each turn))
Click to expand...
((Actually that's just at the start, but thanks for pointing this out to me. That seems more balanced.))
 
barkardes said:
I want to choose blue but I don't know if I can play this just on phone.I will be on a holiday so I won't be able to use my computer next week.And it seems orders are hard to define without a picture.
If you say I can,I will choose blue.
Click to expand...

Luftwafer said:
Barkardes raises a good point.
I will resign as green. I don't think I can play the game just using my phone
Click to expand...

I personally have absolutely no problem with you all playing on your phones, or waiting until you have access to computers to start the game. Unfortunately, I don't own a phone myself (I only have a computer), so I can't say how hard it is. It would be important to see the map to play the game, of course.

Rovsea said:
((Not planning on joining, but isn't white intrinsically at a disadvantage because they are the only nation that can be attacked on all side, and borders all of their enemies. Not only that but it's easier to reach them than the other players, so they're a natural first target.))
Click to expand...

Like Barkades said, white starts with $300 for balance instead of $200. If that's still not enough incentive for anyone to play white I'll make them neutral.
 
ThunderHawk3 said:
I personally have absolutely no problem with you all playing on your phones, or waiting until you have access to computers to start the game. Unfortunately, I don't own a phone myself (I only have a computer), so I can't say how hard it is. It would be important to see the map to play the game, of course.



Like Barkades said, white starts with $300 for balance instead of $200. If that's still not enough incentive for anyone to play white I'll make them neutral.
Click to expand...
You know what, I have an interesting idea for strategy, so I might as well be in as WHITE. It's also the easiest "nation" to join as, as I have no need to alter colors. :p
 
barkardes said:
How do we send orders?I mean we can't define whixh hex we are moving.
If you could add numbers and letters like a chess board this problem would be solved,I think.
Click to expand...

I have a map with grid hex reference numbers. Sorry I didn't make that clearer earlier. Here it is:

aTqO3tZ.png
 
I have several questions: 1.) Are roads build-able without Engineers, for instance in the initial deployment stage?
2.) If I have a unit sitting on a supply depot, will that be visible to an enemy even if it's not on a border?
3.) If I land on a minefield, then use a Blitzkrieg card, does that count as an additional turn in which to move my unit out of the minefield hex?
 
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