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[BFD] Blitzkrieg for Dummies, Game 3 - Military Intelligence

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ThunderHawk3

ThunderHawk3

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Aug 4, 2011
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Blitzkrieg for Dummies - Military Intelligence

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Welcome to our new players, welcome back to our battered veterans.

I've developed a new map 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 battle 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. Then I'll start another game (Game 4), which will have another round of signups, hopefully so everyone who wants to play can play.

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.
 
I've tweaked the rules. I call this rules update "Military Intelligence" as it adds scout units and intelligence tokens. Industrial centers (the factories) are also bold new additions to the game.

Here's the list of rules changes for returning players:
  • Artillery now costs 15
  • Paratroopers now cost 20
  • Order 227 tokens now cost 20
  • Roads are now 2 for $5
  • Artillery can shoot and scoot (fire and move in the same turn)
  • Elite units no longer retreat
  • Engineers can now lay minefields
  • Engineers' turn now ends when they lay a minefield or build a road
  • Decoys and garrisons can no longer capture territory
  • Minefields now do a minimum of 5 damage in addition to their previous effects (to nerf militia suicide attacks among other things)
  • Revealed supply depots can be taken with a move rather an attack (hidden depots still require an attack)
  • Engineers can build during the diplomacy phase, but not on the turn they are deployed
  • Supply caches only grant a healing effect the first time they are captured
  • Clarification: Minefields, supply caches, and roads are mutually exclusive
  • Clarification: Decoys can overlap with units as if there were a non-unit or with non-units as if they were a unit but not both at once
  • Scout units have been added to the game
  • Industrial centers have been added to the game
  • Order 227 tokens can now be played during the diplomacy phase
  • Intelligence tokens can now be purchased for $15
  • I am now going to run two games of BFD at once. Sign-ups for Game 4 will start as soon as Game 3 fills up. You may not play in both games.
 
Full 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
$15 - Artillery
$15 - Scouts
$20 - Paratroopers (Airborne)
$30 - Armor

x2 cost - Elite unit

$5 - Road (x2)
$10 - Supply Cache
$15 - Intelligence Token
$20 - 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, cannot capture territory
$5 - Garrison - 10 str, 1 moves - cannot attack, cannot capture territory
$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 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 or lay a minefield instead of attacking
$15 - Artillery - 10 str, 2 moves - attacks from range 3, destroyed instantly if attacked in "melee"
$15 - Scouts - 5 str, 2 moves - instantly reveals units it is adjacent to
$20 - 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 half 1.5x starting strength and can move 1 hex further while in supply. Elite units do not retreat.

**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. They do not retreat.

If you attack a supply cache, you gain control of that cache and other benefits (see below). Moving over a revealed supply cache will capture it, but an unrevealed supply cache must be attacked.

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.

Elite units do not retreat and fight to the death.

Supply and Industrial Centers

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. (This only happens the first time the cache is captured.) If you capture an opponent's final supply cache, you additionally gain a free blitzkrieg token. Capturing a cache counts as an attack.

Industrial centers are exactly like supply caches, with a few big differences. First, they are pre-positioned by me (the GM) at the start of the game and you don't get to choose where they are. Second, any unit that is on the same hex as an industrial center when the controller's turn starts is healed to full strength. Third, industrial centers are worth more score. They do not give any benefit if captured. Additionally, industrial centers act like roads for movement purposes.

Capturing an industrial center gives no immediate benefit. Industrial centers provide supply like supply caches. You cannot buy industrial centers. Industrial centers start revealed.

If you lose all your supply caches and industrial centers 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 three 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.

The newest is the Intelligence token. You can play this token at any time to instantly reveal the unit and features in one hex on the board. Everyone gets to see the results - it is revealed on the public game board.

Victory

The game ends after 5 turns of battle phase or when only one player remains. In the former case, whoever has gained the most territory wins. Hexes with industrial centers are worth 10 hexes.

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

Addendums and Clarifications

Engineers' turn ends when they lay a minefield or build a road but not when they clear a minefield.

Minefields do a minimum of five damage in addition to their other effects.

Engineers can build minefields and roads during the diplomacy phase, but not on the turn they are purchased.

Minefields, supply caches, and roads are mutually exclusive.

Decoys can overlap with units as if there were a non-unit or with non-units as if they were a unit but not both at once.

Order 227 tokens may be played during the diplomacy phase, but if war does not break out that turn the token is wasted. (IE: If an order 227 token is played in the 1st turn of the Diplomacy Phase, it only does anything if a player chooses to attack in the 1st turn of the Diplomacy Phase.)
 
Symbol reference:
4JaDqHj.png


From upper right to lower left by rows:
Militia, decoy, garrison, minefield, infantry
Engineers, artillery, paratroopers, armor, scouts
(blank row)
Road, supply cache, unknown unit, industrial center

Note that paratroopers are the same infantry. Paratroopers act like infantry after they drop. Scouts are lighthouse-lookin' thing on the end of the second row.

Player Roster
Gen. Marshall (white)
Haresus (gray)
Canadian_95_RTS (blue)
Rovsea (yellow)
Barkardes (green)
 
Last edited:
Some quick opinions on the balance changes, at the risk of giving away my own preferences.

Artillery costing 15 and being able to move-and-scoot makes them more viable, I think, since getting two shots off should make them cost-effective and their movement should give them some more survivability. Good call.
Paratroopers being decreased in cost also seems like a good call. In this game, they don't really have the real-life utility of capturing important chokepoints due to the lack of terrain, which makes them merely instant reinforcements. 10 extra cost seems a valid price for that.
Order 227 tokens have gone from ridiculously overpriced to very overpriced.
I'm interested to see how Elite Garrisons will work this game. They're even stronger on the defensive now but lost all their offensive capabilities. Not being able to mop up empty ground is quite the downside.
Good to see some of the supply cache and minefield shenanigans being fixed. I liked the roleplay element of sending the Russian Empire's militias into the minefields, but it probably wasn't entirely balanced ;)
Scout units seem overpriced for a unit with 2 movement. I believe I suggested them as 2 strength, 3 moves, 10 cost and I still think that would be better. Intelligence tokens are absolutely 100% overpriced and should be fixed. Right now they cost only 5 less than a paratrooper unit which does the same thing far better. I suggest making them reveal a circle of 7 hexes.
Your implementation of Industrial centers is absolutely splendid. Making them have inherent and consistent worth while not affecting all of a player's units is nicely done.

And last but not least, good luck with the second game!
 
In as the blue menace.

United Republics of Blutopia
Head of State: President for Life William Crawford
Flag:
YdBIhBA.png


National Anthem:


Glory to Blutopia.
 
I'll be IN as Yellow then.
 
We still need a green player and then we can start the game.

Gen. Marshall said:
Some quick opinions on the balance changes, at the risk of giving away my own preferences.

(snip)
Click to expand...

I'm not going to change anything right now, but in exchange here's my opinion of the map changes:

Most players now have three or four borders, instead of two large borders and one very small border. White is in a much more complicated position now, but I think that position is much stronger than it was previously. White's borders are actually shorter and it has two industrial centers.

Our old friends gray and green are in a bit of a pinch now. They both border every other player. These two are the hardest starts on this map in my opinion.

Blue and yellow have lost a lot of strategic depth but are still in the strongest position on the board in my opinion.

The board is back to being slightly asymmetric so no two players are exactly equal.
 
I'd join but I have been humilliated and bullied enough by y'all. :(
 
Kaisersohaib said:
I'd join but I have been humilliated and bullied enough by y'all. :(
Click to expand...

<pats>

Well, sorry about that Kaisersohaib. I'm sure no one here meant to bully you. I don't really know what else to say.
 
Can we have a map with numbers soon, so I can plan Blutopia's glorious victory against the foreigner invading scum?
 
27Dcv8N.png


Here's the fabled map with grid numbers. Since everyone is here I declare the game has started.

Diplomacy Phase - Turn 0

Most of you probably know the drill by now, but send me your initial deployments by PM. Everyone gets $200, except white player who gets an advantage with $300. When everyone has their deployments in, we'll move on to the next turn of the diplomacy phase.
 
(For those who didn't manage to get a spot in this thread, game four is up over here.)
 
Sorry for the triple post, but before I forget, there is one other thing:

I'm going to be offering a modest prize to the winner of the game. I've been brainstorming a few different possible gameplay changes for the next BFD game (game 5 and 6). The winner will get to pick between the three possibilities and dictate how BFD should change for the next game.
 
Loyal Blutopians

We have come to the turning point.
Two years ago, this nation was in flames.
Subject to a tyrant beyond measure.
Subject to a terror and evil we have not seen in our lifetimes.
And we overcame.

We overcame because of the strength of will of the people of Blutopia.
We overcame because freedom trumps tyranny.
We overcame because liberty destroys fear.
We overcame because unity crushes might.
We overcame, because our cause was just.

I come before you today, two years after the fateful event that almost destroyed our country.
For there is a new threat gathering to the south and west.
Empires who wish to break the nation we have worked so hard to build.

Will you let them ravage our lands?
Will you let them slaughter our people?
Will you let them crush our freedom?

I say today that we will not.
The same forces that guided the revolution still guide us today.
We will be victorious.
We will triumph, not for ourselves but for the nation, the people.
Blutopia will win, for our cause is just, and justice conquers all.

- Excerpt from a speech made by President for Life William Crawford in the capital
 
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