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[BFD] Blitzkrieg for Dummies, Game 5 - Veterancy

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ThunderHawk3

ThunderHawk3

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Aug 4, 2011
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Blitzkrieg for Dummies - Veterancy

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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.
 
The rules have been updated once again. I call this rules update "Veterancy" as it adds veteran infantry units and reinforcements to the game. Additionally, the rules have been adjusted to make first-turn kills considerably more difficult and extend the diplomacy phase.

Here's the list of rules changes for returning players:
  • The map has been very slightly expanded (is now 17x17 hexes instead of 15x15) to improve strategic depth.
  • The amount of money immediately available to players has been slightly increased ($250 for nonwhite, $350 for white), $50/diplo phase is the same
  • Units no longer heal at industrial centers when a Blitzkrieg token is played
  • To discourage and make 1st turn kills less likely (and to prolong the diplo phase), players now get to keep the stuff they ordered on the Diplomacy Phase turn another player gives the attack order
  • Veteran infantry units: Assault Pioneers, Stormtroopers, and the dreaded tank-hunter infantry units have been introduced to the game. They can bought immediately for $30 (price deliberately set high) or promoted during the game.
  • Pioneers deal double damage and take half from elite garrisons, and can perform all engineer tasks (including clearing minefields). Stormtroopers deal double damage to and take half damage from militia, paratroopers, other infantry (veteran or otherwise), and engineers. Tank Hunter infantry deals double damage to and takes half damage from armor. Tank Hunters also get 1 movement. These units will not retreat if attacked by the unit type they are strong against.
  • Infantry promote by defeating other units in combat (more in detailed rules)
  • The AT gun, an otherwise weak unit capable of destroying armor, may be added to the game (see below)
  • You can now buy reinforcements (units that you cannot deploy until the second turn of the war phase at the earliest) at discounted prices.
  • All players also get 1 free infantry as reinforcements every turn after the 1st War Phase turn.
  • Reinforcements can deploy in or around your industrial centers.
  • The price of the intelligence token has been cut to $10
  • I'm not starting a Game 6 concurrently with this game as Game 4 has yet to fill up.
 
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 $250^ 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 $350 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)
$25 - Veteran Infantry (Assault Pioneers, Stormtroopers, Tank Hunters)
$30 - Armor

x2 cost - Elite unit

$5 - Road (x2)
$10 - Supply Cache
$10 - 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.
$25 - Assault Pioneers - 15 str, 2 moves - has all engineer abilities, is a veteran infantry unit, does double damage to and takes half damage from garrisons
$25 - Stormtroopers - 15 str, 2 moves - is a veteran infantry unit, does double damage to and takes half damage from infantry, militia, paratroopers, and engineers, does not retreat from any of the same
$25 - Tank Hunters - 15 str, 3 moves - is a veteran infantry unit, does double damage to and takes half damage from tanks, does not retreat from tanks
$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.

-20%/turn - Reinforcements

**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.

Veterancy

It's possible to buy veterans directly but the game as currently designed intends for you to get them by winning battles.

If an infantry unit destroys another unit (other than scouts or artillery) in BFD, it gains veteran status, instantly gaining +5 strength and becoming one of the three types of veteran infantry. (Elite infantry instead gain +8 strength when becoming Elite Veterans)

An infantry unit that destroys a garrison becomes an Assault Pioneer, who I will usually just call pioneer. Assault Pioneers do double damage to garrisons and take half damage from them. They can also use all engineer abilities, including clearing minefields.

An infantry unit that destroys another infantry unit, militia, engineers, or paratroopers becomes a Stormtrooper unit. Stormtroopers deal double damage to and take half damage from these same unit types.

An infantry unit that destroys a tank becomes a Tank Hunter. Tank Hunters deal double damage to tanks and take half damage from them. They also gain +1 movement.

The max strength of all three configurations of veteran infantry is 15. Elite Veterans have a maximum strength of 23 and three movement (or in the case of Elite Tank Hunters, 4 movement).

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.

Reinforcements

A newer concept in BFD are reinforcements. During your deployment phase, you can buy cheap units as reinforcements. These units won't be able to deploy until later in the game, but, assuming you survive long enough to use them, are much less expensive.

You buy reinforcements during the Diplomacy Phase even though they won't come into play until the War Phase. Then you choose the turn they'll deploy on. You can't deploy reinforcements on the first war phase turn, but for every turn after the first they're delayed, you get another 20% off the sticker price. IE:

2nd Turn: -20% cheaper (tank would be $24)
3rd Turn: -40% cheaper (tank would be $18)
4th Turn: -60% cheaper (tank would be $12)
5th turn: -80% cheaper (tank would be $6)

This may sound like a bargain - you could have ten tanks for $60 in Turn 5! - but that's likely too late to do anything. (Unless you have a blitzkrieg token or two stored up...)

Reinforcements deploy from an industrial center you control. You can move reinforcements out of the way and then deploy more, but they have to be deployed in an industrial center hex.

You may if you wish, or if you don't have an industrial center, choose to delay deploying reinforcements to a later turn then they were originally intended for.

Paratroopers can't be bought as reinforcements. Neither can minefields, roads, supply caches, etc.

Every player gets one free infantry as reinforcements every turn of the war phase after the 1st turn (ie: starting in the 2nd turn).

Keep in mind that buying reinforcements reduces the likelyhood that you will last long enough to use them, since your initial forces will be diminished.

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.)
 
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Player Roster:
Rovsea (blue)
Gen. Marshall (gray)
barkardes (green)
[Slot Open] (yellow/orange)
Terraferma (white)

And in addition to my usual remarks, I have on last thing to mention. Returning veterans may remember I was talking about introducing an AT unit at the end of the last game, but the more I thought about it, the more and more it looked like a weird, specialized piece of artillery. I started to think it might just be better to give artillery a bonus against tanks or something.

Opinions on this?
 
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In as Blue.

I'm fine with artillery getting a buff.
 
Perhaps we could give infantry an upgrade to make them have AT gun.It would give infantry more attack against a tank brigade in cost of less movement.
But I don't know if it would be eligible for using in a game.Just a thought.

Edit:After thinking some about it,it's not different than adding it as a unit.And I'm ok with it.

Anyways,I'm in as Green
 
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I've signed everyone up. We still need a white player and a yellow player.

Additionally, I've been thinking over the AT gun and I think I'll just drop it for this game; maybe it will be introduced later. Part of my reason was that I'm running out of sprites (and I use a program where it isn't easy to import sprites to make the maps).

Here were some of the rejected candidates for the AT gun symbol. As you can see, I went through many possible images but none were suitable.

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I'm pretty sure that's an AA gun.

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It launches armor-piercing rocks.

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Tanks are basically bears with wheels.

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Everyone knows that Canadians make the best anti-tank guns.

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Poles, on the other hand... (I know this didn't actually happen; I don't want a letter from the Polish ambassador or something)

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Is this AT system summoning Poseidon or summoning the Devil?

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They can't drive the tank if they're drunk.

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The Main Battle Tank's only natural predator.

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They wouldn't dare destroy an oil derrick.

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Very funny.

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Is that a strategic rocket? I guess so long as the tank stays in one place...

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Overkill, mate.
 
Let's give it another try shall we.

In as Orange
 
I'm suddenly imagining that Gen. Marshall has spent the past few hours desperately searching for someone willing to take the fifth slot.

(We still need a white player.)
 
In as White Poland. Will do more when I get home
 
Terraferma said:
In as White Poland. Will do more when I get home
Click to expand...

Since you are a new player, I feel I should read out a short statement that I have prepared for new players playing with the blitz veterans.

Ehem.

"If you don't be careful you will get rekt. The Veterans will try to trick you, beat you, and take you out on the first turn. You should defend your supply caches and industrial centers."

That is all.

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Diplomacy Phase - Turn 0

The game is on. Each of you has $250 to spend on your initial deployments across a slightly expanded front; Terraferma has $350 as white player. PM me your deployments when you have them planned.

I was also recently asked if reinforcements are hidden when you deploy them. I can confirm that they are, unless they are deployed on a border.
 
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