Alfred Wallace: Alfred’s Battlelore Scenario Generator

I’m guessing that this title might draw some interest.  First, though, I thought I’d talk about some other games I’ve been playing.

It’s been a relatively stressful week.  A final exam, a thesis to draft up, and a seminar paper to edit that’s been far more stressful than I anticipated.  I’ve been able to unwind periodically, however, thanks our old friend: Gaming.

All my gaming this past week-plus has been at the big local FLGS, Metagames.  (If anyone’s looking for a copy of Ido, by the way, let them know.  They have a copy in shrink at a special price.) They’ve been getting in some great games recently—I guess everyone has, though—and I’ve had a chance to play a few.

First up: Khet.  I’d fooled around some with Deflexion, Khet’s predecessor, but never managed to play a full game.  Metagames got in four or five copies and opened one for a demo.  It’s a game that kind of sells itself.  I mean: Lasers!  Who doesn’t like lasers?  It’s also an extremely simple game, and the pieces are attractive.  That said, it has some good depth to it, and it requires some fairly considerable visualization skills.  I managed to win my game.  I haven’t gotten it yet.  I don’t get in a lot of two-player gaming right now, and it’s bulky to store.  That said, it’s definitely a game I wouldn’t turn down playing if someone offered.

This past Wednesday, Metagames got in a few Zoch dexterity games.  I think Rio Grande is looking into distributing them here, and Meta got some advance copies.  (Or something.) Anyway, I chewed my knuckles for a while and bought Bamboleo.

Cutting to the chase:  This is one of my favorite recent game purchases.  I paid a pretty decent amount for it, but for $/play, it’s doing OK.  Again: It’s a game that draws people to it.  If you haven’t seen it, basically you get a big wooden disc, a spindle atop of which is a cork ball, and a bunch of red and black wooden blocks and shapes and whatnot.  You load up the disc like a pizza with the wooden blocks.  You then balance it on the spindle/cork ball.  This part is tricky, but you get better at it over time.

Then the idea is that the players take turns removing the blocks from the teetering disc without making the whole works fall over.  There are rules included, and that makes a great game, but you can also play like Jenga, where whoever makes it fall over loses, and everybody else gets to mock them.  I set it up, invited Carl (of Metagames) to play, and within a few turns a crowd of eight or nine customers was gathered around, cheering us on.  It was terrific.  Lots of noise and applause when it finally tipped over.  For a few hours, Bamboleo was in constant use, with an ever-changing set of players.  By the time I was done playing, I was actually tired.  (This may say as much about my current fitness level as it does about Bamboleo.  It can be stress-inducing, though.)

I rate it a nine.  Heck, I just like setting it up and trying to “solveâ€? it solitaire—see if I can remove all the pieces.  I’m getting to be pretty good.  It’s certainly my favorite dexterity game.  My plan is to bring it into the department office when I start my TA stint this coming semester and have some pick-up games in the TA office or the conference room.  We have a fair number of mature and budding gamers around the department; I should be able to get something going.

(There’s apparently a Mega-Bamboleo out there.  If somebody has me on their Christmas list, or wants to be my new best friend…I’ll just say it looks awesome.)

Finally, I got in a game of Battlelore, testing out a scenario-generation/army building system I devised.  Once again, I challenged Carl at Metagames and he agreed to be my guinea pig.  I’ll get to the rules I put together in a second, but in general I’m pleased with them.  We made two plausible armies, the board had a nice mix of terrain on it, and we were pretty competitive.  I’m pleased.  As a way to get some good “fullâ€? scenarios, I think it has some real promise.

Carl jumped out to an early lead, but I slowly whittled my way back.  Carl built an army based on speed (goblins and cavalry) and range (archers), and did a lot of damage before I could get in and grapple with my infantry-heavy force.  I got back in it, though, partly thanks to some abominable die-rolling on Carl’s part.  We played to five flags, and I pulled it out 5-4 after his final charge came up just short, leaving some of his one-figure units dangerously exposed.  Coming into the game, we didn’t quite have all the rules down pat, but by the end we were humming along pretty nicely.

Now that I have access to nigh-on infinite scenarios, I’m much more pleased with the game.  (I know it’s impossible for a number to be “nigh-on infinite.” Pure rhetoric on my part.)

Anyway—these are the rules as I currently have them.  I heartily encourage feedback; drop me a comment here, Geekmail me at alfredhw, send me a carrier pigeon, etc.  I originally had dwarves cost more, and goblins less, than human units; talking it over after the game we decided that that was unnecessarily complicated.  I think the goblins aren’t as awful as their current press would have you believe, either.  (I permit the Goblin League to put that in their promotional literature.) Still, I can believe that with a lot more experience there might be some balancing issues to be done.  I left in my original rule as a variant.

I also hasten to remind the assembly that these are my house rules and are by no means official.  Days of Wonder and Richard Borg are hard at work on their own version, of which I know nothing.

Anyway, on to the rules—Alfred’s Battlelore Scenario Generator v. 0.2.  You’ll need a six-sided (D6) and four-sided (D4) die.

Step One: Placing Basic Terrain

The board is divided into six sectors—left/right/center, north and south of the “equatorâ€? running down the middle.  (The middle row of hexes is considered to be in both north and south for these purposes.) For each sector, roll 1D6 and apply the following:

1:  River.  Roll 1D6, and on 1-2 add two hills, 3-5 two forests, and on 6 nothing.
2:  (1D4-1) Forests and (1D4-1) Hills (separate rolls for each)
3:  1D4 Hills
4:  1D4 Forests
5:  1D4 (Forests + Hills), placing player’s choice of how to divide them up
6:  Clear (no terrain)

Each player places the terrain on their side of the board, starting with first one flank, then the other, then the center.  (VARIANT:  For each sector, roll a die.  On 1-3 the “owningâ€? player of that side of the board places the terrain, on a 4-6 the opposing player places it.)

When placing a river, if two adjacent sectors received rivers, then there is one long river running through the two.  (Or three, or so on.) Each sector with a river gets one bridge or ford, at the placing player’s option.  The river must be at least three hexes long in each sector.

Step Two:  Building Your Army

First, decide whether this will be a 5 VP (victory point) or 6 VP battle.  If a 5 VP battle, each side gets 11 units.  If a 6 VP battle, roll 1D6 and add 12; each side gets that many units.  One side has the opportunity to use goblin mercenaries, the other dwarves; come to a mutual agreement or choose randomly.

Each player then builds their army.

1.  At least half (rounded up) of all units must be blue-flag units.
2.  One red-flag unit may be chosen for every two green-flag units of the same general type—foot or cavalry units.  Archers count as foot units.  Thus, if an army has three green-flag archer units, it may also have one red-flag infantry unit.  (Not a red-flag cavalry unit.) Regular and mercenary units are counted together for this purpose.
3.  At most one-third of all units may be cavalry.  (i.e., in an 11-unit game, at most three units on each side may be cavalry.)
4.  At most one-third of all units may be “rangeâ€? units (bows, crossbows, and whatever else comes out).
5.  At most one-third of all units may be mercenary units.  (VARIANT:  A dwarf unit costs 1.5 “unitsâ€? (i.e., you get 2 for the price of 3), and a goblin unit costs .75 “unitsâ€? (i.e., you get 4 for the price of 3).  Fractional units may not be saved and cannot be spent on anything else.)
6.  A player may take one “unitâ€? in the form of either two ramparts, two hills, or three forests.  If a player does this, then the player must place a VP marker either on one of the hills or forests, or in a hex directly behind one of the ramparts.

War Council:

Each player has six levels to spend however the player wishes.  Green-flag creatures cost one level, blue-flag units two, and red-flag units three.

Step 3:  Placing Units

Beginning with the player with the most units—roll a die if both sides have the same number of units—players alternate placing their units on the board.  Units are placed on the board two at a time.

Units may be placed in the back four rows of their side of the board.  Units must be placed at least four hexes away from any opposing unit.

When all units are placed, each wing and the center must have at least three units in it.  (Units in hexes straddling the line count for both.)

The player who has the fewest units--or a randomly-chosen player if both have the same number--chooses who takes the first turn in the game.

Try it out; let me know what you think.  I like the basic idea, and I think it’ll result in plausible-looking scenarios.  There’s a meta-rule, though: If you get to a point and something looks “wrongâ€? on the board, feel free to fix it.  In my battle tonight, I had four blue-flag infantry, two blue-flag cavalry, two green-flag archers, and two blue-flag dwarves.  They did OK.

That’s all for this week—now, back to the thesis and Bamboleo.

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