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gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl
“Restraint? Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards. At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win.” ~Gen. Thomas Power, U.S. Strategic Air Command 1957-1964

19XX: The unthinkable finally happens. The world is scoured clean in nuclear fire. The oceans are poisoned for generations to come. Only one last patch of habitable land remains: Antarctica. The remnants of humanity huddle together in a fragile patchwork of research stations and refugee ships. But even here, the Cold War survives. And your civilization may not.



MELTWATER (working title) is a two-player board game of tactical starvation and mutually assured destruction at the end of the earth, currently under development by Erin Newburn-Escobedo, aka me, Gutter Owl! The game is currently in closed beta for Rules Version 0.52.

This thread will be a playtest game for Mister Sinewave (US) vs Tricky (USSR). Both players are expected to have read and understood the rules as currently posted. I'd like this to be as blind a run as possible, so I'll try to refrain from commenting, other than updating the map and piece counts. But if you have a rules question, feel free to post in the thread, or PM me if you want to keep your super secret strategic advantage or the like. And while I'd like to keep the rules version consistent for this playtest, I reserve the right to drop in a hot fix if something is clearly Broke In Half.

REFERENCES
RULES * BLANK MAP AND CARDSHEETS

Turn Sequence posted:

STARVATION PHASE
Ignore on your first turn.
  • Flee to friendly
  • Defect to enemy/neutral
  • Starve to death

ACTION PHASE
Spend up to 4 Actions.
  • Move
  • Threaten*
  • Pressgang*
  • Raid*
  • Attack
  • Move Supply (2 actions)
  • Militarize (all 4 actions)
*blocked by enemy soldiers

DOOMSDAY PHASE
Resolve Doomsday card.
  • Add radiation
  • Add refugees
  • Reveal new card
Ignore if deck is empty.

Radiation and Support posted:

Dead: 0 pieces, no matter what
Dirty Snow: 1 piece
Dirty Ice: 2 pieces
Clean Snow: 2 pieces
Clean Ice: 3 pieces
Supply Depot: +1 adjacent friendly

Action Reference posted:

MOVE (1A)
Move any # friendly civs/soldiers from one hex to an adjacent hex. Can't move into enemy hex, civs can't enter radiation.

THREATEN (1A)
Move 1 or 2 enemy civilians. Must have more pieces and/or soldier. Blocked by enemy soldiers.

PRESSGANG (1A)
Move and/or convert 1 or 2 neutral civilians. Must have more pieces and/or soldier. Blocked by enemy soldiers.

RAID (1A)
Sacrifice soldier to destroy supply depot. Blocked by enemy soldiers.

ATTACK (1A)
Sacrifice soldier to kill enemy soldier. Spreads radiation to nearest dirty hex.

MOVE SUPPY (2A)
Move supply depot from friendly hex to adjacent friendly hex.

MILITARIZE (4A)
Upgrade 1 or 2 friendly civs to friendly soldiers. Cannot upgrade civs adjacent to enemies.

Important Reminders posted:

  • The current player decides any ties for starvation and doomsday placement. Letting your people starve into an enemy turn is a Bad Idea.
  • A Move must be from a single hex to a single hex. You cannot split up pieces. An enhanced Threaten or Pressgang CAN split up the the target pieces.
  • Soldiers block adjacent hexes from performing a Threaten/Pressgang/Raid. Soldiers do not necessarily defend adjacent hexes from being targeted by these actions.
  • Move Supply requires a friendly piece in both the origin space and the destination space.

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gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl
Reserved

gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 08:35 on May 21, 2016

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl
Alright, let's start with setup. Pieces are placed matching the dots. Starting with the USSR player (Tricky), you'll take turns placing a single piece on the board, on or next to one of your starting points (the colored dots).



As a reminder:
--You don't need to worry about starvation on each player's first turn.
--You can't place a piece on a hex with an enemy piece. Neutrals are fine.
--You don't own a supply depot unless you have other pieces stacked with it.

TRICKY, what will you place first, and where?

gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 21:47 on May 16, 2016

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


I'll place a Soldier on K3. Just to clarify, do I also have Civilians on K4, L4, and J5?

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl
...dammit, yes you do. I thought I checked that map.

EDIT: Fixed.

gutterdaughter fucked around with this message at 21:47 on May 16, 2016

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl


SINEWAVE, your placement.

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Cool! Looking forward to this. Thanks for waiting while I got my rear end in gear.

My move will be in a few more minutes, just reviewing the new rules. Quick comment:

* In v0.52 under STARVATION I think you have a missing word or two:

quote:

DIE: If no more pieces can, then remove any piece from the space.

* Under THREATEN and PRESSGANG, you move one enemy civvie if you outnumber them, and you can move one more if at least one of your units is a soldier, correct? (As in, there is no additional effect for having more than one soldier doing the shoving and yelling, it's just an effect if you have at least one yeller & shover.)



e: Just so you all know, I can make several moves at erratic times during the day but generally not online in the evening or weekends.

The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 06:28 on May 17, 2016

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Soldier on E1 :patriot:

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl

Mister Sinewave posted:

* Under THREATEN and PRESSGANG, you move one enemy civvie if you outnumber them, and you can move one more if at least one of your units is a soldier, correct? (As in, there is no additional effect for having more than one soldier doing the shoving and yelling, it's just an effect if you have at least one yeller & shover.)

Yes. One civie for outnumbering, one civie for having soldier(s), for a max of two.



TRICKY, your placement.

(Also, are the icons clear enough as to what is what?)

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


I'll keep on the K3 train with a Supply Depot. And yeah, I think the icons are perfectly clear.

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Civvie F2

Icons are gud

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


Civilian H6.

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Soldier G5

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


Soldier H6.

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Civvie F6

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


Civilian H5.

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Hmmm.

Supply F2

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl


(Ignore the green schmutz. It's an artifact of working in Roll20 that I've been editing out in GIMP, but it's faster to just ignore.)

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
:qq: MY IMMERSION :qq:

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl
So folks, heads up. We just got started, and some real life playtesting with a designer friend has given me a huge insight. So unless there's a major protest, I'd like to update the rules with a new fix. It's just one small rule change, but it has a huge impact on the swingiest part of the game: You can see the next two Doomsday Cards during your turn, rather than just one.

Shouldn't impact any moves made thusfar.

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Neat. Is it done via a first in first out face-up 2 card buffer?

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


Civilian H4.

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Civvie F3.

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl

Tricky posted:

Civilian H4.

H4 is not a legal placement. Setup pieces must all be on or adjacent to the starting positions (colored circles).



Ignoring this. Once Tricky corrects his move, I'll confirm this placement.

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


Ah, my mistake. I misread that as adjacent to an allied piece. Make it civilian J4.

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
CIVVIE F3 :mad: :h:

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


Civilian J3.

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Civvie G3.

Hey the green crap disappeared (don't edit it out on my account, I was kidding it's perfectly ignorable)

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


Civilian H3.

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl

Tricky posted:

Civilian H3.

Not legal, not next to a red circle.


(Updated as of Sine's last placement.)


Mister Sinewave posted:

Hey the green crap disappeared (don't edit it out on my account, I was kidding it's perfectly ignorable)

So the green crap is the corner of the default player avatar on Roll20. I couldn't figure out how to get a clean shot of the board without the avatar overlapping. So I had a "duh" moment and changed my avatar to a blue field to match the ocean, and voila.

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


Womp, I am clearly not good at seeing things. Civilian G2.

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Civilian G5



Gutter Owl posted:

So the green crap is the corner of the default player avatar on Roll20. I couldn't figure out how to get a clean shot of the board without the avatar overlapping. So I had a "duh" moment and changed my avatar to a blue field to match the ocean, and voila.

Ha! Clever.

The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
I feel like we should be playing this via a grainy black and white satellite view :ninja:

gutterdaughter
Oct 21, 2010

keep yr head up, problem girl

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The Eyes Have It
Feb 10, 2008

Third Eye Sees All
...snookums
Your move, commie. Place that last supply already :ninja:

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