Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 11309 Location: Asleep at the wheel
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Based on their discussions about it, it seems a single round can last an incredibly long time. It would almost be like asking people to watch an entire Play by Post RPG battle, it could take weeks or months in some cases. Perhaps less of a demo and.... more of a more brief example?
The demo would obviously be a sped up example... wouldnt even need two people if one person put enough effort into it. Basically a how to the same way I've given example PBP D&D posts to show formatting and such.
_________________
"Life is like a Dungeon Master, if it smiles at you something terrible is probably about to happen."
Would a duel suffice? One of the biggest parts of the game is the actually strategy writing. Each person controls an army. In order to move to a space on the map and remive someone from that space a duel must occur between the two opposing factions.Beyond the strategy it is more of a move your pieces into place to take objectives which is the simplest part of the game.
Trapped Slider; Questions all good, we art all happy to help, and it makes for an opportunity to alter anything to make it easier to understand if need be. There's a lot there, but it really is a more intuitive than appearances would indicate. Give a poke if thee would like to try creating an army and writing a strategy to see if it is something that appeals - and also a part that can be arranged without the great big mess of other stuff.
I'm sure i'm not getting this, but am I correct in thinking that an army is the same color as your faction or in the case of , 5-color any one you want? But what about Colorless, there isn't an example for that one.
Also is the number in front of the name how many of those you have?
the curent map site: http://cwg.derxis.ro/ Though broken links abound, this thread has some good info: http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/2353991 A version of the proper rulebook, though not updated for the Round 6 map changes, can be found from here: http://cwg.derxis.ro/old/round5/ So it;s missing some late additions like VP and (functional) portals, but frankly is the rulebook for the wargame at its height. I've copy-pasted that text below.
for posterity
Coalition - Phyrexia War Game Rulebook
The Coalition/Phyrexian War Game, is based upon the conflict of these two military forces for control of the planes. Phyrexia, under the rule of Yawgmoth and his generals, advance through interplanar portals to take their rightful lands and remove the weak blight of flesh. The Coalition consists of native inhabitants, joined under one banner in a fight to survive against the Phyrexian hordes and push them back through the portals.
The War Game continues the 'what if,' where Urza and the Weatherlight did not stick their noses in and ruin everything. Who will be victorious, the Phyrexia war machine, or the Coalition's desperate fight for survival?
1 Sides
2 Structure
3 Armies
4 Movement
5 Healing
6 Control
7 Strategies
1 Sides
Picking a side is as simple as posting a request in the associated boards, the Council of All for the Coalition, or the Phyrexian Council for Phyrexia.
1.1 The Coalition
The Coalition consists of 7 factions; the 5 colours of magic (White, Blue, Black, Red, Green), 5-Colour, and Artifact. These represent the various groups under the Coalition flag and determine matters of healing and troop choice for armies. Each member of The Coalition is able to pick 1 primary faction where they will hold rank (this may be changed at a later point), and 2 secondary factions (also able to be changed).
Each faction has its own Base, as placed upon the map indicated by their respective colour. Also each faction has its own set of ranks (1 Captain, 1 Commander and 2 Lt Commanders per faction).
The Coalition Rank structure is as follows: 1 General, 2 Admirals, 7 Captains, 7 Commanders, 14 Lieutenant Commanders and any number of Lieutenants.
1.2 Phyrexia
Unlike The Coalition, the rival Phyrexia consists of only one single group. Phyrexia has 5 Portals and no faction differences, but otherwise the rank structure is equivalent: 1 Chief Praetor, 2 Praetors, 7 Evincars, 7 Plaguelords, 14 Centurian Plaguelords and any number of Centurions.
1.3 The Mercenaries
This group cannot be joined by players at any time, but exist only to protect the townships. Once a Coalition or Phyrexian army has healed in their associated town, the mercenary army disbands; otherwise, they attack their town every turn.
1.4 The Judges
As a neutral unbiased controller, the judge's job is to deal with movement, judging of strategies, and generally make sure that everything is running smoothly. Generally what the judge says goes, but civilized discussion is encouraged. As any other human being, the judge is capable of making mistakes so any constructive feedback is appreciated.
2 Structure
2.1 The Map
Most interaction between players happens on the Wizards of the Coast Community Boards, however play takes place upon a separate web-site. All information pertaining to battles, squares, armies, and bases can be found there.
Squares are indicated by a grid system, from 1 - 38 columns, and A - N rows. Hovering over a map square will indicate the current position, as well as any information about the square such as terrain or features.
2.2 Armies
Armies are represented by symbols on the map, the Coalition uses the faction symbols (as can be seen on cards such as Coalition Relic), Phyrexia uses the Mask of Yawgmoth, and Mercenaries are represented by a helm. It is at the discretion of the leaders to assign armies to players.
In order to see the makeup of an army, selecting it will bring up a box with all pertinent information.
2.3 Turns
The start of each turn is announced by the Battle Judge in the Battle Announcements thread. This post will include all the battles for the current turn as well as the deadline before which the strategies are to be submited in order to be valid. The deadline timestamp is currently at 5PM GMT, so be sure not to ommit time conversions as late strategies will be discarded.
The same post also includes the movement deadline, which unless specifically mentioned is the same as the strategy deadline. All movement must be sent by that time or will be discarded.
Once the deadline has passed, the player's responsibilities have ended. It is now up to the judge to go through the strategies and movement, posting the results of each in the Battle Results and Movement threads respectively. Then, finally, to post any new battles from that turn in the Battle Announcements thread, starting the cycle again.
For an in-game time frame for armies to move and fight, each turn is defined as 6 in-game days. The number of actual days this translates to out of game is variable, but can expect anywhere from one to two weeks per turn.
During each turn, the players have to fullfil their requirements. Sending the strategies that they are assigned and moving the armies that are under their control is what defines the wargame and must be done every single turn.
2.4 Rounds
A round can take as long as necessary for one side to win as per the win conditions determined at the beginning of the round. It is also possible to end a round early if one side concedes, or an alterative ending is arranged.
2.5 Winning
There are two possible ways of winning. By destroying all appointed win condition structures or by killing the top 10 ranked armies of the other side. Currently, the win conditions are the 5 portals for Phyrexia and the Keresta (Red Base), Naideia (Blue Base), Frank (Black Base), White Base and Tovarna (Artifice Base) for the Coalition.
3 Armies
3.1 Army Creation
No new armies can be placed on the map while the round is in progress. However, if a new player achieves at least two official battles, they may contact their side leader about getting an existing army changed to one of their choosing. Design itself is generally handled by the leaders of each side and they are expected to guide new players in this regard.
Each army consists of one legend and 4 slots based on the army rank.
Any creature is acceptable, as long as it is represented by a Magic: The Gathering card. By necessity, some creature abilities must be scaled down for balance reasons.
3.2.1 Power/Toughness
Creature slots apply only to the maximum of that creature's power and toughness. For example; 3/3, 3/2, 3/1, 3/0, 2/3, 1/3, or 0/3 creatures all fall into the 3/3 slot and as far as rules go there is no meaningful difference between them.
Permanent power/toughness changing effects, such as +1/+1 counters, or creatures with power and/or toughness defined as * can be used in any slot that they could naturally fall into. For example, Dracoplasm, as a */* creature can fill any slot from 1/1 to 9/9, whereas a Vampiric Dragon starts as a 5/5 creature that gets +1/+1 counters, so it can only be used in slots 5/5 and higher.
3.2.2 Restrictions
There are a few restrictions as to which creatures are allowed into armies.
Phyrexia cannot use white, green or multicolour creatures that are exclusively white and green.
Each Coalition army can only include units from their chosen factions (factions cannot be changed mid-round). For example, if Frank, the Intergalactic Space Toad has selected primary of Green, and secondary colours Blue and Red, he can only use green, blue, and/or red units in his army. Multicoloured creatures are only usable if 5-Colour is chosen as one of the factions (primary or secondary), and the creatures are not required to match any of the other colours. The same way. artifact creatures are only usable if Artifact is chosen as one of the factions, whether it has a colour or not.
As every army is composed out of it's 4 slots. each slot may be split into different creatures. However, no army is allowed to have more than 6 different creatures in it's composition and no creature can be used in two different slots. Shortly put, an individual army can only have up to 6 unique units at any one time.
No other restrictions exist and all creatures that fit these army requirements are free for use.
3.2.3 Legends
Each army will have a legend, this is generally one from Magic: the Gathering, but a personal design may be submitted to the judge if so inclined. These units have no perceivable impact in most battles and have no restrictions placed on size or colour. Their purpose only applies in kill strategies (See 7.4 Killing).
3.2.4 Colour Bonus
If all units in an army share a colour (white, blue, black, red, green) and/or are all artifacts they receive a +1 bonus on all rolls. Non-coloured and non-artifact units do not have an associated colour bonus, but are still freely available to all armies.
4 Movement
Movement must be done in the following format:
Army Name: Start > Next > Next > End - Order
Army Name: the name of the moving army. The name must be of an army under the control of the player sending the movement (See 6 Control) and be recognizable as an existing army;
Start: this is the position the army currently occupies on the map;
Next: entirely optional and generally not included, this is only to map out a particular route, otherwise this is determined randomly;
End: the destination square for the respective army.
Order: any applicable orders (See 4.1 Orders).
Failure to use this format, or to use the orders incorrectly, will result in the move not taking place.
An army can only move three squares, and each square takes 2 days to cross at normal marching speed; this does not include diagonal, but it does not need to be in a straight line. Other armies, battles, or healing points do not act as obstacles for movement. It is not possible to move off the edges of the map. All moves are enacted at the same time.
4.1 Orders
It is acceptable to give ‘no movement’ orders to armies. Such orders have no format, so feel free to be creative. If an army is in battle, it cannot receive movemevemt orders for as long as it is engaged.
4.1.1 Engage
This is used when an enemy army is in the End square. The order must include the name of the enemy army. If the opposing army does not move, a battle will result, otherwise, the army will take the place of the leaving enemy. Format: Frank, the Intergalatic Space Toad: 3A > 2B - engage The Frogettes.
4.1.2 Replace
When an allied army is in the End square this command is required. It must include the name of the allied army. If the ally does not move, then nor will the moving army, otherwise, the army will take the place of the leaving ally. Format: Frank, the Intergalatic Space Toad: 3A > 2B - replace The Frogettes.
4.1.3 Intercept
This order requires the army to not move (yet still needs the Start square); however, any enemy army that would otherwise move through that square is stopped and a battle results instead. The first army passing over (unless indicated otherwise) will be the one intercepted. If multiple armies pass over this square a joint engage will not result (See 4.3 Joint engage). Furthermore, if the intercepting army is attacked by a closer army, it will no longer intercept armies passing through. Format: Frank, the Intergalatic Space Toad: 3A - intercept.
4.1.4 Transfer
Transfers allow for troops to be sent between allied armies. It requires that both armies are adjacent, do not move, and that the transferring army is not in a healing point at the time. There is no specific format for this order but the transfer must be announced as well as which troops and how many of which will be transfered to an allied army.
4.1.5 Raids
Each side is able to change movement of any two armies from the bottom two ranks after the movement lock as long as that army would not be in battle that turn. This move must be legal given the new state of the map and move to engage an opposing army not at a healing point. The raiding army must have at least 500 units in its top rank, and the opposing army must have less than 5000 units overall. This move cannot be intercepted. The raiding army must enact a kill strategy (See 7.4 Killing) and receives an additional bonus in this attempt.
These moves should be posted within the Movement thread within three days of a new turn starting.
4.1.6 No order
When none of the above orders apply, the Order field can be left empty.
4.2 Partial Moves
When two allied armies attempt to move into the same square and the conditions for a joint engage are not met, a partial move may result. The closer army - or failing that the one with the earlier time stamp - will move to the desired square. The other will move as close as possible; after taking into account all other moves. Generally, attempts will be made to avoid a battle resulting from a partial move, but this is not always possible.
4.3 Joint engage
In some cases, it is possible for more than two armies to be fighting in a square at once. These are restricted to only one for each side per turn and can contain up to four armies in one battle. As long as all moves into any non-healing point square are legal, this may occur. Armies Captain/Evincar and higher cannot be part of joint engagements.
5 Healing
Once an army reaches any point at which they may heal, they begin counting turns. This value accumulates at any point at which an army could move (it is not in combat that turn). Once the required number has been reached, they heal up to full, minus any loses sustained in the last day of healing. This healing occurs automatically at the end of a turn.
5.1 Healing in Portals
Only Phyrexia armies may heal inside a portal and it takes any army 2 turns to do so. The are no differences between the portals for healing purposes.
5.2 Healing in Bases
Only Coalition armies may heal inside a base, and then only at a base that they are a member of (primary faction, or one of the two secondary factions). If not a member of the base, they do not heal no matter how many turns are counted.
If the army is a primary member (as indicated by its symbol), then healing will only take one turn. If the army is a secondary member, healing to full takes two turns.
5.3 Healing in Towns
Any armiy of the bottom two ranks of each side may heal inside a town and it takes them two turns to do so. Mercenary armies also heal in towns, but they only recover 500 units each turn, starting with the lowest slot.
5.4 Army changes
When an army is at a healing point it could heal at, a player may request a troop change. This takes two turns and counts turns in the same manner as healing, with the army healing to full at the end of the two turns with the different units. In most cases, this is no different to the usual process of healing and does not need to be requested until the same turn the army would otherwise heal. A special note must be made for Coalition armies attempting to change troops at their primary base, as they will not both heal and change troops. The troop change turn count starts when the request is made.
6 Control
6.1 Proxy List
The controller of any given army is determined by the Proxy List. This list includes all armies and which players are able to give movement orders and send strategies for them. There is no official format for the proxy list, so this may differ across the sides. The only requirement is that it is clear which player controls which army.
This list is maintained by the battle judge, and any change must be accepted by the judge. The time stamp of the request is what determines when control changes, not when the list is updated. Only two players on each side can make these requests, whom they are is determined by the highest ranking player on that side.
The Proxy List also grants a player for each side the title of Movement Tertiary.
6.2 Contingency
For each player, a contingency may be assigned. This contingency is effectively the ‘backup’ player for the player. The contingency may send strategies instead of the original controller. If a strategy is sent by the original controller, then these take precedence over contingency strategies.
6.3 Movement Tertiary
This player, designated by the proxy list, may be changed each turn and has the responsibility to cover for the movement of his side. This player sends in contingency moves which are to be taken into consideration only if the controller of that army failed to specify a movement for the army in cause. Orders like "hold position" will not be overwritten this way.
7 Strategies
A strategy is the orders a player gives to the army when in combat, there are few explicit rules, and what is presented here are closer to guidelines than hard and fast rules. Creature abilities, terrain, weather, everything is available for interpretation. There are no explicit restrictions and players can find/wait for the a desired state to present itself. There are implicit restrictions on some abilities for balance reasons which are based on the interpretation of the judge.
All battles will be posted in the Battle Announcements thread with the following format:
Army Name battle type Army Name, Square (Weather)
Before the battle deadline all strategies must be sent to the battle judge using the given e-mail address; the strategies must be in the body of the e-mail and not attachments. The name of the e-mail must have the following format:
Player: Army 1 Battle information Army 2.
Ex: MonkeyMan: The Monkettes attacks Phyrexian Horde
'The strategy title can include labels to minimise the chance of oversights. Examples of these are "Kill Attempt", "Joint Engage", and "Contingency". Not using these titles might result in your strategy not having the desired effect.
7.1 Battle States
An entire battle can last up to six days, most can be completed within a few hours or a day, but additional options exist.
7.1.1 Type and positioning
How a battle arises will determine the positioning of the armies at the start of the battle. In the case of a no attacker, designated by "vs.", the armies start within visible range. This range is determined by factors such as weather, terrain, nature of the opposing army, how the army advances, and various potential factors. This type of battle arises when two opposing armies move into the same square at once.
The second major type is that of an attacker/defender battle, this is designated by "attacks" and is the result of the engage order. The attacking army starts (always the first named army) starts at the edge of the square, while the defending army (always after the battle type) begins in the centre of the square. It is highly recommended than armies designated as attacking do actually attack.
The last big type is intercepts, this is in practice similar to a no attacker battle with each army starting within visible range. However in this case, the first named army is moving to prevent the opposing army from passing through the area - as resulting from the Intercept order. The intercepting army should ensure that they do move to engage the intercepted army.
There are two more types of battles.
Sieges, which are more likely when defendable areas are present, only follow from previous battles and result when an army only partially captures an area, or is unable to entirely out the opponent. Positioning and other information is provided on a case by case basis.
Raids are the result of the attacking army using a ‘raider’ move to engage a heavily damaged target. The armies start within visible range with the second named army taken almost entirely by surprise. (See 4.1.3 Intercept and 4.1.5 Raids)
7.1.2 Terrain
The terrain can be determined from the square designated in the announcement made in the Battle Annoucements thread. There are six possible types: plains, islands, swamp, mountains, forest, and ocean. Each can be thought of as simply the most stereotypical state (eg; forest: lots of trees, mountains: rocky mountain ranges). If desired, a specific feature can be searched for, the more common the feature the less time it takes to find (eg; looking for pine trees in a forest will be quick, finding a ravine in a forest may take the better part of a day).
For ocean and islands battles, armies can advance via any relatively simple boat existing in the dark to middle ages (war galleys are fine, iron plated turtles not so much).
7.1.3 Weather
This is determined by rolls and given with announcement in the Battle Announcements thread. What the rolls mean can be found in the Weather thread. As with terrain, the description given applies to the stereotypical state of weather and only applies to the average over the entire duration of the battle. Again, one can wait for a particular type of weather, with the more likely it is given the average, the quicker it will result (eg; in overcast waiting for light rain will not take long, whereas waiting for a downpour may take most of the day and may not last for longer than a few minutes).
7.1.4 Joint
When a joint battle ensues, how it is written is entirely up to the players. It can be combined into a single strategy or sent as two separate ones. However, the armies win or lose together. The player has the option of deciding which army remains inside the square in the event of victory but if that that right is forfeit, the larger or higher ranked army remaining in the square at the end of the battle.
In order to make a specific joint engage bump request (decide which army leaves the square) this has to be announced by movement PM or by movement post in the Movement thread before the deadline. This request has to be made by the same player (or one of the players in the event each strat is written by a different controller) that is writing the specific strategy and there is no contingency for it. The request should be made in the following format:
Joint engage bump request: Army to Location
Army represents which of the two armies will leave the square in the event that the battle is won and Location represents the new adjacent destination for that army. If the destination is not valid, one will be chosen at random.
7.2 Equipment
Armies start battle with the equipment presented in their artwork(s), flavour text, or implied by ability text. Additional equipment is only that which would be present in the average medieval army (no magical equipment, nothing technologically advanced, no siege weapons, among others). All other equipment must be made or found. The only exception to this is when fighting at a Healing Point.
7.3 Victory
The winner of the battle is given by the battle judge based on relative bonuses (size, strategy, numbers, etc) and random rolls. The winner and losses for each army are supplied by the judge, this is one case where the judge call is law and is not up for debate.
The winning army remains in the square, while the losing army is forced out to one of the surrounding squares (determined randomly). If all of these squares are occupied, the army may be either bumped into an enemy army (making an intercept battle), or the next set of squares out (if all the surrounding squares are occupied by either allied armies or battles take place in them).
7.4 Killing
When writing a kill strategy the first requirement is to make it obvious that it is a kill strategy. Putting this into the title line of the strategy e-mail is recommended.
To make a kill, an army needs 500 units in its top rank, which will act as the kill squad. These creatures do not participate in the battle itself, only the kill attempt which uses a separate roll. Any extras beyond this can be used within the strategy and provide a bonus to the kill attempt.
In order to make the kill, the army must first win the battle. Then, a second roll ensues, matching the army’s kill attempt to the opponent’s escape (or protection) attempt, much like an internal mini-strategy. If this roll is successful, the enemy army is killed, if it fails, there is a chance that the kill squad will be lost (if the battle is lost, the kill squad is lost regardless). A raider has an inreased chance of succeeding in his kill attempt (See 4.1.5 Raids)
Would a duel suffice? One of the biggest parts of the game is the actually strategy writing. Each person controls an army. In order to move to a space on the map and remive someone from that space a duel must occur between the two opposing factions.Beyond the strategy it is more of a move your pieces into place to take objectives which is the simplest part of the game.
Yeah but even that could be mimicked by one person to get a demonstration out there for the group of "never seen it before" new players that it seems to be attracting.
_________________
"Life is like a Dungeon Master, if it smiles at you something terrible is probably about to happen."
I'm sure i'm not getting this, but am I correct in thinking that an army is the same color as your faction or in the case of , 5-color any one you want? But what about Colorless, there isn't an example for that one.
Also is the number in front of the name how many of those you have?
Ah yes, although it seems that ruleset is a little out of date, the trouble with boards going a bit wibbly; there hath been a few alterations since to try make things simpler. For Phyrexia, pretty much anything goes. For the Coalition, thee can use creatures of the colours from any selected faction (three from WUBGR, 5-Colour, or Artifact). So thee noticed, if Red Faction, then can use Red creatures, and so on. 5-Colour only applies to multi-coloured cards (so split cards, gold cards, and hybrid critters), no 5-Colour faction in one of the three, then no can use any multi-coloured critter. Colourless is just Artifact creatures.
The number in front of the name is the amount available when the army is at full strength, yup.
Again, it's easiest just to try make an army and we can let thee know how things fit. It is quite entertaining to go through and put armies together, trying to get something flexible to fight on varied terrain, but also suitable to thine own playstyle (think of what tactics thee tend to use in strategy games, that will help). For instance, we art very much inclined to big smashy destructive things (very red-green), so a TGLian army tends to a ground one with large creatures with a bit of flying support and some infantry - we tend to favour either speed or trample. Here is our 'go-to' lowest rank army (red!);
It is getting a tad late at night here currently, but tomorrow evening we will see about showing thee how this duel (OSMQ) thing works, with a pair of strategies, a set of results, and making an army. Fortunately we hath most of them on hand, and just needs a bit of altering to suit as we tend to be very long and excessive with these things. Also the 'strategy guideline' on the old wiki seems to have gone kaputsee too >.<.
Righty-o, as promised! How a (OSMQ) duel is fought. This is a stand-alone battle without all the fuss and bother about moving within the wider context of the game - great for practice and trying silly things. We fortunately found a short previous battle to go through, with some changes to suit the example.
First off, two players decide that they want to send countless unfortunate souls to their inevitable destruction. We'll say Frank, the Intergalactic Space Toad, and Monkette. We'll approach it from Frank's view to (hopefully) make it easier to follow.
Anyway, now that Frank and Monkette hath decided to fight, they need to raise their armies. This can be an involved process, but it is done independently by each player.
Army Design
Frank wants to use multi-coloured units, but he also wants to have a red army. He also decides to go for the mobility and flexibility of flying creatures, ideally humanoid. To look at the artwork, abilities, and flavour of various creatures he toddles off to Gatherer to consider multi-coloured (red) creatures with flying. As a starting point, he reckons a light cavalry unit would be good, something fast that can harass the flanks and get around to the rear. A bit of searching pulls up a 2/2 flying haste creature in Blazing Specter which fits nicely. Then he figures that perhaps some heavy cavalry for breaking through opposing lines is in order. Perhaps something that has an added oomph to make a charge extra painful - something like trample perhaps, or power/toughness boosting. There is Kulrath Knight with wither, which would make a charge that cripples the opposing units' ability to defend against future attacks. So there's the 3/3 slot. In order to hold the line and give these cavalry units the chance to do their thing (or to hold the ground that they take), some tough infantry units will be needed. Lightning Angel fits well in that role with haste (to keep up with the specters and knights), and has vigilance to boot. Lastly, a 1/1 unit multi-coloured red unit with flying, not many choices. After looking at */* (which can go in any slot) he goes for Dracoplasms. They give a mass swarming unit, and if nothing else fire on demand can be very helpful.
So Frank posts his army; 5000 Dracoplasm (1/1) 2500 Blazing Specter (2/2) 1500 Kulrath Knight (3/3) 1000 Lightning Angel (3/4)
A third player will need to be sought to act as judge (Dibble for this example). This is the entity who reads both strategies and decides who wins (and how much destruction is brought down upon the land and armies).
Battle Conditions
Once all the players set, the conditions of the battle art determined - terrain, weather, and who is attacking. In the full game these art established by where and how the armies meet. But in a duel the combatants decide. In this case Frank and Monkette leave it to Dibble who sets them; Terrain: mountains, Weather: heavy rain, No attacker (this means the armies start within sight, so neither hath gone out of their way to fight and more bumped into each other (but knew of the others' presence))
With the conditions done, it is time to write a strategy! This is again done individually - as can imagine it is a terrible idea to let one's opponent see one's tactics. This is a particularly fun part, it is like writing a little story and is a great opportunity to show creativity - but these art pretty basic strategies, they can be as involved or complex as thee desire. There art many forms and styles, find one that suits thee!
Strategy Writing
First of all, Frank writes the armies and conditions, for ease of remembering (for self and judge)
Frank, the Intergalactic Space Toad 5000 Dracoplasm (1/1) 2500 Blazing Specter (2/2) 1500 Kulrath Knight (3/3) 1000 Lightning Angel (3/4)
Location: mountains, Weather: heavy rains, Situation: no attacker.
Next Frank decides on how the conditions of the battle will influence how the armies interact. First considering how well bows (Jagged-Scar Archers' primary weapons) work in heavy rain, and what the weather means for lines of sight - since the armies can see each other right off the bat they must be relatively close to start with. This gives Frank a starting point from which to design his strategy, setting out his initial assumptions and reasoning for them.
The main issue I expect during the battle is that I doubt Monkette will realize that her ranged equipment does not work during heavy rain conditions. Also given this is a no attacker, we start in sight. Due to the mountains terrain, the enemy being grounded and to the restricted visibility which the rain causes I assume we start relatively close to each other.
Next Frank outlines the tactics on what his units will do during the battle. Despite all that careful thought into potential unit roles, Frank decides to take a different route given his opponent and the battle conditions - but fortunately his army is designed to be flexible and able to perform a wide variety of basic tasks.
The enemy does not look like she likes fire that much so I will attack directly and swiftly without giving her any time to do much. My dracoplasm's will engulf them in flames (even if everything burning will quickly be put out by the rain, the damage will still be done). The dracoplasm's will attack in repeated charges, firebreathing over my enemy. My knights and specters will form small groups and start picking off the enemy units the dracoplasm's push out of formation. Meanwhile my lightning angels will position themselves straight above the enemy, and once they have gotten into position, they will throw javelins down at the enemy, coordinating with my dracoplasms to avoid friendly fire.
Once Frank has written his strategy, he sends it via e-mail to Dibble. Monkette does the same, her one looks like this;
Frank, the Intergalactic Space Toad 5000 Dracoplasm (1/1) 2500 Blazing Specter (2/2) 1500 Kulrath Knight (3/3) 1000 Lightning Angel (3/4)
Two Jagged Scar Archers should mount each Kavu Climber, each facing a different direction, the purpose of the archers is not to direct the Kavus, but to simply act as turrets, and to increase the archers maneuverability. Archers should be distributed evenly among Kavu Climbers, with a maximum of 2 Archers on each Climber. Any remaining Archers should mount Giant Badgers and then Symbiotic Beasts. The army will then put itself into an attack formation. Giant Badgers will be mixed with Symbiotic Beasts to form a single group of beasts. This group will move forward throughout the mountains searching for enemies. Mounted Archers will fire at any flying enemies in sight, and any enemies low enough will be attacked by the beast force. Kavu Climbers will patrol around the slower-moving beast force. If they encounter any large enemy forces the will fall back to the main beast force, so that the enemy force can be attacked by the entire army at once. This attack should continue until all enemies are found and destroyed.
If enemies pull back and attempt to form a defensive position, then multiple attack forces should be created, identical to the main attack force described before but smaller. These attack forces should scout out the enemy, but try not to be seen. They should attempt to surround the enemy, wherever they are, and attack from all directions, or as many directions are as possible.
Then it is a case of waiting for Dibble to judge, this can be quick, but don't expect it within hours of submission!
Results
Dibble deliberates on the battle, attempting to combine the two sets of tactics he received into a single picture. Thinking through each of the proposed tactics, how they interact, and occasionally looking up information as needed. But he bases the analysis on what the two players have argued - together with a reasonably consistent logic. At this point, he decides on who would win the battle, and the degree of their victory (this is the 'strategy bonus' and is given on a scale of 1-10, 1 being 'minor victory,' and 10 being 'legendary victory'). He follows it up by announcing the results of the battle, providing both strategies, describing how the battle went, the winner, and the strategy bonus. (For the full game there is an element of randomness and the strategies and the bonus is not revealed (the winner need not be the one with the bonus)).
Dibble posts for all to see; Monkette was the first to see her foe, spotting countless glimmering heads of flame floating in the pouring rain. With a cry, she called for the attack, her archers, mounted upon kavu, charged over the rocky uneven ground as they sought to bring their foes within bow range. Meanwhile badgers and symbiotic beasts rushed up the flank, hungry for any enemies within reach. As the armies neared, the first solid signs of Frank's forces presented themselves as a streak of oncoming purple flying close to the ground.
The two armies rapidly closed. The roars of Monkette's beasts filled the air. Yet these were soon drowned out as a wave of flame surged from Frank's ranks. Beasts collided with flame, and while the heavy rain took the edge off the burning, it was still enough to cause Monkette's charge to falter, leaving her forces helpless as dracoplasms swept overhead, covering the ground below with flame as they went. In reply, Jagged-Scar archers let loose what arrows they could, but they found their power and range restricted in the downpour. Within moments of the wave of fire, and before Monkette's lines could recover, specters and knights swept in, breaking into small grounds to rush in and pick off their disorientated opponents. As Monkette's beasts turned to fight, the fliers would dart off once more - leaving the beasts open to another wave of dracoplasm flame. To make matters worse, a rain of javelins joined the water from above, alternating with the flames. All the ground forces could do was to wait out the spiked hail and hope their foes would tire before all was lost.
Bit by bit, Monkette's lines disintegrated. With each cycle of fire, her units grew increasingly frustrated. Unable to adequately retaliate against the countless small attacks her units' morale declined; until, at last, Monkette was forced to call a retreat before her army routed before her. Frank relished his victory, making sure that a trail of charred and blackened corpses was all that remained.
(Frank, the Intergalactic Space Toad wins: +4 - a pretty solid victory)
That is a full duel, armies, strategies, and results! Mind thee, these art not exactly epitomes of innovation, and in this case, there art some rather important gaps in Monkette's strategy. But these things can be as elaborate and detailed as desired. But, if still willing to read, here is a set of strategy writing guidelines (and another format) written by a War Game veteran Repax;
Spoiler
First up is where practically everyone lists the armies in the battle.
This next part is something a lot of people like to have for some reason. I personally skip over it, but will add it because it is something people actively use. Creature Descriptions. Essentially you go down your opponents army and give your opinions on how each of his/her creatures work, and give arguments for your logic. Then you do the same thing for your creatures, usually pointing out flaws in your opponent while focusing on your own strengths.
Ex: Air Elemental: They fly and can control air/wind. Seems like a difficult creature to damage, but not very combat oriented. Best to use fire or oil based attacks on these ones for effectiveness. Be careful not to let them get into lungs as per the flavor text. Havoc Demon: Mean looking flying Demon. Can wield weapons, and has an AoE effect on death that is pretty much deadly to anything within it's vicinity. Best to take them down from a distance with ranged attacks and arrows. ___________________
Next up is usually just a brief outline of what equipment and supplies each of your units will carry into battle. Just remember that clumping things together too much makes it easy to miss specifics.
Ex: Pristine Angel: They have protection which is great vs elemental attacks, so I will equip them with armor to help against normal weapons. This slows them down, but makes them harder to damage. They will wield only short sword and buckler to compensate the weight. ___________________
After that is usually where I put what I like to call the "Battle or Strat Outline". It's basically a short paragraph on what I expect my opponent will do and what my plan is. It's really optional, but I like to include it to keep me focused.
Ex: Battle Outline: In this fight, TGL has a lot of powerhouse creatures but not all of them fly. (As per TGL >.>) This means that if I can maintain my aerial advantage, I can easily win the battle. TGL will obviously know this and try to diminish this advantage somehow. I will have to be on watch for possible siege weapons, and I can most assuredly expect him to mount some of his guys onto his flyers and utilize nets to drag down my flyers to his level. ___________________
And finally comes the actual strat part. Can't really give an example for a non-specific outline, but can point out a few things:
1. Use the enter key. Try not to jumble up your plans in one massive sentence and/or paragraph. 2. Try to construct a sort of timeline when writing your strat. Obviously this means make your first paragraph what your guys do first, then the second what happens afterward and etc. 3. If forced to have multiple options depending on what your opponent does, try to to keep them separate from each other and well labeled. The last thing the judge wants to do is scroll up and down looking for which part of your strat goes with which. ___________________
And lastly comes any contingency plans. This is where you put your "catch-all" plans for if your opponent attempts something specific.
Ex: If TGL decides to set the plains on fire, I turn it to my advantage by using the created smoke as a screen to ambush him closer to the ground attempting to pin his army between mine and the flames. If my troops are forced to fight on the ground, all units will break for a retreat. It's better to lose the square than take heavy casualties this battle. etc etc.
Hope that was of some use rather than just differently confusing! We know it is a lot of information to take in, but a lot is really about thine own creativity and is quite free. Now then, if thee want to try a battle, we art happy to help thee!
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Live loud, burn proud! Random hum
The Great Lord's Laundry Service! Found in an unknown corner of the Hero's Club. Free drycleaning and laundry, only $1.95!
a "Round" was an entire war, to completion (or Compleation, as the case may be). Saying we were on "Round 7" was a bit like saying we were on "Game 7" or even "Campaign 7" if that makes sense Individual turns (move armies, fight battles) took more like a week or two, there were just a lot of them.
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"Enjoy your screams, Sarpadia - they will soon be muffled beneath snow and ice."
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
If curious, and hopefully our memory is correct, the victors of each round thus far; Round 1: The Coalition Round 2: Phyrexia Round 3: Phyrexia Round 4: The Coalition Round 5: Phyrexia Round 6: The Coalition Just can't keep down the resistance, nor the Phyrexians!
Well then, there is quite a bit of set up to go yet, we need to find the most recent ruleset and to get the site up and running again. But first off! Deciding on the sides and Battle Judge - and a spot more advertising around the place - we can get by with only a couple per side, but the more the merrier. (Again, OSMQ duels while waiting is a good way to pass the time and settle on an army suitable to ones preferences)
We were Judge for the last round and hath the formulas and things so can be so again or guide the next in, but we would also be quite happy to fight for the Coalition again.
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Live loud, burn proud! Random hum
The Great Lord's Laundry Service! Found in an unknown corner of the Hero's Club. Free drycleaning and laundry, only $1.95!
Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 5700 Location: Inside my own head
Identity: Human
If you would like it You can count me "in" for now If meatspace allows
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I'm going to drop the haikus for now in order to communicate my position more clearly: I would like to be considered as "in" for now, with the obvious fine print that, if meatspace doesn't allow me by the time you get everything set up, I'll have to drop out. I hope that this either goes slowly enough or I can find enough time so I can play, but I can't be certain at this stage. I hope you can get everything in order sooner rather than later.
While slow games can sometimes grind, CWG tends to be in the category of "slightly slower with more players" > "slightly faster with the same few people"
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"Life is like a Dungeon Master, if it smiles at you something terrible is probably about to happen."
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