Battle Mechanica Update (17/12/08)

This is just a progress update for Battle Mechanica. Please bear in mind that this is a Work In Progress (WIP), which means that the game is incomplete and is subject to change at any time by the designer.

After a long period of meditation and soul-searching, I'm back. I've also brought some updates for Battle Mechanica. The rules was almost a complete overhaul, but the major changes were necessary in order to make this game both easier to design and play.

I won't go into lengthy detail on the changes. Instead, I'll just briefly highlight on what are the major changes.

List of major changes:

1. The battleground is now tile-based. This is one of the biggest changes to the system. The game no longer needs rulers and templates. Instead, the hex-tile system will take care of all the measuring.
   
2. The attributes in Unit Profiles has been changed. The new set of attributes are: Hand-to-hand Combat, Ranged Attack, Strength, Control, Movement, Special Ability, Experience Level.
   
3. Rounds and Phases have been simplified. Each Round consists of 3 Phases: the Check phase, the Reinforce phase and the Activate phase.
   
4. Units are now represented by a single miniature to indicate the unit's type, and Strength counters to represent the unit's strength (just like a traditional board wargame).
   
5. The Hit Zone system has been removed. It's no longer needed since a unit will only consist of a single miniature.
   
6. The combat system has been simplified. It still uses attribute comparison, but the combat now is much simpler to play.
   

Additionally, the game will also introduce new features listed below:

List of planned features:

1. Simulate fog-of-war effects.
   
2. Implementation of reserved points that players can use to create game-changing effects.
   
3. Create game-affecting traits for terrains (for example, swamp slows down movement).
   
4. Create factions for the game
   
5. Create basic units for playtesting.
   

That's all for this post. I'm hoping to finish the basic ruleset of this game by the end of this year. In the mean time, if you missed ClickStartPlay.com's HobbyCon 2008, go here to see a coverage of the event.

Battle Mechanicum by Daniel Marcus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.