Sup people. Here is my idea for a board game. Its not meant to be a simulation of the times rather a fun game I would play with friends.
Scramble for Africa
Introduction
With the rise of the industrial age of the late 19th century, came the next rise of European imperialism. Africa became the continent of choice filled with natural resources, and scattered with small kingdoms. During the Berlin Conference, it was agreed that Africa would be partitioned, starting one of the biggest conquests in all of history. In this game all the European powers are playable while Ethiopia is a mechanic of the game. (Fill this out later)
Setup:
Belgium:2 ships 6 soldiers in base
France:2 ships 6 resources (starts with 2 provinces)
United Kingdom:2 ships 3 soldiers in base and 3 resouces (starts with 1 province)
Italy: 2 ships 6 soldiers in base
Germany: 2 ships 6 soldiers in base
Portugal:2 ships 6 resources (starts with 2 provinces)
Ethiopia:
6 soldiers in the center province 3 soldiers in all other provinces
Order of Play
Place Reinforcements in base
Buy units/ railroads
Move Units/Conquest
Collect Income
Place Units/Railroads
How to play
To begin each round everyone will roll a die to determine the turn order. Best roll goes first, next is second…etc… After that each player will play their full turn. This will be repeated for every full round of play.
1. Place Reinforcements in the base: At the beginning of each round place 3 soldiers in your base.(The colored square that represents the homeland) You can only take troops out via ship and can never transport soldiers INTO the base.
Also during this part you can create a military training encampment. Its free and you may place it anywhere but you may only place 2 all game. Once an encampment is captured it will be destroyed permanently. It may never be built again.
2. Buying units: You can buy 3 things.
Soldiers: Cost 1 resource
Railroads:Cost 2 resources
Ships Cost 2 resources
Fort: Cost 5 resources
3.Move Units/ Conquest
There are 2 types of units that move in this game. Ships and soldiers.
Ship can be bought and are very important. They can move 2 spaces AND can pick up ONCE AND drop off ONCE. To pick up soldiers, the ship must be in a sea zone adjacent to the province(s). Each ship can carry 3 soldiers and must be adjacent to the province(s) that you are landing troops.
Soldiers must have not moved to embark on a ship and can’t move once they disembark for a round. For land movement soldiers can only move one space per round. Instead of moving one space, a group of soldiers can also use the railroad. To use the railroad, the group must all be together in a province and must all move together to another province to a station connected to a contiguous line of railroad. The railroad can be used once per round by one group of soldiers only
If you want to conquer a province whether empty, uncolonized, colonized, or filled with enemies you must have at least 3 soldiers in a group to conquer it. To engage in combat (a lot like axis and allies) move your soldiers to the space you want to conquer. You and your opponent will roll a die for every soldier you have. For each dice you roll a 3 or less count a point of damage to the enemy if you are the defenders(attackers roll on a 2). Once you and your opponent have rolled all your dice for the round of combat go ahead and remove units from the board. If at the beginning of the round, the attacker would like to retreat to the space they attacked from they may do so. If the attacker ever has less than 3 troops left at the end of the round the troops must retreat(even if there are no more defenders left. If the defender would like to retreat, they must choose a friendly (allied or personally owned province) space to retreat to. They will then roll a die. If the die is 3 or less than all the troops will move there. If 4 or more is rolled, the defender must engage in combat but can only roll for half of their troops rounded up during the combat phase. In the event of a fort being attacked, The attacker can only attack for one combat round that turn. The Defenders however, may salley forth and initiate sortie. This acts that same as a battle, but the attackers are the owners of the fort, and the defenders are the ones seigeing the fort. Defenders are not limited to how many troops they have and can fight to the death if the player wants. If the attacker conquers the province, all railroads and forts are destroyed and will take full control of the colony. If the province is empty or uncolonized, you still need 3 soldiers to conquer the province.
Ship combat is very similar. There are no limits of ships needed for combat and retreat rules are the same. Same combat values as well.
4. Collect income:
This is simple. Count all you provinces and that is your resource income.
5. Placing soldiers/ railroads
You may place soldiers that you bought in any of your encampments you built. You may not place them in your base. You can,however place bough ships in the sea zone next to your base. You may also place railroads on any space you own.
So that’s what you do during your turn so here is how the game goes politically.
1. Colonizing phase
1.5. Alliance Phase???
2. Great War phase
1. Colonizing phase
This is the beginning part of the game and won’t end until all provinces have been colonized. No powers may war against each other and can only fight ethiopia. Once this phase ends Ethiopia may not be attacked if the nation still exists. Also, the scoring for resources begin. At the begining of the game, their are resources littered across the board in many provinces. Conquering them will help in this scoring phase.
Thye are scored like this:
Each type of resource:1 pt
For each majority: 5pts
For every monopoly: 10pts
Resources are :Gold, Copper, Iron, Coffee, Rubber, Diamonds, and agricultural goods. Once this scoring is done, start the war.
Ethiopia Mechanics: Combat is the same but if Ethiopia is attacked during the round, after all the European powers are done with their turn, Ethiopia has a turn. It will spawn 3 soldiers in any and all provinces that the Europeans have taken from them and initiate combat. Ethiopian troops will fight to the death and if they win, they will take the province and replace the troops they lost fighting to garrison the province. If more than 3 provinces are captured by europeans, troops will not spawn to defend Ethiopia. During the great war, ethiopian provinces owned by players can be fought over but those still owned by Ethiopia can no longer be attacked.
Alliance Phase: (NOTE: THESE ARE SUGGESTED RULES FOR ALLIANCES, FEEL FREE TO CREATE RULED FOR YOUR OWN GAME)At the end of the colonizing phase, all nations will get together and discuss plans for war. Each player will talk to another privately and at the end of the discussion, everyone will get a price of paper.
Everyone will write who they want to ally with and turn it in. It will be announced what each person has written and alliances will be formed officially. In order for an alliance to go through however, the writings of both parties most be mutual.
However this is where subterfuge come into play. If player A and player B both write down that they want to be allied then that’s that. But let’s say player C negotiates with A that they should backstab B. If this is done at the before the writing
2. Great War phase
At the end of the round in which all European powers have colonized all of Africa(Ethiopia excluded),or if 2 rounds go by with something being colonized, the following round starts the Great War. You can also no longer recruit soldiers or build railroads and you will collect no income. However reinforcements are doubled to 6 being produced in your base. You may walk in you allied territories but you may not use their railroads. Also you may defend together with your ally. You also can’t return or capture friendly provinces either. War goes on 5 rounds and at the end of the 5th round the game ends and scoring begins. If a side loses before then or no great war happens, final scoring begins.
How to win the game:
Once scoring begins, here’s what to look for.
1 pt for every province you own
10 pts for having them most railroads.
20 pts for owning all of Ethiopia
10 pts for having the majority of Ethiopia
5 pts for owning a province in Ethiopia
NOTE: pts gained by conquering Ethiopia do not stack
also add the pts that you recieved from the first scoring phase
Person with most points wins. Hope the game isn’t too complicated.
Comments,questions, and suggestions are welcome.:)
Pic of proposed map
http://i61.tinypic.com/2a9bbyg.jpg