Warband play

[DarthDadaD20]

(I posted this on BGG, but thought I would post it here as well!)

Alright- I have seen a few variants for having a "set mana pool" and being able to spend it before the game starts to have whatever you want on the field-

What I am thinking is- taking that, and applying it to a variant that works like some Minis games that use warbands.

SO, you would have a set creatures (only creatures) that you start the game with that cost a certain amount of mana (Say 100) all in your starting zone (With your mage) and go from there.

And here is the kicker- Thats all the creatures you get to use for the entire game.

If you destroy your opponents creatures (Or conjurations)- you get that creatures mana cost in "Victory Points" the first one to get to a set number of victory points wins the game. (Say 3/4 of the warbands cost limit: so if you start the game with a 100 point (Mana cost) warband, 75 victory points is needed.

(You could even play with "Moral rules", if a creature is in a zone where a friendly creature gets destroyed, they have to make a check, or run out of the arena, being removed from play- but not scoring the opponent any "Victory Points")

I was thinking the mage would have a cost equal to its life- but not count for the warband building, just as the cost for the victory points.

So....whatcha guys think?

I think it would be fun on a bun! I loved the D&D/starwars minis game, and loved building warbands, so I think this would be fun.

[The Dude]

Totally man, I think this would be terrific! As a big fan of Dungeon Command, I always love warband building myself.


As I'm also a huge fan of DT, what about having a "set up" at the beginning of the game, in which, in player turn order, they each take turns placing a creature in a zone of their choice until all the zones have, say, 3 cards. These could also be pieces of equipment for the mage to pick up. But the only way to reveal these cards is to move into the zone. Then the creatures would be cast, summoning sick.

And then, instead of using casting cost as VP (which I feel could be broken fairly easily), to making each creature kill a static 1 VP. Mage kills are 3-5 VP. First to Ten drinks from the cool guy cup. Loser drinks from the dweeb cup.

[DarthDadaD20]

I have heard the dweeb cup is not that bad actually! 

I have yet to play Dungeon Command- But I played the old D&D minis and loved it till death.

Bouncing off of your thoughts....What do you think of VP being the creatures LV?

(I am SO glad someone knew what I meant....I wasn't sure if I was making any sense!)

[The Dude]

Oh, it's actually pretty tasty. But I still have yet to learn how to Floop the Pig.

It's actually quite an interesting game. But, it seems like WoTC killed it, so investing in it is kind of a lost cause (unless you LOVE DnD minis)


Hmm, that could work, but I don't know, I don't care much for the fluctuating VP system, as it doesn't reward risky plays and builds as much as Static VP counts do. For example, if I kill a lvl 1 Fox, that's only a VP, right? But if I also run a Grizzly, two Hydras, and a Darkpact Slayer, suddenly that VP isn't worth so much as that 1 VP. Whereas, if you kill a fox in a game to get to 7-10 points, that's a huge step toward the goal, making the decision to actually put the fox in a much more dangerous one.

That being said, I love the idea of incorporating levels instead of casting costs. For example, you have 30 points to spend in creatures, and 90 points for a spellbook [this isn't a shifting scale, it's all entirely static, you MUST have 30 points of creatures to field]. These levels still apply to school Training, meaning you still must spend triple for a slayer in a Priest build. And then, what if, at the beginning of the game, you shuffle your creature build together, and from it, draw four cards. Then, you can summon up to your channeling in levels of creatures. So, if I had 9 channeling, I could channel 9 lvls worth of creatures from my Creature hand. You then have 30 VPs to achieve. For each creature kill, gain the number of VPs equal to the cost the caster paid to field the creature. If you kill the mage, gain 10 VP. For each conjuration, gain the number of VPs equal to the printed lvl of the card.

And so on and so forth. I'm just so excited these ideas are coming like vomit after a bad friday night.

[DarthDadaD20]

Oh, it's actually pretty tasty. But I still have yet to learn how to Floop the Pig.

okay, first of all, you don't floop a creature to make it fight. You activate a creature!

And you have too- Cant let them Husker Knights get that bonus from the corn fields!!
(That game reminded me of Mage Wars SOOO much more then the TCGs they were portraying!)

I think this would be one of the easiest to execute variants that would have a real impact on the game- changing it almost into a entirely new one.

This is one I am just going to have to play- And I think games would be rather quick as well.

I really liked the thought of all of your creatures just starting off in the arena (activated even) all in the starting zone (In the old D&D minis game, you started with your 8 creatures on the board, and could decide their position in the "Starting zone")- but a different sort of summoning  mechanic is definitely worth a thought- if not a great way to go.

I too am having a great time!

[The Dude]

NEVER play with Jake. Ever.

(I know!! I was ITCHING to play at that point. Have you seen cryptozoic's Card Wars that's coming out? An attempt to recreate the game... the ACTUAL game. Oh the excitements.)

That's what I love so much about this game... for people like me, it's a sandbox kind of game. You are given all this bits, and a rules set, and basically told to... go.

That's how DC works (it's basically an updated DnD minis game). I really like the idea of adding variance into the game, even if it's just the slightest. Inner.... mtg... player... coming... out... must... contain...

Side note... been playing with a way to create new modes of MW gameplay that is similar to "Standard" and Legacy. Sure it's a way to make money, but I think it would solve a lot of the "OP"ness players are scared of.

I like the fact that they start out activated. It changes a lot of the "Sameness" a lot of MW games tend to have in the beginning. Which is another reason I dug the variance method.

From prelim testing, it seems that 30 is a good number, but it gives certain mages some GREAT advantages.... having every angel in play from the beginning? I like having a set number of lvls you can cast from the beginning... but actual testing may prove different.