Category: Boards and Tokens (Page 10 of 12)

In finalizing Takteek, mrtool and I had an idea to use dice to determine the outcome. Basically, there would be one die for each rank. If a 3 attacks a 2, 3 six-sided would be rolled by the attacker and 2 six-sided dice would be rolled by the defender.

The idea is a sound one that I hope we get to test tonight.

However, I thought that it made sense to give the defending piece a small advantage. The reason being that in many pre-modern battles, a weaker force could defend against a much stronger force. One extreme example comes from Rome's conquest of Britain. In one battle, the Romans were outnumbered 10 to 1, yet emerged victorious.

One idea was giving the defender an additional die. Another idea was giving the defender eight-sided dice to use. I compared these two scenarios with the default rules using an attack by a 2 piece on another 2 piece.

Under normal rules, the attacking piece will win outright 44.3673 % of the time, tie 11.2654% of the time and lose outright 44.3673% of the time. In English, both pieces have an equal chance of winning or losing (where a tie is considered losing because both pieces are demoted).

Adding a die to the defender, the attacking piece will win outright 15.2006 % of the time, tie 6.9444 % of the time and lose outright 77.8549 % of the time. In English, the defending piece has a huge advantage.

Allowing the defender to use eight-sided dice, the attacking piece will win outright 27.5608 % of the time, tie 8.5069 % of the time and lose outright 63.9323 % of the time. In English, the defending piece has a big advantage.

Thinking about this, I would lean more towards the eight-sided dice option, but the advantage still seems pretty large. It makes attacking with pieces with a rank of two almost useless. If you have a piece that has little more than a 1 in 4 chance of winning, presuming it attacks a piece with a rank of 2 is pretty dismal. Then again, they would serve as useful scouts, finding out the rank of the opposing piece.

Adding another die to the defender is definitely out. That's just too much of an advantage.

In a perfect world, I think the defender should use seven-sided dice. The advantages are smaller, but still significant enough. However, I don't have the money to purchase seven-sided dice at 5$ each. Besides, the goal is commonly available materials. Eight-sided dice are not as common as regular dice, but not very hard to get (and they tend to be inexpensive if you forgo the 733t dice used by role playing gamers).

Anywho, just a post to let everyone know that Takteek is not dead.

Blogged with Flock

My friend, mrtool, has made marked pieces for Takteek. The pieces are black and silver and about 1" round discs. Each is stamped with the appropriate rank, including demoted pieces. The Flag and Archers are specially marked to make them distinct.

Last Friday, we played on a square board with hexagons instead of squares. We did not get to playtest the variation with dice, though we both want to. I don't own any dice (oddly enough) that I can find.

Two other ideas will need exploring in the coming days:

• an Octagonal board - hexes do not allow true left and right movement.
• Variation on checkers, a piece can only 'jump' a piece with the same rank or lower. Upon reaching the other side, the piece is elevated one rank and can move backwards.

See you next month after more playtesting!

Each side has 26 pieces. Two 5 rank pieces, Four 4 rank pieces, Eight 3 rank pieces, Eight 2 rank pieces and Four 1 rank pieces(archers). Upon being attacked by a superior force, a piece is demoted one rank. If a piece has already been demoted and is attacked by a superior piece, it is removed from the board, not demoted. If a piece comes into contact with an equally ranked piece, both are removed from the board – no demotion.

Undemoted 1 rank pieces are archers that attack from two squares away, or one square diagonally. Pieces they attack are demoted without revealing rank. They cannot attack adjacent squares. They are taken by any piece directly.

Variant rule: A demoted piece becomes an enemy piece!(Except when attacked by an archer)
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Tactique (Pronounced Tak-TEEK)

A Game for Two Players.

The object of the game is to capture the opponent’s flag.

To start the game:

Players choose which set of pieces they wish. (The colors can be any two different colors.)
Each player starts with an army of 27 pieces, in order of rank from high to low, consisting of:

2 Commanders
4 Calavrymen
8 Pikemen
8 Infantry
4 Archers

There is also 1 Flag, the only piece that is not moveable. Note that the moveable pieces have a number or letter to designate the order of rank. Thus, the Commander is ranked 5 (highest), the Calvaryman 4, the Pikemen 3, the Infantry 2, and the Archers who are marked with an "A".

In addition to the 27 pieces are another 22 pieces marked with a "D". These pieces are called demoted pieces and are not placed on the board at the beginning of the game. Their function is explained in the rules for attacking.

1. The players place one piece in each square of their half of the board. It is important that a divider is placed between the two players' pieces so that they cannot see where their opponent has placed their pieces. The final three rows are to be filled from each end. That is, 8 per row, 3 rows deep. The fourth row from the back has three pieces placed anywhere in the row you wish.
2. When playing the opponent should not see the rank of your pieces.
3. Once both sides have placed their pieces on the board, remove the divider to begin play.

GAME PLAY

You and your opponent alternate turns.

On your turn you can do one of the following:

Move one of your playing pieces to an open adjacent space.
Attack one of your opponent's playing pieces
Charge one of your pieces into a square directly in front of one of your opponent's playing pieces and declare and attack.

A charge is moving and attacking in the same turn.

RULES FOR MOVEMENT

1. Pieces move any number of squares forward, backward or sideways.

2. Pieces cannot move diagonally. They cannot jump over another piece. They cannot move onto a square already occupied by another piece (unless attacking).

3. A piece cannot move back and forth between the same two squares in three consecutive turns.

4. Only one piece can be moved on a turn.

Remember, the Flag piece cannot be moved and must remain on the square where it was originally placed throughout the game.

Rules for Attack:

1. When two opposing pieces occupy adjacent spaces either back to back, side to side, or face to face, they are in a position to attack. When charging, a piece is moved to an adjacent sqaure before proceeding.

2. When a piece is two spaces away from an Archer orthogonally, or one space away from an Archer diagonally, it will be attacked by the Archer before the opponents next move. The archer's attack is not optional and is always played.

3. Before moving or attacking, Archer attacks are resolved. Any piece struck by an archer attack is demoted one rank. The archer does not announce his location in any way. If the defending piece has already been demoted, it is removed from the game. The archer does not move into the sqaure of the defending piece removed from the board.

4. To attack on your turn, take your attacking piece and lightly tap your opponent's piece. Then, declare the rank of your attacking piece. Your opponent then declares the rank of his/her defending piece.

4. The piece with the lower rank is demoted and replaced with a demoted piece of lower rank. If the piece with the lower rank has already been demoted, the demoted piece is removed from the board. Also, if the piece with the lower rank is an Archer it is removed from the board. If your piece (the attacking piece) is the remaining and winning piece, it moves into the space formerly occupied by the defending piece. If the remaining and winning piece is the defending piece, it stays on the square it was in when it was attacked.

5. When pieces of the same rank battle, both pieces are removed from the game without being demoted.

6. Attacking is optional for all pieces except the archer.

WINNING THE GAME

The first player to attack an opponent's Flag captures it and wins the game.