March 2011 entry: Pax Italia

**Diamond** · 03-03-2011, 07:44 PM

This may be a non-starter, depending on how much time I have, but I thought I'd join in for this one, since it ties in with an idea I've been kicking around for a while.

My entry will be a board game set in an alternate 16th century Italy which is even more fragmented than our world's was, with steampunk and magic. Each player starts out as either the ruler of an Italian nation or a condottierre leader, the goal is to unify Italy!

**tilt** · 03-04-2011, 02:22 AM

Viva italia! ... sounds exiting - so are you going with classic hex based war game... or something more like a diplomacy board? ... looking forward to seing the steampunk and magic incorporated

**Diamond** · 03-04-2011, 03:31 AM

It's going to be set up kind of like a Risk or Axis & Allies board, with differently shaped and sized territories. I actually DO want to create an actual boardgame of this, so this Challenge is good motivation.

Random thoughts:

-Depending on what you as a player start out as, either a duke or a general, you'll have different starting abilities, which can change and multiply as you gain or lose territory. I thought it'd be a cool idea that, if you lose all your territory, you're allowed a kind of 'saving throw' that lets you convert your few remaining followers into the nucleus of a new army, essentially allowing you to restart as a condottierre, though with much reduced benefits and power. Hmm. Have to ponder that some more.

-Each player will have to draw an Event Card every turn. These will denote things that happen to that player and his territory. It could be something benign like extra crops, allowing you to raise more men for your army in a specific province for one turn, or it could be something awful, like a plague that kills a percentage of your troops. Then there will be Special Event Cards (need to think of a better name). These cards must be purchased (limit of one a turn) unless the Event Card you draw lets you have a free Special Event. The Special Events will be stuff like New Invention (steam dirigibles?

) which you'll have exclusive use of and monopoly on for a number of turns, after which everyone else can develop them as well. Or stuff like Foreign Alliance - France decides to back your claim, so you get an extra infusion of money each turn... until you happen to draw an Event Card that negates your alliances.

-Players can ally with each other against other players; this works especially well if one is a duke and the other is a general. All kinds of good times can be had with that, I think.

edit: oh, BTW, thanks to whichever mod fixed my thread title. D'oh!