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Team Survivor Game 1 has started!

Team Survivor

Team Survivor (TS) is a "Survivor" variant that focuses on team play, rather than individual "Last Man Standing" play. Similar to games of "Kill Team", the objective is to have one's team become the sole surviving team on the board. Teammates will need to work together to assist their team, working to destroy enemy teams.


Stats
Individual units start with 10 Hits, and may lose effectiveness:

3+ Hits remaining = all actions allowed (basic, faction, & role);
2 Hits remaining = no role-specific special action until restored to 3+ hits (basic & faction only);
1 Hit remaining = no special actions until restored to 2+ (basic only);
0 Hits remaining = no actions until restored to 1+, almost dead
<0 Hits = removed from game.


Locations
The Board will have at least 5 Locations, depending on the number of players and factions.

Locations are in a Line, and the ends do NOT connect.

Deployment
Teams will deploy as a group into a single location, and may subsequently move to separate locations.

Some Factions will have special deployment rules or restrictions:

Scouts (Sc) - Team starts in Reserve, Leader may select either end location to deploy into on Day 1
Infiltrate (In) - Team starts in Reserve, Leader may select any location to deploy into on Day 1
Outflank (OF) - Team starts in Reserve, Leader may select either end location to deploy into on Day 2
Deep Strike (DS) - Team starts in Reserve, Leader may select any location to deploy into on Day 2

Units "In Reserve" may not take any actions until moved to a regular location.


Actions
Players may take 1 action per calendar day:

Move (M) - to any adjacent location
Attack (A) - 1 hit on any target in same location

Days start and end at midnight Zulu Time (GMT) / 5:00 pm CA / 8:00 pm NY

If a player does not take their action before 10pm GMT, their Team Leader may make a basic action (Move 1 or Attack 1) on their behalf, and this will count as their action for the day.


Roles
Each player selects a specific role, which grants them a special ability:

1 Leader (L) - may order one teammate in the same location take an extra action

Attacker (A) - may Attack one target for up to 2 Hits
Charger (C) - may Move 1, then Attack 1
Fighter (F) - may Attack 1, then Attack 1 against a *different* target
Raider (R) - may Attack 1, then Move 1
Sniper (S) - may Attack 1 to an adjacent location

Devourer (D) - may Attack 1, then restore 1 Hit to self if below 10
Healer (H) - may Move 1, then restore 1 Hit to self if below 10
Medic (M) - may restore 1 Hit to any unit below 10

Psyker (P) - may take 2 Hits to self, then Attack one target for up to 3 Hits
Blitzer (B) - may Move 2
Tank (T) - start with 15 Hits

Note that special abilities *NEVER* stack. For example, an Attacker (A2) / Charger (M1&A1) does not get a combined Charging Attack (M1&A2), just the option to use either ability by itself.

Leader
There are several possible Roles, but only one may be Leader. If the Leader dies, any player may change their Role to Leader, giving up their previous special ability. If there are no teammates in the location, Leaders only have their basic and faction abilities - ordering a teammate to take an extra action is the Leader's special ability.

Healer & Medic
Healers and Medics, along with Devourer must have at least 3 to restore hits, just like any other special ability.


Factions
Each player belongs to a Faction, which confers a basic Role, but denies certain other Roles:

Chaos Marines (CSM) - All have Tank, may not select Sniper, Fighter, or Medic; Infiltrate
Space Marines (SM) - All have Tank, may not select Healer, Devourer, or Raider; Scouts
Imperial Guard (IG) - All have Sniper, may not select Blitzer, Charger or Raider
Eldar - All have Blitzer, may not select Tank, Healer, or Devourer; Deep Strike
Orks - All have Attacker, may ­not select Devourer, Blitzer or Sniper
Tyranids - All have Devourer, may ­not select Medic, Blitzer, or Sniper; Outflank

Players may duplicate Role and Faction special abilities, but they will gain no benefit for doing so.


Victory!
When only one Team remains, they are victorious, and the game is over.


Teams
Each player belongs to a Team, and each Team must have a Leader.

A Team may start with up to 4 players.

It is possible for competing Teams of the same Factions; however, as only one Team may win, at some point, the Teams will have to fight each other for the glory of ultimate victory.

Signup
Players sign up for a Role and Team of a specific Faction, with a limit of only 1 Leader per Team. Non-leader Roles may be duplicated, further specializing the Team at the expense of flexibility and versatility.

Sample Imperial Guard Team:
- Creed (Imperial Guard Leader) = Sniper, Leader
- Krell (Imperial Guard Tank) = Sniper, Tank
- Jones (Imperial Guard Medic) = Sniper, Medic

Signup lasts for 1 week, and players may change Faction / Role at which point the playing field is freezes, Locations are defined, and Teams deploy onto the board.


GAME 1 - Relic World Gehirn IV


Players - (finalized)

"Black Templars 33rd Crusade" (Space Marines) - Scouts
"Sgt. Neinhalt Krieger" (Leader) = JohnHwangDD
"Bro. Teutonio Brutus" (Attacker) = Manchu
"Bro. Hein Hacksieum" (Charger) = ihadhq

"Strike Team #2347" (Imperial Guard)
"Sgt. Kortov" (Leader) = Emperors Faithful
"Inq. Hohenheim" (Medic) = n0t_u
"PBS Ubi Swank" (Psyker) = UbiSwanky2
"Spc. Jones" (Medic) = Inquisitor_Syphonious

"Black Legion" (Chaos Marines) - Infiltrate!
"Barathrum the Twisted" (Leader) = Drk_Oblitr8r
"Gnarlwock the Balding" (Raider) = Nightwatch
"Bon Skrott" (Attacker) = the_ferrett

Monster
Ambull (A/D) ... 10 - Attacker (A2) / Devourer (A1R1)
. If Hits > 5, Attack (A2) 1st character entering location, else Attack (A2) weakest character
. If Hits <+ 5, Devouer (A1&R1) weakest character
. Never moves


Board

"Relic World Gehirn IV"

0. in reserve
no actions here, except to Move onto board when appropriate

1. AEROPORT RUINS (+B)
+B = gain Blitzer (+Move 2)

2. CRUMBLING TOWER (+S)
+S = gain Sniper (A1 adjacent)

3. OVERGROWN PLAZA (+F/-B)
+F = gain Fighter (A1 & A1)
-B = lose Blitzer (-Move 2)

4. ABANDONED TEMPLE (+P/-S)
+P = gain Psyker (W3 & A3)
-S = lose Sniper (A1 adjacent)

5. UNDERGROUND BUNKER (+M)
+M = gain Medic (R1)


Starting Positions

"Relic World Gehirn IV"

0. in reserve

Black Templars 33rd Crusade (Space Marines) - Scouts, deploy either end Day 1
Sgt. Neinhalt Krieger (BT33c SM-T/L) ... 15
Bro. Teutonio Brutus (BT33c SM-T/A) ... 15
Bro. Hein Hacksieum (BT33c SM-T/C) ... 15

Black Legion (Chaos Marines) - Infiltrate, deploy any location Day 1
Barathrum the Twisted (BL CSM-T/L) ... 15
Gnarlwock the Balding (BL CSM-T/R) ... 15
Bon Skrott (BL CSM-T/A) ... 15

NPCs
CenoByte (BT33c SM-M) ... 5 - 33rd Crusade uses 1 action to Activiate at Aeroport (1)
Bloodletter (BL CSM-D) ... 5 - Black Legion uses 1 action to Summon at Temple (4)
Servo Skull (ST2347 IG-S) ... 5 - Strike Team 2347 uses 1 action to Activate at Temple (2)
note that NPCs start at 5, but can heal or be healed up to 10

1. AEROPORT RUINS (+B)


2. CRUMBLING TOWER (+S)


3. OVERGROWN PLAZA (+F/-B)
Sgt. Kortov (ST2347 IG-S/L) ... 10
Inq. Hohenheim (ST2347 IG-S/M) ... 10
PBS Ubi Swank (ST2347 IG-S/P) ... 10
Spc. Jones (ST2347 IG-S/M) ... 10


4. ABANDONED TEMPLE (+P/-S)


5. UNDERGROUND BUNKER (+M)
Ambull (A/D) ... 10


Timeline
Mon 7/19 -- gather Feedback and Interest through Fri 7/23
Sat 7/24 & //25 -- finalize Rules
Mon 7/26 -- signup of Teams / Factions through Fri 7/30
Sat 8/1 & Sun 8/2 -- Referee creates the Locations & Board, extended signup
Mon 8/2 -- start of game!

____

edit history:
7/19 - initial post, added timeline
7/20 - added hits, deployment; distinguish between Team and Faction; cleanup Timeline, Actions
7/30 - call for players
8/2 - launched game 1!

Sounds really cool, especially Zulu time. I see you're catering to all those Zulu Dakkaites out there.

IG-Sniper medic ho! That would be quite the character.

It looks interesting, and will certainly benefit team play, though dog-piling will still happen, so, you have to dog-pile, or die.

Perhaps we can have defined goals? Such something like these:

ASSASSINATION
The goal is to kill the opposing faction's leaders. Leaders cannot be reduced below 0 if they have a teamate in the same sector.

HIGH-GROUND
All faction members on the high-ground have snipe (does not stack). If at the end of day three on, if any faction is uncontested in the sector, they win.

I would say a grid wouldn't be a bad idea, if not hard to manage.

Me and my terribad ideas.

@NW:

Given the demographic, I suspect there are a fair number on Dakka who know Zulu time...

____

@IS:

Go for it, tho you don't have to name your character "Jones".

This formalizes Team play, with clear advantages (and implied restrictions) for being on a Team

Sub-goals I think can be better set by players in game - the basic Victory condition of "no other Teams" is sufficient to keep things focused

"High Ground" is more of a Location property, than a Team.

I prefer not to have a grid or directed graph, because that's more confusing. I like the simplicity of Survivor format as a basic list.

Good suggestions, so thanks for sharing!

Just a point of clarification: each player selects another benefit in addition to the benefit they gain for belonging to a particular species?

@NW: Correct.

So Jones (IG = Sniper, Medic) has 4 options:
- Attack 1 (basic)
- Move 1 (basic)
- Attack 1 in adjacent location (Sniper)
- Restore 1 in same location (Medic)

If the IG had an Attacker on the team, his options would be:
- Attack 1 (basic)
- Move 1 (basic)
- Attack 1 in adjacent location (Sniper)
- Attack 2 (Attacker)
Note that Attacker and Sniper don't stack - Attack 2 in adjacent location isn't a valid action. Also, while Attacker is strictly superior to basic Attack 1, if the player wants to do a small tap for whatever reason, then he can still do so.

In the same way, Blitzer (M2) is strictly superior to basic Move (M1), but the base M1 is always a valid action.

This is pretty cool, and I can see it working out pretty well.

Eventually we're going to have the ultimate version of survivor if everyone keeps on adding and making their own variants.

@NW:

Yeah, in theory, this *should* work more smoothly than Strategic Survivor, given that I got to watch Manchu's game in action. I like to think I learned something from it.

I think Team Survivor has a lot of interesting strategy and especially potential tactics, precisely because it's team oriented, and players are designed to complement each other.

I don't think we'll ever get to an "ultimate" version per se, although Team Survivor could easily be rethemed as Necromunda or Mordheim or something else just by changing the Faction rules.

I'm thinking to kick off Game One in a couple weeks, take a week to gather feedback, then spend a week on signup (I will start a separate thread for TS1 signup).

Timeline
Mon 7/19 -- gather Feedback and finalize Rules
Mon 7/26 -- signup through Sun 8/1
Mon 8/2 -- start of Game 1!

One week, so let's hear what you've got to say!

Sounds good. I'm still thinking.

Count me in, I really like this concept.

EF, Manchu: what faction / role are you guys thinking to play?

Interested.

Just a few questions:

-Teams consist of 1-4 players? "Captain" is elected? How?

-Teams consist of 1-4 members of the same faction, so the max number of players of a faction is 4? Max overall = 24?

- Leaders got no special? But may double the same action or a different one of 1 of their "minions"?
- How does this work? Will a player declare he has consent of his leader and act twice? Or does his leader add the players second action
in his own turn?

- how does a 'fighter' attack 2 different units if everyone ( without specials ) has 1 attack?

- 'psyker' takes hits and then dishes out 3? When does this happen? A 1 + A1 = 2xA => attack 3?

@1hadhq:

Glad to see your interest!

Leader can be elected, or just the first person to nominate a Team of a particular Faction. This is why I give a full week for signup, to allow Teams to reform and structure themselves. 3 Guys might want to start IG Teams, but 3 Teams of single IG Leaders won't last very long, so if they want an IG win, they'll have to decide on a Leader and other Team roles. Team Communications is very important - an uncoordinated team won't do as well.

Teams are 1-4 members of the same faction, but no limit to duplicate Factions (e.g. Space Wolves vs Dark Angels). Max players will depend on interest levels. Also, I can create new Factions, if there is sufficient interest during team formation.

Leader's special is any action of their "minions". In effect, the Leader has the Role of *every* Teammate in the same location. Leaders without Teammates are pretty useless. For example:

start
Creed (IG-L) 8
Krell (IG-T) 3
Jones (IG-M) 9

Jones' action before Creed
Creed (IG-L) 8
Krell (IG-T) 4 ++
Jones (IG-M) 9 <<

Jones: restore 1 hit to Krell

Creed: Jones restores 1 hit to Krell!

after Creed
Creed (IG-L) 8 <<
Krell (IG-T) 5++
Jones (IG-M) 9


A 'Fighter' attacks 2 different units like so:

before Fighter
Creed (IG-L) 8
Krell (IG-T) 5
Jones (IG-M) 9
Ghaz (Ork-F) 6

Ghaz attack Krell & Jones

after Fighter
Creed (IG-L) 8
Krell (IG-T) 4 --
Jones (IG-M) 8 --
Ghaz (Ork-F) 6 <<


A 'psyker' takes 2 hits and then dishes out 3:

before Psyker
Creed (IG-L) 8
Krell (IG-T) 4
Jones (IG-M) 8
Lillian (Eldar-P) 3

Lillian psyker blast Krell!!!

after Psyker
Creed (IG-L) 8
Krell (IG-T) 1 -- -- --
Jones (IG-M) 8
Lillian (Eldar-P) 1 -- -- <<

Note that Pskyer can't use their power "safely" without having at least 3 hits... Psyker powers are dangerous to the user.

Hope the examples helped!

Added the following

Stats
Individual units start with 10 Hits, and may lose effectiveness:

3+ Hits remaining = all actions allowed (basic, faction, & role);
2 Hits remaining = no role-specific special action until restored to 3+ hits (basic & faction only);
1 Hit remaining = no special actions until restored to 2+ (basic only);
0 Hits remaining = no actions until restored to 1+, almost dead
<0 Hits = removed from game.


Deployment
Teams will deploy as a group into a single location, and may subsequently move to separate locations.

Some Factions will have special deployment rules or restrictions:

Scouts (Sc) - Team starts in Reserve, Leader may select either end location to deploy into on Day 1
Infiltrate (In) - Team starts in Reserve, Leader may select any location to deploy into on Day 1
Outflank (OF) - Team starts in Reserve, Leader may select either end location to deploy into on Day 2
Deep Strike (DS) - Team starts in Reserve, Leader may select any location to deploy into on Day 2

Units "In Reserve" may not take any actions until moved to a regular location.


Factions
Chaos Marines (CSM) - Infiltrate
Space Marines (SM) - Scouts
Imperial Guard (IG) - (regular deployment)
Eldar - Deep Strike
Orks - (regular deployment)
Tyranids - Outflank


Teams
It is possible for competing Teams of the same Factions; however, as only one Team may win, at some point, the Teams will have to fight each other for the glory of ultimate victory.

Helped, thanks..

May not stop me to ask new ones:

- Fighter is only useful if your'e attacker too, ? => an Ork. ( need 2 attacks to split them...)
- healer or medic can't help themselves if they're down to 2 wounds, correct?
- psykers have to be wounded twice in a day(turn) to use their power.
Could a 'devourer'/'psyker' restore a hit and still claim the 2 hits to dish out 3 attacks? ( like damage = 2, =>attack 3 / restore 1)

JHDD wrote:
Note that Attacker and Sniper don't stack - Attack 2 in adjacent location isn't a valid action. Also, while Attacker is strictly superior to basic Attack 1, if the player wants to do a small tap for whatever reason, then he can still do so.

Sniper (S) - may Attack an adjacent location

Maybe change to: Sniper (S) - may Attack an adjacent location for 1 Hit. ?

@1hadhq: no problem - they're good questions that I'm sure others would need clarified, too.

- Fighter has no preconditions. It's not splitting A2, it's simply Attack 1 & Attack 1

- Healer and Medic need to be at least 3 to use their special ability - if they're getting low, they probably ought to start healing themselves ...

- Psykers wound themselves as a precondition / cost of using their power. They are, in effect A2&A3 with the A2 required against themselves and A3 against someone else. Think of it as automatic Perils of the Warp / guaranteed Miscast.

- Devourer and Psyker abilities are mutually exclusive, only one at a time. Special abilities *NEVER* stack, so even if you have both, you have to choose one to use. So a Nid Psyker could use the Psyker ability (taking -2 hits), and then their Leader have them Devour something to regain +1 hit.

I clarified the Actions to specify Attack 1 / Move 1 where it was implied

ok .


Soo 10 days to think about a faction and role.

@1hadhq: IMO, you might want to start thinking about faction and role *before* signup starts next week.

So SM and CSM are on the same team and there is a Xenos team? Forgive me, I still haven't had a chance to give this a thorough look-over and make some substantive suggestions.

Manchu wrote:So SM and CSM are on the same team and there is a Xenos team?

Forgive me, I still haven't had a chance to give this a thorough look-over and make some substantive suggestions.

Teams will all be of the same faction, all CSM, or all Nids, or all Eldar. SM & CSM don't get along any more than Eldar & Orks.

No great hurry - I won't finalize rules until the weekend.

Does a Leader, apart from being Team Leader, fill out any additional roles? Can the leader also be a medic or a Psyker? Or is a leader a set role like the above?

Emperors Faithful wrote:Does a Leader, apart from being Team Leader, fill out any additional roles?

Can the leader also be a medic or a Psyker?

Or is a leader a set role like the above?

Nope. Leader *is* their Role. The Leader has the ability to have a teammate take a second Action, along with backfilling potentially missed Actions between 10pm and midnight. Very important, but on his own, he's nothing special.

Only if it's a Faction ability. If a teammate is Medic or Psyker, he can order them use their ability as his action.

Yup, tho it's more flexible and team-dependent than the others.



BTW: It looks like there are enough questions to warrant a FAQ addendum to the rules.

Needless to say, I have been thinking about this a lot. The thing that I was most excited to see here was the concept, at least to my mind, that each player would have both a "race" and a "class." I also really like how you can "build your own character," as it were, rather than being stuck with baseline rules. I think that these concepts should be pushed even farther into RPG territory. To that end, I have a couple of comments/suggestions: First, I think that alliances rather than individuals should be the primary "vehicles" of victory to both cut down on game time and encourage player interaction. But I think teams should be able to shift--which I know does not work especially well with the gameplay envisioned here (as per the Leader role). I think this game is staying true to it's roots in Survivor but I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing. Also, keeping each team to one race is going to result in either fewer teams or fewer players per team. Second, I think it would be cool to make "army creation" a bit more complex by allowing players to take more than one ability. The balancing should pretty much work itself out. (Is there a consistent reasoning behind what certain races are disallowed, by the way?) Finally, I don't think that any deployment method should be barred to any race. In the current scheme, the deployment method of each player should be chosen by the leader before the game starts.

Manchu wrote:Needless to say, I have been thinking about this a lot. The thing that I was most excited to see here was the concept, at least to my mind, that each player would have both a "race" and a "class." I also really like how you can "build your own character," as it were, rather than being stuck with baseline rules.

I think that these concepts should be pushed even farther into RPG territory.

To that end, I have a couple of comments/suggestions:
First, I think that alliances rather than individuals should be the primary "vehicles" of victory to both cut down on game time and encourage player interaction.

I think teams should be able to shift--which I know does not work especially well with the gameplay envisioned here (as per the Leader role). I think this game is staying true to it's roots in Survivor but I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing.

Also, keeping each team to one race is going to result in either fewer teams or fewer players per team.

Second, I think it would be cool to make "army creation" a bit more complex by allowing players to take more than one ability.

The balancing should pretty much work itself out.

(Is there a consistent reasoning behind what certain races are disallowed, by the way?)

Finally, I don't think that any deployment method should be barred to any race. In the current scheme, the deployment method of each player should be chosen by the leader before the game starts.

I broke up that stream-o-consciousness post for you.

The race/class analogue of faction/role was deliberately chosen to allow players to personalize their characters, rather than being generic Eldars, everybody gets to be a snowflake of their own making. I also based the whole thing off of 4E/5E-style USRs, to keep things "clean".

I'm not excited about making an especially-complex RPG, but you're welcome to build off of it and do so. My objective is to start small and simple for game one, then add options and complexity where needed / desirable. So I add small RPG-like things, such as the health/ability degradation, and so forth.

In 40k the only real alliances are Inquisition-led, or Chaos-led. Not really the model I was looking for. I'm modeling after 40k Kill Teams, which are taken from a single army Codex, and inherently work together. That said, if somebody on a Chaos team says they're a Daemon working with CSMs and an Obliterator, or a Daemon Prince leading CSMs, that's fine by me.

I'm not too much interested in shifting alliances, although Teams can make (and break alliances) without restriction. I think you have a very different concept, and Strat Surv does this already. If you want to build Alliance Survivor off this, that's fine, too.

We haven't even gotten to Signups, so the single-Faction Team restriction hasn't reared it's head. I'm not worried, tho. I think it'll shake out in team formation.

Multiple or different abilities could be in the next game. Right now, I tried to keep it simple to start.

Balancing is pretty much inherent, as most Teams can duplicate each other to a very large extent, if the players choose to do so.

The Faction restrictions are based on the fact that 40k armies do some things well, others not at all. It was completely arbitrary at the Referee's discretion.

Deployment rules were set to give flavor to the various Factions, and won't change. Factions have advantages and disadvantages, so I would never grant more options than I have to. I am a big fan of restrictions and limitations, because they do a good job of creating clear distinctions. As before, if you want to do more of a free-for-all, that's fine, too.

Overall, it sounds like you're looking for more of a RPG-like free-for-all based on temporary alliances. I'm looking to play games like Kill Team / Necromunda. Different rules for different goals.

One more day until rules "finalize", so please review the OP to see if anything is unclear.

Also, if there are particular factions / roles that you *really* want added for Game 1, please let me know, and I'll see what I can do (no promises, tho).

At this juncture, not having seen further questions, I'm prepared to consider the rules more-or-less "done" and ready for game one.

Over the past few days, I've attempted to clean up the rules to clarify where I was unclear or ambiguous, or didn't clearly state an assumption or expectation. Thank you all for your input and questions. I think we have a much better ruleset due to your questions and comments.

As stated in my reply to Manchu, this first game will be a "simple" test game to focus on the basic rules and game mechanics. Afterward, we'll update it to incorporate more features and different themes, based on everyone's feedback and gameplay.


Signup will "officially" start on Monday, although there's no penalty for jumping the gun.

In the mean time, I'll add a poll to track Faction interest to help people see where teams might form.

Enjoy the weekend!

Imperial Fists, which I would say should be Space Marine Attacker.

Well, I'll be the Guard Leader. Designated Strike Team #2347, I want it to be mixed as possible (and not be stuck to any particular regiment) so that other players are alright joining as a 'Tanith Sniper' or 'Catachan Tank'. If more teams pop up that are more specific (such as a Catachan Team) then that would probably change.

Actually offering to join as :

Space marine

either
- Dark Angels / psyker
- Blood Angels / charger

depending on the team structure