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My Skirmish Mechanics - delayed damage, turn stealing and AP generation:

I wrote this all once but my browser crashed and I lost it, so here we go again!

I've been working on & off on a skirmish wargame which I have some ideas for fluff and a concept for the mechanics, and I've put a little flesh on the bones today and I think it will work as quite a quick and effective means to the game.

Turns:

My mechanics don't involve "turns" as a rigid thing - they are much more flexible.

Every unit has an AP value - this is used for determining army size (an army of 25AP) and for determining the AP generated when the unit activates.

A player has a pool of AP to use - they are not unit-specific. A unit can perform any of its actions, but each one only once, and each action has an AP cost.

generic soldier (2AP)
EG:
Move (5"), 1AP
Dash (3"), 1AP
attack, 2AP

When the unit activates, it resolves damage (that's later) and then performs actions in any order it likes, for the AP cost. Then the player moves onto the next unit.

A players turn ends when:
1: The player has run out of units to activate - each may only activate once per turn
2: The player reaches 0 AP
3: The opponent chooses to Interrupt, and steals the turn.

A player may never voluntarily end their turn. They may activate units and spend 0AP, but the opponent still gains AP equal to their AP rating.

AP generation:
When you activate a unit, your opponent gains AP equal to that units AP value.

Interrupting:
After your opponent has finished activating a unit, you may Interrupt. If you do so, it becomes your turn, and you must pick a unit to activate.


Attacks:

When a unit attacks, it uses a "to hit" value on the attack, EG 4+. They roll a D12, and this roll is modified by the "to hit" value of the target, EG +1 (large targets are easier to hit) and cover (-1).
If the attack hits (after modifiers rolls a 4+, in this case) then the target is dealt face down cards from a standard deck, an amount equal to the "damage" statistic of the weapon used.

Resolving Damage:
When a unit activates, it first resolves damage. Flip any damage cards on this unit face-up, and remove any which have a number equal to or lower than the Defense stat of the unit - this is numbered from 0 to 10, and represents how resistant to damage a unit is 0 deflects nothing, 10 deflects all but jack,queen and king cards. Remaining cards deal 1 damage, and Jokers mean that you can resolve the damage after your activation instead of before - offering you one last heroic effort, perhaps!


The goal was to have combat be quick and easy to resolve, with minimal references or comparisons. I also really wanted to include the degree of uncertainty about the damage done to a unit, so that players don't lay exactly the amount of damage they need to kill something - it's supposed to all be simultaneous, after all!

Vehicles I plan to have multiple HP blocks, which tie to actions - once your drive is dead, you can't move, once your guns are dead, you can't shoot. I might take it out as unnecessary bloat, though.

Players will need to have missions, and these will have to dictate when the game ends, as there will be no fixed "turns".

I have a few ideas for manipulation of these mechanics which will give nice flavour to the different races I plan to write.

What do you all think?

Interesting, I believe this would be considered an example of "variable length bound" turn structure

A quick thought tonight, I will have to have all damage resolved a the start of the turn, to avoid cards building up excessively on a single model. Still keeps themystery during your turn as to how much actual damage you are dealing, but stops one model going unactivated all game and having umpteen damage cards.

Give it a play on table and see how it goes!

 Easy E wrote:
Give it a play on table and see how it goes!

I'm throwing some vague-ish stats together now for a first playtest. Current stats will be "to hit", Defence, HP, AP

"Blast" weapons will ignore all "to hit" modifiers, positive and negative

Might get a chance ot try some of it out tomorrow!