Home Forums General Game Design Book of Skelos as an activation mechanic

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #81518
    Avatar photoPhil Dutré
    Participant

    Recently I played the kickstarter “Conan“. Fun game.

    I saw also potential in their “Book of Skelos” mechanic, and how it can be used to drive activation of units in a miniature wargame.

    The book of Skelos can be seen in this picture (from Boardgamegeek):

    What’s important, is the bottom row of tiles, which each correspond to a unit on the gaming board. Above each unit tile, you see an activation number, i.e. the number of activation points you have to pay if you want to activate that particular unit.

    Now, if you activate a unit, the tile of that unit is put in the last position in the queue, and everything else is pushed forwards. So, if you activate the first unit in the queue for a cost of 1 action point, it is placed in last position (cost 6), and everything else becomes 1 action point cheaper. The queue is maintained over the game turns, and typically, you can activate two units per turn. But of course, if you want to activate a unit near the end of the queue, it will cost you more action points.

    I thought this is a nice mechanism that has some time-delay for activation a unit “too soon” again, but if necessary, you can do it, but it will cost you more action points.

    Does anyone know of something similar in existing miniature wargames?

    #81575
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    So you have a fixed number of action points per turn?
    And a unit once activated, you use it and then place it at the end of the queue thus making it harder to keep using the same unit over and over?

    I need to have a ponder over this   😀

    PS: No, not come across it anywhere else!

    #81579
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    I have seen games where it costs an increasing amount to activate the same unit over again in the same turn, but not one such as this that includes a sort of cool down.  That’s pretty swift.  I’d like to see this done with a game like Infinity!

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #81609
    Avatar photoLes Hammond
    Participant

    Elegant is an oft employed term in wargaming but this certainly is tidy.

    6mm France 1940

    http://les1940.blogspot.co.uk/
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/386297688467965/

    #81652
    Avatar photoPhil Dutré
    Participant

    So you have a fixed number of action points per turn?

    In Conan, there is a fixed maximum (scenario-dependent) you can have “in hand”, and you do recover a fixed amount per turn. So, if you spent a large amount one turn, you will have only a limited amount available next turn. One thing to consider though, you do not only use the action points to activate units, but also to boost their movement, defence etc. So it’s a a more complicated management of resources than simply activating units.

    And a unit once activated, you use it and then place it at the end of the queue thus making it harder to keep using the same unit over and over?

    Yes, and that’s the bit I thought could be useful to employ in a miniature wargame.

    It’s also elegant to handle manually. The unit tiles are in hard cardboard, and the “Book of Skelos” is in hard plastic. You simply pick up the activated tile, put it at the end of the queue, and slide the whole queue forwards. All the cards remain tidy in the slot in the plastic board.

    #81655
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    In Conan, there is a fixed maximum (scenario-dependent) you can have “in hand”, and you do recover a fixed amount per turn.

    Ah well in that case, CROM! the rules I am using are similar.
    You have a set amount of dice per turn to split amongst the hero’s stats.
    For the most part all the dice are recovered in full, ready for the next turn.
    However some actions mean that recovery is slower, and in some cases dice used are gone for the remainder of the game.
    You must allocate dice at the start of the turn into the various stats and this determines what you can do that turn.
    Allocate all your dice to combat and you can’t move.
    Allocate no dice to initiative and you have to rely on the deck to see when you activate, allocate too many to initiative and you may go first but have less dice left over for actually doing anything.
    Being wounded reduces the amount of dice you have each turn to allocate.

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.