First Game Idea: Civil War
Description: Technically this game can be generalized as a WAR-like game where you battle against your opponent's armiesIn this game you play as either Alduin or The Ancient Nords (or Stormcloacks VS Imperial Legion or Blades VS Dragons, etc.) as you form your army in SIX units, with THREE warriors each. You can even use your champion in battle, but you risk losing the war if you're overcome by the enemy forces!
Setup: Take the two Jokers out of a standard deck of playing cards and set them aside. They will be the champions of your army. Place them on opposite sides of the playing field. Shuffle the remaining cards and deal them into two equal piles, one for each army, next to the champions. Make room for SIX lanes (units) of card for each army. Determine who goes first.
Game is played in many rounds. Each round is played as follows.
Gathering Phase
Each player will, in turn, pick up a card from their pile (or their Champion) and
(1) Place FACE-UP in any of the SIX lanes. That is the CAPTAIN of that unit (lane), OR (2) Place FACE-DOWN before or behind the CAPTAIN of one of the units (lanes). If you have no more cards in your DRAW pile, then shuffle the discard pile. That becomes your DRAW pile.
After that, if they have at least one card in each of the SIX lanes, they may initiate the BATTLE .(Note: if a player has a card or cards in a lane that the opposing army doesn't, that pile is effectively useless)
Battle Phase
There are two variations of this game that I'm currently trying out:
(1) For each lane, all cards for each army's unit in that lane are uncovered, starting RIGHT to LEFT (or vice versa), and the card values are added up to determine which unit won that battle. All cards are placed in the discard pile of the victor, OR (2) For each lane, starting with the cards closest to the front (VANGUARD), they are uncovered and the highest-valued card beats the other. The slain card is added to the victor's discard pile. This repeats until all cards are evaluated in that lane.
Note: If you add a FACE card to a pile that doesn't already have one, that FACE card is automatically the new CAPTAIN of that unit. The card is placed FACE-UP. (Leave the other card FACE-UP as its identity is already known). HOWEVER, if you already have a FACE card in that pile, then any new FACE cards placed in that pile can be placed FACE-DOWN.
Note: If you choose are playing with the rules "Count up all card values in a pile to determine a winner) AND you place your CHAMPION in one of the piles, and you LOSE, then you LOST THE GAME!
Winning Condition
The player that has killed the opposing player's CHAMPION ... WINS!
Note: If you cannot complete SIX lanes with the cards you currently have, you MUST include your CHAMPION in one of the lanes!
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Note: I'm still developing this, so I don't know all the strategies or exploits, etc. I don't even know if it's been done before. That's why I need all your help to make this a success!
Also, CARD Values: 2-9 face value, 10, Jack, Queen, King are 10, Ace 15, Champion cards 30. The champion cards can be used to help with battles, but there's a ride.