Warpath: Design-Tagebuch

Mantic Games zeigen in ihrem Blog die ersten Details zu den Warpath-Regeln.

Welcome back everyone, in this article we explore the Core Structure of an epic scale wargame for the upcoming Kickstarter.

This is the third in our series of blogs as we ramp up towards the Kickstarter Campaign – which launches on the 14th February 2024. This time, we’ll be looking at how the game is structured!

DISCLAIMER: The game is still in development and testing, so some details might be different in the final version!

Units and Bases

Before we look at the game structure, we need to talk about how Units work. In Epic Warpath your army will consist of a number of Units. These each represent squadrons, platoons, or other formations of vehicles, bikes, walkers or infantry.

Within a Unit, there will be a number of Bases (typically three or six), representing all the elements that make up that unit.

For example, you could have six Bases of Infantry in a Unit, or three Tanks/Walkers.

Note that some command, larger or heavier models might be two Bases to a Unit, or even just one!

So, let’s take a look below at how a Unit of Enforcer Operatives may look on the tabletop, made up of multiple Bases. Note that the sculpts may still be subject to some final tweaks until we’re 100% happy with them!

Rounds, Phase and Turns

A game of Epic Warpath is played over a series of Rounds, which are each conducted in a number of Phases. Within each Phase each player will alternate taking Turns to activate their Units, one at a time, until both players have completed activating all the eligible Units in their army.

The 5 Phases in each Round are:

1. Command Phase 
2. Movement Phase 
3. Overwatch Phase 
4. Combat Phase 
5. End Phase 

Each Phase is completed before the next is started. Once the End Phase is concluded, a new Round will begin.

Command Phase

During the Command Phase, plays will (1) roll for Initiative, (2) roll their Command Dice for the Round, and (3) place Action Tokens on each of their Units. This last bit is done in secret, with the Action Tokens placed face down so players will have to predict what actions their opponent will be taking!

If a player has the Initiative for the Round, they get to choose whether to go first or second in each subsequent phase.

Rolling Command Dice determines the number of Command Points each player has for spending on their army’s Strategic Orders, re-rolls and extra activations. Players roll in the Command Phase each Round, and any unspent Command Points are not carried over.

So, about those Action Tokens! There are three types:

So what do they do?

• Overwatch = the Unit will not move, but will be one of the first to fire. It is a required action for Units firing indirectly (e.g. artillery barrages).
• Advance = the Unit can move up to its Advance value, and will be able to shoot later.
• Sprint = the Unit will not shoot, but can move up to its Sprint value, and can engage enemy Units in an Assault (combat melee).

Note that Command Units are special, and always get both Overwatch and Sprint Action Tokens.

Up Next

Next time round, we’ll be ducking and diving into the Movement Phase.

In this article we will take a look at the Movement Phase and how Units get around the battlefield.

DISCLAIMER: The game is still in development, so some details might be different in the final product!

The Speed Stat

On its profile of game statistics (stats), every Unit will have an SP value. SP is short for Speed.

The SP stat actually shows two numbers in the format n/n. The first number is how far the Unit can Advance, in inches, and the second number is how far the Unit can Sprint in inches.

Unit Coherency and Moving Around

The Bases within a Unit must stay near each other to act as a whole cohesive group. A Unit cannot have any gaps larger than one inch between its Bases. When a Unit moves, none of the Bases can move further than the Advance or Sprint stat (as appropriate) and must finish back in the one inch coherency.

While friendly Units can move through each other, they can’t intermingle and so must end clear of each other. Units cannot approach within one inch of any enemy Units unless they are Sprinting to engage them in an Assault.

Terrain

Terrain affects different types of Units in different ways. For example, woods don’t impede Infantry and Heavy Infantry, but are Difficult Terrain for Bikes, Walkers and Vehicles.

When a Unit moves through Difficult Terrain, it can only move up to its Advance value on its SP stat, even if it has a Sprint Action Token.

Activating Units

In the Movement Phase, players will take it in turns to Activate their Units that have either an Advance Action Token, or a Sprint Action Token.

The player with the Initiative this Round chooses whether they will be the first player to act or not.

When a player chooses to Activate a Unit, they “spend” its Action Token to do so.

• When a Unit with an Advance Action Token has finished its move, the Advance Token is swapped for a Shoot Token (to spend in the Combat Phase).
• When a Unit with a Sprint Action Token has finished its move the player will either:
  • Simply remove the Action Token if the Unit didn’t engage the enemy OR
  • Swap the Sprint Action Token for an Assault Token (to spend in the Combat Phase) if the Unit engaged an enemy Unit in base-to-base contact.

Wait…You Said No Tokens?

Almost – we said a clear table at the end of the Round!

By spending tokens in each phase, it helps keep track of which units have activated and which are still to do so. You’ll also notice that the tokens are different shapes, to make it easier to see which Phase they apply to (the triangular ones are only spent in the Combat Phase). Instead of adding Activated Tokens to Units, in Epic Warpath you spend Tokens to activate and then remove that Token from the table. So by the end of the Round, all these Tokens have been cleared away, and you know everything that could have, has been Activated.

Because Units perform actions over a number of phases, the Shoot and Assault Tokens are used to spend on activations later, but also helps players remember what that unit can do (or not) when they get to it.

We’ll look at spending the Shoot and Assault Tokens when we explore the Combat Phase in a future article.

Up Next…

In next week’s article, we’ll take a break from the rules and have a look together some new miniatures!

Quelle: Mantic Games