Inspired by the playthrough of Hadara (by GameNight). There you must have enough food at the end of each Epoch for all the cards you have played, otherwise you get big penalties and problems!
What is the idea?
In this game everyone lives on the same tiny piece of land.
You start with one (or two) pawns and a small amount of food.
During the game your goal is simple: keep yourself alive.
- At the end of each round, all your pawns must have food.
- If you have no pawns left, your people are “extinct” and you are out of the game.
(It is more likely that you lose many pawns, but still have one or two left. Because of that everyone stays in the game and they keep a chance to win. It must be “disadvantageous” to attack a small people.)
When does the game end?
When only one people remains? Can be interesting, but also boring (and take a long time).
Maybe multiple win conditions:
- When a people has reached a certain size
- When all tiles are gone (= the whole world has been discovered)
- When there is no single food source left on the board.
How does the playfield/board work?
It consists of tiles. The game starts with one tile (or a square of 9 tiles??), on which everyone stands.
During the game one can choose to “go exploring”. If you do that, you may place a new tile on the field.
What is on the tiles?
Many tiles are simply EMPTY.
But some tiles have food sources.
- Tree/plant/bush
- Water (in which fish swim)
- Animals
On empty tiles you can grow things yourself, such as crops to get food from.
How do you get food?
If a pawn ends on a tile with a food source, it receives this food.
QUESTION: Is this a general supply, or do you really have to bring the food back and make sure that EVERYONE has something to eat?
Food sources run out if they are emptied too quickly. (If too many pawns arrive on the tile in the same turn. In other cases, such as with fish, there are actually tokens that can run out if you fish too quickly.)
Is this enough for an interesting game?
Yes, I think so.
Complexity 1: Because there are few food sources, and they also run out, there will be strong competition for the food.
Complexity 2: You can build pawns/structures/weapons to defend your food.
Complexity 3: You can also upgrade food, for example by making a fire and roasting it there.
Complexity 4: The only way to find new sources is by going exploring. But … you do not know if you will find something, so there is a chance that you send a pawn to its death, or cannot return (in time).
Complexity 5: You can add more pawns to your people, at any moment. With that you can achieve more … but you also have more mouths to feed!
Complexity 6: There are natural disasters, other events (good and bad), and you can ruin each other’s supplies. (Poison water, set the storage shed on fire, etc.)