Hello all,
Game 41, a 4th Age variant, recently wrapped up and was a big success. I’d like to get a feel for what interest there might be in another game in this format.
The main difference between this game and standard 4th Age is that the game has 3 allegiences. The Neutrals begin the game as a team and cannot change allegience.
I’ve pasted over the particular rule variations from my setup request to the staff below:
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The +20% Kidnap/Assassinate SNA would be disallowed.
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The strategic population centers victory conditions will be disallowed.
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The allegiences/players would be split as follows: 7 Neutral / 9 Free/ 9 Dark. Both the North and South Kingdoms would be Neutrally alligned for the duration of the game. Players cannot switch allegience during the game. Players cannot contact players of other allegience during the game and players cannot contact any other players within their own allegience prior to receiving their Turn 0. After Turn 0 is received Players can create Yahoo! Groups, etc. as thet see fit within their own allegience but any contact with the remaining two allegiences is forbidden.
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Upon joining the game a player will initially state whether they have any interest in playing a kingdom. The two kingdoms will be randomly assigned to two of the players who stated the affirmative regarding kingdom play. After the Kingdoms have been assigned the remaining 23 players will be given a random allegience allocated from the 5 remaining neutrals/ 9 Free/ & 9 Dark nations.
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Upon receiving their allegience from the staff each of the non kingdom players will submit a list, in order of preference, those regions where they wish to begin the game. The latest 4th Age map with 25 regions would be used for allocation. Standard rules apply but if they staff would assist in placing nations with the goal being the most balanced setup it should help in creating a longer lasting, more enjoyable game.
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Once regions are allocated the staff will send a list to all players informing them of the allegience for each region.
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All players would then submit their setup sheet for their individual nations contaning SNAs, characters, pc placement, etc. The latest revisions to the 4th Age setup would be used.
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Turn 0 is sent and the game begins as normal with each allegience treating the other two as enemies.
The restrictions on communication across enemy lines are in place to restrict the game from devolving into a scenario where two allegiences gang up on a third.
Game 41 was a big success and I found it to be a very refreshing change from standard games.
If you are interested in signing on for the game please contact me at BairG@nasd.com. I’ve been informed by the staff that in the case of variants they request a game be half full before posting it in the ‘games filling’ section so if we can get 12-13 players to start that should certainly get the ball rolling and I’d imagine the game would fill soon thereafter.
Please feel free to post or contact me with any questions or requests for clarification. I very much look forward to hearing from you!
Greg
Current Games:
Game 44 - 4th Age Gunboat
A few things.
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do the kingdoms get free scouts of all nation capitals? giving the one team scouting of everything?
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does everyone start at disliked to everyone else?
Couldn’t this be done a lot easier?
Like:
- Split 9N/8F/8D, kingdom to each free and dark, no free scouts for kingdoms.
- All alliegences start at disliked to others.
- No talking between alliegences during game for any reason, including public taunting.
This should accomplish your objectives but is easier to remember and allows teams to join up (to fill the game faster).
A few things.
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do the kingdoms get free scouts of all nation capitals? giving the one team scouting of everything?
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does everyone start at disliked to everyone else?
The game was based on Game 41 so for those players familiar with the format certain things were assumed. Apologies but yes I should have spelled everything out.
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The free scout off all nation capitals for Kingdoms is disallowed.
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Each allegience starts at disliked to the other two. e.g.; The Marauders, a Neutral nation assigned the Eregion region, would start at disliked to all nations of Free and Dark allegience.
- Split 9N/8F/8D, kingdom to each free and dark, no free scouts for kingdoms.
- All alliegences start at disliked to others.
- No talking between alliegences during game for any reason, including public taunting.
- We discussed this in the Game 41 wrapup, which did follow your suggested allocation. Assuming each Kingdom is worth 1.5x - 2x the relative power a standard nation a 7/9/9 split where both Kingdoms are neutral were agreed to be an interesting scenario and an even distribution of power. In addition the 5 remaining Neutral nations would know well enough to place their region preferences on the hip of one of Kingdom “big brothers” affording them some further protection.
We found in Game 41 that the neutrals were splintered among the regions (this was the old region setups) and some were picked off fairly easily so if both Kingdoms were neutral, and the Dark and Free allegiences were given more nations that this might alleviate the problem.
At any rate we felt it would be an intriguing scenario and fairly well balanced.
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Yes, see above.
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Yes, no communication. See the game setup from my original post.
allows teams to join up (to fill the game faster).
A good idea but I think that teams of no more than 3 players should be allowed- Not looking for a game in the Grudge format.
Anyway, thanks much for the comments!
Again, all interested players please contact me at BairG@nasd.com and I’ll be sure to reserve a spot in this excellent variant for you.
Greg
A couple more players and we can get this one posted where it should fill quickly. Come on in, I promise you won’t be disappointed. This variant works quite well and a 3-way battle royale is great fun!
Greg
Will this game be allowing teams of 3 or more players?
Thanks,
Ken
Will this game be allowing teams of 3 or more players?
I’d prefer teams of 2-3 players but in the interest of filling the game who am I to refuse? 
Players in teams would all be assigned to the same of one of the 3 allegiences but would still be honor bound not to discuss initial setups(characters, SNAs, region choices, etc.) with each other. They would be assured of playing the game allied to a group of friends.
The players joining individually would not have the benefit of strategy with team members prior to Turn 0 so it would not be a just and even playing field for any teams joining in a group to have foreknowledge of their allies’ setups.
This would obviously have to be done on the honor system but my experience with players thus far in 3-way battles and Gunboat scenarios has been positive and trustworthy.
Greg
- The free scout off all nation capitals for Kingdoms is disallowed.
Greg,
So the Kingdoms will not know where the nations are, but every nation will know where the Kingdoms are?
I see the Kingdoms early game losing their sattelite pop centers while they frantically use palantirs to tell them the same kind of info the alliances already know about them before they can even launch an effective counter.
I fail to see this as balanced play.
The Kingdoms are not 1.5 nor 2x another nation, and every change Clint has made has served to weaken any advantage the Kingdoms HAD. They may look like superpowers but when 7 nations, or 14 decide to jump on them it makes for a quick lunch.
Your 3 way idea is interesting as I would like to see how it unfolds but I strongly feel the kingdoms need all the original beginning map info.
Without that it really does not seem an equal 3way.
I enjoy neutral play, and am always in some sort of hot debate over neutrals. It is my experience the neutral ‘advantage’ is only perception and not reality.
A true 3way game, with no more tweaks than the latest edition of 4th age would really put this speculative debate to the test.
