King's Gambit (Rootjam 2024)
A downloadable asset pack
Hi everyone! Please enjoy this submission for this year's rootjam :) I had great fun making it so I hope you like it! There's a little bit of rules overhead which pushes the faction into the more complex department. But the Birdsong Daylight Evening mechanics are very simple indeed, so don't be intimidated! :)
Sacrifice theme heavily emphasised in cut-throat gameplay decisions - all warriors and pieces seem so vitally important!
Forgot to add the caveat that Vehemence cannot be lower than 2 (so wolves can actually do stuff in rounds 1 and 2).
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So I definitely like this faction, they're a pretty cool idea! But it feels a bit weirdly steam-rolly towards other factions. Like if you move a pack into an enemy clearing, the fact it automatically captures an enemy piece (or deals 3 damage to a Vagabond) just by moving there is a bit rough. Especially when they already come with 9 units on the board on both sides right out the gate.
Plus, I don't see where "vehemence" is tracked on the board.
Plus, what happens when a non-King's Gambit unit kills an enemy? Do they just not have a supply they go to, or does that person send them to their own captured units, or...? And if so, how do they get redeployed?
Lastly, both packs have separate hands? That's a bit rough to play around with.
Don't get me wrong, these criticisms aren't to shoot the idea down. I'm actually -extremely- interested in this idea, it sounds really cool to have a weird faction that you control one half per turn than one enemy faction gets to 'push' it along in a funky way, makes for a pretty crazy idea. I love that you even had an Advanced Set-up, that's pretty cool! I also might be mis-reading some parts, but yeah. Like I said, I really like the concept, I like the theme of how it's sacrificing pawns in chess, and I think it's really creative! :D Hope to hear some more on it!
Hi Codo! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, your interest in my faction is a massive compliment in and of itself! 🙂
I understand your concerns over balance, it is indeed powerful to be able to capture a piece by moving into a clearing. But in the early game, Wolves don't have enough actions (Vehemence) for this to be overly oppressive, and in the late game their militancy is still not as brutal as a Warlord with 4 prowess. Moreover, the Wolves are forced to direct most of their attacking to the opposite Wolf Pack (for both scoring and action engine building), so they don't want to be using their actions on other factions too much!
Vehemence = no. of Captured Bishops + Knights + (Queens x2). You can just count them up on your board.
Wolves have a supply of removed warriors like any other faction, but these warriors can't be redeployed. Hence maintaining a strong board presence is very important for them! This obviously contradicts their checkmate scoring condition, making it very difficult to know how much to sacrifice to force checkmate or a promotion! Only Wolves can capture pieces.
Yes, both factions have separate hands and crafted items/improvements. It wouldn't make any sense thematically for arch-enemies to share resources like that 😁
Hopefully this has answered your questions, if anything is still unclear then don't hesitate to shoot me another reply! Thanks for your enthusiasm for this idea, it makes me happy!
I don't know how you worked this out, but it looks fantastic! My mind can't stop thinking about how to make these guys work; both against other opponents and against themselves! I'm not much of a chess player, but you have no idea how giddy I felt reading about the different movement patterns in "Rank and File" ;-)
Also, when is "Root: The King's Gambit Animated Series" coming out? I need to see more of this story and artwork! ;-)
Hey Sparky! Thanks haha it took a lot of mental struggle to make the parts fit together but I'm happy with how it turned out so far! The playtests I've done have been very satisfying from a gameplay perspective - there's the horrific dilemma between sacrificing pieces to increase Vehemence (action engine), but permanently reducing your board presence with each piece Captured! Then there's the puzzle of trying to position for a Checkmate or a Promotion but also the need to police other factions who will outrace you. Finally, opponents taking Countermoves have to decide whether to use the action to police the Wolves, police a rival, or retrieve one of their own Captured pieces... so yeah there's brutal decisions for all players involved. Truly, you must sacrifice 😂
I'll pass on your comments to the artist, trust me when I say I'm as eager as you are to see more of this beautiful art because it's outstanding!!
I should say that all wolf artwork is original fan art done by a friend of mine (who has not got an account for me to credit) - I would love to pass on any compliments you may offer, because they did an *unbelievable* job at emulating the great Kyle Ferrin's work!