The game is called “Abe’s Domain”
Description of the game: This is a war style game using a deck of cards to determine who gets to take over the land with their army. It is a head to head fight to the death to see who can be crowned winner of all thee land! But watch out… if you wander off into the middle island you might find yourself going up against a Necromancer Abraham Lincoln. If you can take over all of Abe’s land you are truly the chosen one. Good Luck comrades and I will see you on the battlefield.
Game Mechanics:
-Card Play Conflict Resolution: Each player simultaneously or sequentially plays one or more cards. These modify the base outcome of a conflict and allow various special abilities to apply.
-Dice Rolling: In wargames, dice are used in conjunction with a variety of tables, notably a “Combat Results Table” which produces a result by strengths of both sides (either as a ratio or a differential) and a die roll (1D6, 2D6, and 1D10 are most commonly used).
-Grid Movement: The Grid Movement occurs when pawns move on the grid in many directions. Usually the grid is square (like in Chess) or hexagonal (Abalone).
-Zone Control: Spaces adjacent to a unit impact the ability of opposing units to move or attack.
Play Session 1:
In play session one my partner Erik and I decided on a territorial strategy board game. So each player was given 25 colored circular chips and also half of a shuffled deck. We then flipped a card to see who goes first and the highest card wins. Erik won the first one and then rolled a 5 with a 6 sided die he was given. Therefore he was able to put 5 of his colored chips anywhere on the board besides the middle island. After that you play games of the classic card game “war” to determine who gets to roll to put down their colored chips. Winner also takes the losers cards. Erik kept winning but I eventually made a come back to where the board was half filled with my chips and half filled with his. At this point the middle island still wasn’t established as anything so instead we played to see who can fill up all the land surrounding it. The only difference when it came down taking over each others land was that the number of spots you were taking over that’s how many cards you put down and the last card is the one that counts. For example, I rolled a 4 and wanted to take four Eriks spots so we put down 3 face down cards on the table then the fourth one is shown which I had the higher card therefore I take his land and all of the cards. Surprisingly I ended up winning by taking over all the surrounding land but still was trying to figure out how to incorporate the middle Island.
Play Session 2:
In the second play session I decided to have one of my best friends Parker come over to come test out the game with me. I gave him the rundown of the game so we played until we got to the point where the outside lands were filled but still the middle island was empty. Then the idea popped into our head to make the middle island be some type of third party. I didn’t have any other colored chips but ran out to my car to check to see if I had any change. Most of the same coins I had were pennies so we used those to fill up the middle island. This was the moment when “Necromancer Abraham Lincoln” was born. There are certain parts on the map that have bridges connecting to Abe’s domain which are the only paths you can take in order to challenge him for his land. In order to even be worthy to challenge his greatness you must flip the penny and call heads or tales. If you lose it goes on to the next round but if you win then you challenge Abe to a game of BlackJack. The person not challenging Abe becomes Abe on for the Black Jack game so that he can deal the cards. If you lose to Abe it just goes to the next round but if you win you take that piece of land. For this we also brought in a second deck of cards since we couldn’t use our own. This brought a fun imaginative aspect to the game that made us constantly laugh and get excited to fight Necromancer Abe. Parker had successfully defeated Abe but unfortunately he had to leave so we weren’t able to finish the game.
Play Session 3:
For the third and final play session I played it with Collin in class. This time around we were actually able to finish the game and made some more adjustments along the way. For example, instead of starting the game by being able to put your colored chips anywhere you had choose a corner of the map and make sure you can only build off of the ones you have placed. By doing this it made it more fair or else you could place your chips near all of the bridges right away and try to fight Necromancer Abraham Lincoln. The game progressed and we came along another situation where there had been a tie between Abe and Collin when they had battled each other. We decided to make it interesting by doing a “double or nothing” aspect to where the winner of the hand gets to put two of their pieces down to defend that area of land. Collin lost resulting in there now being a Super Necromancer Abraham Lincoln prowling the area.
The ending of the game was the most intense because Collin was technically winning when it came to taking over the center island but I had rolled to take out the rest of his men and he was down to the last of his cards. So when we played the last of the cards we somehow came to a tie which wasn’t very likely. That is when we both agreed on rolling the dice and the highest number gets the cards with that area of land. We both roll the dice with excitement but unfortunately Collin ends up losing in the end. From that too we also learned that there are three different ways to winning which are: take over all of Necromancer Abe’s domain in the middle, take all of your opponents cards or wipe out all of their troops. Overall, we both had a good time playing and there didn’t seem to be a dull moment.
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