Twice a month, Georgia and Miriam give themselves one hour to devise an original game concept based on a prompt. Below is an overview of our back garden-themed combat strategy game, Gnome Man’s Land.
THE ELEVATOR PITCH
Gnome Man’s Land is a flexible dice-selection combat strategy and area control game for 2 – 3 players, about warring tribes of garden ornaments. Players each assume the role of one of three sister gnomes, acting as generals of their army, overseeing troop movements and landscaping the garden battlefield to gain the advantage.
Key elements:
- Dice assigned to actions each turn
- Differing armies with their own strengths and weaknesses
- Controlling the battlefield terrain is significant in both combat and scoring
THE LOOK
This is a bright, colourful, kitsch and tongue-in-cheek game. It is full of unique characters based on common garden ornaments. The illustration style is 3D and cartoony, giving life and personality to every character. The board and tiles use simple, distinct colours and textures.
Components include:
- The board: a large board containing hexagonal sockets for tiles in a large (10 to a side) hexagonal field. The bottom of each socket is decorated with Lawn texture.
- Troop pieces: the Gnome General for each army, plus unique pieces for each unit in that army.
- Unit cards: Cards detailing the movement, attacks, abilities and health for each unit.
- Terrain tiles: 40 each of Pond, Rockery, Path, Flowerbed, Hedge, and Decking.
- Location pieces: the Gazebo, Machine Shed, and Potting Shed, plus three Army Bases.
- Terrain trophies: 1 each for Pond, Rockery, Path, Flowerbed, Hedge, and Decking.
- Nine bespoke Action Dice, with numbers 2 – 5, and a Pinwheel icon on the remaining side.
Each Unit card has a maximum Health and a strength and range of Attack, plus its own individual Move action which may depend on a certain type of Terrain. For example, the Frog unit of the Concretian Beastfolk can move from any one Pond space to another Pond space in a direct straight line; the Llama unit of the Topiarangers can move up to three spaces in a straight line in any direction, and Hedge spaces count as free.
Each Unit also has a specified Trouble Terrain, a type of Terrain which it cannot move through/end its turn on.
As well as the above information, the Generals each have a special ability which can be activated by sacrificing a die.
See the Appendix for examples of possible Units in the game.
THE AIM
Each player is a gnome general, directing her army to eliminate enemy units and attempt to capture enemy bases, while defending her own. The three generals and their armies are:
Aggregga the Barbarian Queen: leader of the Concretian Beastfolk, a small tribe of large, heavy hitters in the form of concrete animal statues.
Shaydee the Lich Queen: leader of the Necro-gnomifolk, a horde of reanimated former gnomes.
Boxalia the Druid Queen: leader of the Topiarangers, a moderate force of ranged attackers and skirmishers.
Each player must use their turns effectively to advance their battle objectives. Points are scored for terrain control, for enemy units eliminated, and for successfully infiltrating an enemy base.
SET UP
Each player selects their army and takes their General, all their Units, and three Action Dice. In a two-player game, player bases will be on opposite sides of the board; in a three-player game, equally spread around the board. Each player places their Army Base in the correct space and positions their General there. Each player also takes a Terrain Trophy corresponding to their army: Pond for the Necro-gnomifolk, Rockery for the Concretian Beastfolk, and Hedge for the Topiarangers.
TURNS
The Golden Rule of movement is that Units can never move onto or over Lawn spaces. At the beginning of the game the entire board (except the Bases) is Lawn.
On their turn, a player rolls their three Action Dice. If any dice roll the Pinwheel, that player has the option to discard that die and take a Terrain Trophy of their choice, either from another player or from the unclaimed trophies.
The player then assigns their remaining dice, in any combination, to one or more of the following actions:
- Landscape: change X hex spaces on the board to a Terrain type of your choice.
- Move: use the Move action of one or more Units, up to a total of X Moves.
- Attack: use the Attack of one or more Units, targeting enemy Units, up to a total of X Attacks.
Holding a Terrain Trophy has two effects:
- Your units ignore the effects of Trouble Terrain if you hold the Trophy of that Terrain Type.
- At the end of the game, you score one point for every space on the board which is the Type of a Terrain Trophy you hold.
If Attacks you make on your turn do damage to an enemy Unit which meets or exceeds that Unit’s Health, the damaged Unit is removed from the board and you capture its Unit card as a prize.
Occupying certain locations on the board gives the occupying player temporary bonus abilities as follows:
- Machine shed: while a Unit is stationed here, place/change an additional 2 tiles each time the Landscaping action is used.
- Gazebo: while a Unit is stationed here, you may re-roll all your dice up to twice.
- Potting shed: while a Unit is stationed here, you may place a defeated Unit back on the board at full health at the end of your turn, and take back its Unit card.
SUMMARY
At the beginning of the game, players begin landscaping and add their Units to the board. They must use spaces adjacent to their Base to deploy their Units.
The game continues with players taking turns to roll and allocate dice. Players engage not only in combat but also in altering the landscape of the garden to benefit their own army and hinder their opponents’.
The game end is triggered when any player moves their own Unit into an enemy Base. The round is finished and players total up points:
- Points for defeated Units: the total of Health points on all captured enemy Unit cards.
- Points for controlled Terrain: one point per space on the board which is the Type of a Terrain Trophy you hold.
- Points for infiltrating a Base: if you managed to move a Unit into an enemy’s Base, 15 points.
WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT THIS GAME?
This is a terrain control and combat game with lots of fun personality and flexibility in play. There is intentional balance between the importance of moving units and attacking, versus landscaping the field and claiming Terrain. We’ve tried to imagine a war game with lots of detail and tactical depth which can still be fun for players at multiple different levels.
APPENDIX
Ideas for army Units.
Concretian Beastfolk Units are fewest in number and can be slow, but have the strongest attacks, including some area-of-effect attacks.
Aggregga the Barbarian Queen. Moves any number of spaces through Rockery. Special ability: Hit all enemy Units within one space of a chosen Concretian Unit. Trouble Terrain: Flowerbed.
Frog. Moves from one Pond space to another Pond space in a direct straight line. Trouble Terrain: Decking.
Necro-gnomifolk Units are most numerous, but with generally middling attack power and average speed.
Shaydee the Lich Queen. Moves any number of spaces through Pond. Special ability: Resurrect one Unit. Trouble Terrain: Path.
Barrower. Can move through any number of adjacent Path spaces in a straight line. Trouble Terrain: Hedge.
Topiaranger Units are a mid-sized force of speedy units with weak, often ranged, attacks.
Boxalia the Druid Queen. Moves any number of spaces through Hedge. Special ability: Teleport one Unit from its space to another space of the same Terrain type within 5 spaces. Trouble Terrain: Decking.
Llama: Moves up to 3 spaces in a straight line, treating Hedge spaces as free moves. Trouble Terrain: Path.
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