Empire: With "Pillage"
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:00 pm
I'm thinking about trying an Empire variant and would love to hear suggestions on this.
For those who don't know, Empire is:
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Emperor
Six or ten players • Two teams
An Emperor game is a contest between two teams. Each team has one emperor (seated in the middle) and two generals (seated one on each side of the emperor). The left-hand general of one team takes the first turn, and then play passes to the left, balancing the advantage of going first with having all the opposing team members take their turns next. The spell range is limited to one—that is, your spells and abilities can affect only you and the players sitting one seat to your left or right (the two players right next to you). You can attack only players on your immediate left or right. Because of this, until a general is knocked out, neither emperor can be attacked. Moving creatures is allowed. Each player starts with 20 life; life totals aren’t shared. If a general is eliminated, the remaining players on that team continue to play normally. When an emperor is eliminated, that team loses.
You can also play Emperor with four generals per team, sitting two on each side of the emperor. Spell range is still limited to one.
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One thing about moving creature is that it would take up its combat, so in most cases the Emperor would be using his combat phase to move creatures to his subordinates, like mobilizing troops.
That said, the "Pillage" mode I want to add consist of several new rules. In terms of passing:
1) Artifacts and PWs could also be passed to different players, but the passing range of any permanent is 1, so General A passing a creature to General B would have to go through the Emperor first, then the Emperor passes it to General B.
2) You can pass artifact, creatures, and PWs only if they haven't taken action this turn, such as combat or activating abilities.
3) You may cast non-aura enchantment (i.e. one without target) under another player at the range of 1. This is another way for Emperor to help his subordinate, and vice versa.
4) Spell range for Emperor is 2.
In terms of losing:
1) When a player loses, his nearest opponent takes control of all the artifacts and lands of the losing player.
2) Creatures and PWs of the losing player will be executed upon losing unless ransomed with its CMC by his living teammates "at the beginning of the next upkeep". While ransoming would cost you a turn of resources, some creature/PW are worth saving.
3) Curses stay on the player even after the owner loses.
This new variation is to simulate an actual battlefield where one takes over a territory. A General who's about to lose could either use his final combat for a last ditch effort, or he could "retreat" to preserve resources for his surviving teammates, and nations buying hostages back after battles. And taking control of lands may suffer backlash if the losing team also have spells like Acidic Soil.
What do you think?
For those who don't know, Empire is:
------
Emperor
Six or ten players • Two teams
An Emperor game is a contest between two teams. Each team has one emperor (seated in the middle) and two generals (seated one on each side of the emperor). The left-hand general of one team takes the first turn, and then play passes to the left, balancing the advantage of going first with having all the opposing team members take their turns next. The spell range is limited to one—that is, your spells and abilities can affect only you and the players sitting one seat to your left or right (the two players right next to you). You can attack only players on your immediate left or right. Because of this, until a general is knocked out, neither emperor can be attacked. Moving creatures is allowed. Each player starts with 20 life; life totals aren’t shared. If a general is eliminated, the remaining players on that team continue to play normally. When an emperor is eliminated, that team loses.
You can also play Emperor with four generals per team, sitting two on each side of the emperor. Spell range is still limited to one.
------
One thing about moving creature is that it would take up its combat, so in most cases the Emperor would be using his combat phase to move creatures to his subordinates, like mobilizing troops.
That said, the "Pillage" mode I want to add consist of several new rules. In terms of passing:
1) Artifacts and PWs could also be passed to different players, but the passing range of any permanent is 1, so General A passing a creature to General B would have to go through the Emperor first, then the Emperor passes it to General B.
2) You can pass artifact, creatures, and PWs only if they haven't taken action this turn, such as combat or activating abilities.
3) You may cast non-aura enchantment (i.e. one without target) under another player at the range of 1. This is another way for Emperor to help his subordinate, and vice versa.
4) Spell range for Emperor is 2.
In terms of losing:
1) When a player loses, his nearest opponent takes control of all the artifacts and lands of the losing player.
2) Creatures and PWs of the losing player will be executed upon losing unless ransomed with its CMC by his living teammates "at the beginning of the next upkeep". While ransoming would cost you a turn of resources, some creature/PW are worth saving.
3) Curses stay on the player even after the owner loses.
This new variation is to simulate an actual battlefield where one takes over a territory. A General who's about to lose could either use his final combat for a last ditch effort, or he could "retreat" to preserve resources for his surviving teammates, and nations buying hostages back after battles. And taking control of lands may suffer backlash if the losing team also have spells like Acidic Soil.
What do you think?