Footsteps towards creating my own miniatures game

As the title suggests, this thread is to document my first footsteps to creating my own miniatures game. This is something i have wanted to do for some time now but only recently have i had the inspiration. This thread will follow my footsteps as i collate artwork, rules and eventually miniatures for my very own Fantasy Ice Hockey game.

This thread is also for other forum members to get involved, as i do not possess all the required skill sets needed to create a high quality game.

My intention is to first nail down the rules before progressing onto the artwork and miniatures. I have already started drafting rules out including turn sequence, movement etc

Anyway i am really excited to progress with this and i hope you enjoy the journey with me

Sounds ambitious.  I'm happy to help however I can. 

I look forward to seeing what you put together.

Ooh, nice! I love being a rules-monkey, so if you put anything up, I'd be glad to help, as well!

However, artistically speaking... if you want a bunch of models to look like a "2yr. old on MS-Paint" concepts, then that's about as much help I could be there...

I would love to put up ideas and concepts and gauge feedback from that.

I do not think goalies will be a good idea in this game. So i was thinking of a circular rink with 3 goals and you cannot score in the same goal consecutively.
This will make the game fast paced, high scoring game.

I also wanted to create rolling subs.

For turns i was thinking alternative activations and movement like X-Wing

Just a few of the ideas so far. Please ask questions, it will help me get everything onto paper


This is what i will be working my way through over the next few months and through the summer

Introduction
Components
Setting up the Game
The Sequence of play
Movement
Substitutes
Checking Zones
Checks
Knock downs and Injuries
Passing the Puck
Shooting the Puck
Winning the Match

Extra Rules:
Creating an Artic Cup team
Puck Drop
Assisting a Check
Interceptions
Fouling
Skills
-   Skill descriptions

Artic Cup League Play
The Teams

Decided to try nail the introduction, to give myself the best possible basis to start

Introduction

Welcome to the Arctic Cup, a fantasy game of Ice Hockey where week on week creatures gather from all races to watch this premier sports entertainment. As their favourite teams and players fight it out to be crowned Ice Lords and hold the Arctic Cup trophy come the end of the season.

Arctic Cup is a fast paced and brutal sport between two teams of heavily padded and often insane players. Players skate, pass, shoot and sometimes work together to reach the ten goals needed to win the match. There are three goals in Arctic Cup and teams are never allowed to score in the same goal consecutively. It may sound easy but the opposition team will be working hard to prevent any of that from happening by any means; checking, dispossessing and fouling.

Sounds great so far 

G_H

So this morning i have been working on the key component, the rink. I have analysed other sport board games as well as a few other board games to try and fully understand the importance of having space but not too much space. Obviously with playtesting this may change but its a good start



Now to print it off

I have realised components was a little more difficult without some sort of structure to what i was expecting to try and do so i jumped a section and wrote

Note: Three goals is still under consideration but a circular rink is staying

4.   The Sequence of play

Arctic Cup is a game played until one team reaches 10 goals and is rather simple to play if you follow these elegant but rigid sequences of play following the puck drop (See section 14).

Calculate Team Awareness

Every player has an Awareness rating, rated out of 10. The team with the highest total awareness rating among all active players, at the start of each activation has priority for that phase.

Active Players
A player is considered active unless they have already been activated or knocked down. A player may only be reactivated once all players are inactive

Player Activation and Movement

During this phase, both coaches select the order in which they will like to activate players on the player selector template and place the template face down to keep their selection secret. Both coaches then select 5 movement cards and place them face down in order of what you would like to do. The top card corresponds to the first player you will be activating.

Every player on the team is numbered somewhere between 1 and 12, to select them simply place their corresponding magnetic tile in the player selector template in the order in which you would like them activated.

To select movement for the turn simply select 5 movement cards and place them face down. Each card corresponds to a specific skating ruler

Coaches may not use the Skating rulers to pre-measure where one player may resolve their movement. They must plan their players movement by predicting where one may be positioned.
After both players have selected their players and movements, both coachs reveal their player selector template and team awareness dial. The coach with priority then reveals the top card of their skating movement pile and the player selected to activate first completes that movement. Once their movement is completed the coach may select an Action for their player to attempt (See Action phase). Once that player’s action is resolved the player is considered inactive and you subtract that player’s awareness from your team awareness dial. The coach with the highest team awareness then goes again, If for any reason their player is no longer active, their move is lost. Place the top skating movement card back into the Skating movement card library. Note: This means that it is possible for a coach to activate multiple players in a row. Once all players on both teams have been activated the turn is considered completed and all players are reactivated and you repeat this process. 

Action Phase

Once a player has completed their movement successfully they may perform one action
•   Check: The player may Check any one player in their Checking Zone (CZ)
•   Poke Check: The player may Poke Check an opposing player in possession of the puck in their Stick Zone (SZ). Note: There is a chance that your player may dispossess your opponents player of the puck
•   Pass: At the end of your players movement, your player may attempt to pass the puck to another player on their team
•   Shoot: At the end of your players movement, your player may attempt to shoot the puck at the goal

After a player has completed their action, they are considered to be inactive until all other players on their team, on the ice are also inactive at which point the turn is completed and all players are reactivated.

This morning i have created a....Template

I have been working on the movement mechanic this evening, templates are to be decided. Working out all the possible movements. Still deciding if the movement card library will be team (Race) specific or universal (Playtesting will decide).

So here is part of the movement mechanic (WIP), as well as the rolling subs mechanic

6.   Movement
Skating Rulers are used to measure your players skating moves. The Skating rulers display the angle and the distance that your player will skate this turn. The Rulers display both a Letter that is relative to a distance; A is the shortest distance and E is the longest distance a player will travel, and an arrow dictating the angle. Both the number and the arrow will correspond to a specific movement card.

Once a player has revealed their movement card, correspond to the player being activated and picked up the relative skating ruler, use that ruler to move their player
The Rulers connect to the player’s base through a notch system at both the front and back of the player’s base and the ruler.

Heads up play: If a player completes there move without travelling through another players Checking Zone or Stick Zone (See Section 5) that player may turn to face any direction they wish immediately upon completing their movement.

Travelling through Checking Zones with puck:
WIP

Travelling through Stick Zones without puck:
WIP

Travelling through Stick Zones with puck:
WIP

Checking Zones travelling over player:
WIP

Checking Zone and/or Stick Zone travels over puck:
WIP

Charging:
If a players skating ruler comes into contact with an opposing teams player then the player is considered to have charged. Just like a check with the added benefit of momentum on their side. Move the player as far along the skating as ruler until they come into base to base contact with the opposing player, from this point onwards the players action has to be a check See section .


7.   Substitutions

The flow of the game is in constant flux. There are situations that cannot always be predicted and it is the job of a good coach to be able to adapt their tactical plans to suit the moment. Sometimes one player is better suited than another, sometimes injuries dictate you replace one of your players but one thing is for sure, if you want to be crowned ice lords and eternal glory then you must learn to fully utilise the substitutes at your disposal.

A substitution is considered a special type of action. To substitute a player, there movement card must take their base into contact with the rink boards. Once a player has left the ice, place them to one side temporarily and select one player on your bench. Place that player on the ice facing in any direction at the place your substituted player left the ice. Then select any one movement card and complete this players activation the same way you would any other player.

Boarding – Boarding is a special type of substitution, if your player is knocked out of the rink by an opposing check, then one random player on your bench is selected to take their place. To select a player, roll a D12 dice until a player’s number on the bench is rolled, that player is selected. If the player that was boarded was an active player, the random player treats their number as that of the player that was boarded. They may not move or perform an action this turn, they then become inactive. If the player that was boarded was inactive, then the random player is considered inactive also.


There we have it, think i am now in a position to crack on with these movement templates and cards

This morning i have drawn up templates

Image is scaled

Also a two goal version of the rink

Passing and Shooting Templates

Here is a sample of the movement cards, there are 20 in total including a stand still card. Will need 5 of each type for each team so that is 200 cards (Still deciding whether to make cards team specific). They are 8.8 cm tall and 6.3 cm wide (Same size as MTG cards) so that they fit in card sleeves/protectors

So i have been very productive this week and decided to take it easy today by just writing up some background for 1 of the 5 teams planned. Remember every word written here is 10 written in the programs i am using. I image a game that is played in arenas equivalent to those games played in the Colosseum of Rome. A land battered by the arctic winds that sweep between the streets.

The first team i present are the

Undead

There are those Lanista’s that seek to climb above their social standing but without the power, influence or coin to afford a suitable team, some Lanista’s resort to travelling into the wilderness where savages and beasts roam freely to resurrect those players that the Savages hold to the status of god and where their names are only whispered in hush tones by those living in  civilisation. The players now play for a title and prize once out of reach.

Love seeing all this work. Thanks for sharing your process with us!

Love seeing all this work. Thanks for sharing your process with us!

Thank you, its been a bit slow recently as i am currently taking my final exams but i can share with you a sneak peak of some of the artwork in the coming days

As promised a Sneak Peak, all art is being done by the very talented Paul Ridgon, go check him out