After what seems like forever, Karthik, Pushkar and I played a balanced game of Kotay that also ended! Sud joined in to watch towards the middle of the game.
The game took about 2.5 hours to complete, this is long for a 3 player game. Lots of Kotays (forts!)were built and the battle dynamics worked ( n =1).
These are the rule changes for the game on July 3rd:
Forts can be built on desert tiles.
Each player starts with one cavalry and 2 explorers.
Cavalry and cannon placed on water tiles can’t attack or defend.
They can attack through a water tile.
When attacking the capital, a cannon is mandatory, but cavalry can also add to the attack.
Rules of attack and defense:
1attacking or defending piece – 4 sides dice (D4)
2 attacking or defending piece – 6 sided dice (D6)
3 attacking or defending piece – 8 sided dice (D8)
A default of 6 sided dice for the defense of a capital or a fort.
We continued using a range of 1 for fort and capital. The range is 2 over explored tiles for cavalry and the range is 2 even over non-explored tiles for cannon.
Highlights of the game:
A lot of building happened. People amassed armies and waited to concentrate pieces before attacks. So just the knowledge of the dice dynamics did change approach
My capital was destroyed by Pushkar’s rogue cannon, quite early in the game. He rolled a 2 in attack with a D4 and I rolled 1 in defense with a D8.
Karthik and Pushkar built massive armies, multiple forts and after many skirmishes and proper battles. Both Capitals were under siege. I thought this might lead to oscillations (moves being repeated) or frustrating battle formations. Both players assured me that this was not the case. They felt engaged and were not repeating moves, even though the battle was drawn out.
Karthik (in Purple) took a chance – he had to destroy Pushkar’s fort or be destroyed subsequently. He employed clever Kotay building tactics to launch a final blow.
For the first time, the players shook hands and greeted each other with the very chess-like “good game”!
The attack rules seem settled. An alternate victory condition of 20 gold may help end some games. This rule will change how players approach resources, so we will have to test this out.
Kotay 