Swords into Ploughshares

AKA Viking Monopoly

Players are split into teams of 3-4, and then move individually round a track of locations each round, pillaging some for money, and settling in others and helping them grow. Pillaging is the source of money, but settlements are the source of victory points, so teams must balance these tasks. There are ten rounds, after which the team with the highest number of buildings wins. A game for 15 to 30 players. Like Monopoly, but with vikings.

Summary

• Players are in teams of 3-4, and each player has some gold.
• Each round, a random move distance is generated for all players, each player can move up to that distance in either direction.
• Some locations have buildings. Locations with no player in get an additional building at the start of each round.
• When players land in a location, they can choose to either settle in it, or pillage it if there are buildings present.
  • Settle
    • Players may not settle if players from another team are in the location.
    • If there are no buildings, the players may found a settlement.
    • If there are existing buildings, the players may move right in and hoist their flag.
  • Pillage
    • If the location is unoccupied, the attackers have to overcome the defense values of the buildings to pillage.
    • If the location is occupied by players from another team, the defending players may add their combat strength to that of the buildings.
    • If the pillage is successful, the buildings are converted into gold, destroying them.
• Combat
  • Combat involves each side producing a combat value, and the higher number winning. Draws are resolved in favour of the defenders.
  • A combat value comes from three parts:
    • Buildings - each building counts as 1 combat point.
    • Players - each player counts as 2 combat points. The more players, the more combat points.
    • Weapons - players may choose to buy weapons. Each gold they spend on weapons produces one extra combat point. This gold is not recovered: all money spent, whether in attack or defense, victorious or defeated, is lost.
• Buildings
  • Occupants of a settlement may build additions to the settlement. Buildings cost 3 gold to build, are worth 2 gold when pillaged, provide 1 victory point, and 1 defensive combat point. Each player may only build one building per round.
• Victory
  • The game ends at the end of the tenth round.
  • The game can also end once 45 minutes have passed.
  • Victory points come from buildings
  • Gold counts only for tie breaks

Gameplay

Each round consists of movement, then settling, then pillaging, then building.

Setup

Players

Split the players into teams of three or four. Give each player 3 gold to start with, and a flag of their team colour.

Location

Mark each location in the game in the play area, either by a sign or some physical object. There should be slightly more locations than the total number of players, approx 120%, e.g. 20 locations for 16 players. Separate the teams evenly around the locations, with all members of a team starting in the same location. Any location without a player in it should have a building placed in it.

General

Gold may be freely moved between players at any time.

Movement

At the start of each round, a movement distance is generated (e.g. by rolling a die). All players may move up to that distance in either direction, including not moving at all. All players move at the same time, and there is a time limit on the movement round (e.g. twenty seconds). Any player not at a location when the time is up may complete their move, but may not complete any other actions in the round (so hurry up...).

Settling

If a player lands in a location that has no other players at it, they may settle in it. If there are buildings already at that location, the player takes control of those buildings. The player raises the flag of their team over the settlement. Players may not settle in a location where any players from a different team are. If a player is a member of the theam who currently controls the settlement, they are assumed to be defenders of the settlement.

Pillaging

If a player lands in a location that does not belong to their team and has some buildings, they may choose to pillage it. To do so, they must exceed the defense value of the settlement. If they manage that, they convert all vulnerable buildings to money, destroying them. If they get less than or equal to the defense value, they are thwarted, and get nothing.

Buildings

Each building in the settlement provides 1 defensive point.

Players

Each player, whether defending or attacking, counts as two combat points. Players may also choose to buy weapons with gold. They may purchase 1 additional combat point for each gold, with no limit. Weapons are only useful for a single round of combat, and money spent on weapons cannot be regained. Weapons must be bought before combat starts, they cannot be added during combat.

Multiple attackers

If several teams attack the same settlement at the same time, then the team with the highest combat value gets all the pillaging reward. If there is a draw for the highest combat value, the pillaging reward is split evenly between all the drawn teams, with any remainder being discarded.

Gold

If the pillagers exceed the defense, they get 2 gold for each building. The buildings are destroyed in the process.

Building

The occupants of a settlement can decide to add to it. Each player may only build one building per round, paying 3 gold.

Unoccupied locations

Any location without a player will have an additional building placed into it.

Victory

The game ends after ten rounds. Each building earns the settlement 1 victory point. The team whose flag flies over the settlement gets the victory points for that settlement, and the team may control several settlements. The team with the highest victory point total wins the game.

Requirements

Props

Building markers (currently cards, hopefully something nicer soon) Gold tokens (counters) Settlement markers (cones, signs, whatever) Team flags (up to one per player, probably fewer though) Plastic axes and helmets?

Crew

One referee for each five players would be ideal, one per ten is probably tolerable.

Variants

Movement

If players seem to be being cheeky with movement, we could have the game runner call out steps. So if the roll is 4, they will announce that, give people a few moments to plan, then say ‘now move one space’, then wait a moment more, then ‘move another space’, then twice more, and then players are at their destination. No more movement will be allowed.