Introduction

When I was first introduced to Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea by its Designers (Chris Vorderbruegge and Mark McLaughlin) one of its facets which held immediate appeal was that conflict/battles in this game, called “Competitions”, DID NOT INVOLVE ANY DICE ROLLNG!! 

I’ve been a gamer for decades, since playing my first wargame, Avalon Hill’s D-Day 1961, and for all that time have been plagued by strange dice-rolling.  One of my Rockland Guys gaming buddies, Stephen, had a great tee shirt for when we attended conventions: it had in big letters the saying “I win on anything but a one… ARGHHH!” Yup, that’s a gaming garment I’m in great sympathy with.

When Mark and I were play-testing Kutuzov; one of the games in The Napoleonic Wars series, there was a memorable game when my French invaders took eighty-five (85!) dice rolls to take out a two value Russian border fortress. Those of you familiar with the Nappy game series should appreciate what a game-losing feat that was!

So, although there’s still “luck with cards” in Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea… at least there’s no dice rolling to contend with! 

There is a wealth of information concerning this game within InsideGMT.  There are After-Action-Reports with explanations of the game’s cards and Civilizations (each with its special attributes) as well as a rendition of its “near final” map.  But until this article, discussion of the actual mechanics of resolving a Competition was lacking.

This is hopefully now remedied and those gamers, like me, who dread taking dice in hand, can take heart instead. 

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Situation

Competition in ACIS occurs when at least two different color disks occupy a single area and at least ONE color has more than one disk. Competition lasts as many rounds as it takes until one of two conditions exist: either only one color remains OR only single disk of multiple colors remain.

TROY placed four of its BLUE disks in the Mycenae Homeland land area, which is also occupied by the Mycenae Grand Temple Wonder and three Mycenae GREEN disks. As there is possibility of Loot being earned if either side manages to gain control of Mycenae, a white cylinder with its star side face-up is placed in the land area. 

Troy has three Competition cards in its hand. The Trojan player plays two of them, which are marked as being useful in this Competition, face down. The Trojan keeps the remaining card in hand. It is Ramming Speed, a card whose text is useless for the upcoming Competition but, as we’ll learn, does have value. The Trojan has one talent in their Treasury.

Mycenae has only two cards. Both are marked with a letter “C” as being useful for Competition, and the Mycenaen player plays both of those cards face down. The Mycenaean has no other cards but does have a talent in their Treasury.

NOTE: Having talents in the Treasury and cards in hand can be decisive in Competition. These are effectively “reserves” than can be expended in lieu of losing disks in Competition resolution.

Competition Cards and one of the Wonders add temporary or “white” disks. These are used only in Competitions to show the bonuses allowed by Competition Card play, a Civilization’s inherent abilities (as shown on their respective Civilization Displays). Only one of the game’s seven wonders can modify Competition: The Grand Temple… which to Mycenae’s good fortune happens to be in their possession.

At Start of Competition, Mycenae Homeland:

Mycenae removes a blue and white disk from the Grand Temple Wonder (which is the only Wonder capable of influencing a Competition) to utilize the Wonder’s Competition benefit… which forces TROY to remove one disk  (in this case, the white Amazon Allies disk, as white disks ALWAYS “die” first). The Wonder ALSO adds another MYCENAE green disk AND adds a white disk.  The situation, before resolution of Competition cards is…

All played Competition cards are now revealed and in turn order resolved. NOTE that three of the cards require disks be removed before the first round of Competition. The fourth card, Troy’s Armored Infantry, does not take effect until Competition rounds commence. Here’s a summary of the three cards’ played effects:

The War Machines card requires that Troy lose two disks. 

Rather than lose two disks, Troy expends one talent from its Treasury instead of losing one and discards the one card it had in hand, Ramming Speed, instead of losing the other disk. That leaves the disk situation for Troy unchanged (although the Trojan player is now all the poorer and cardless – such is the cost of going to war…or “Competition”).

The Unreliable Mercenaries card, however, allows Mycenae to remove one of Troy’s disks and add one of its own.

BUT the Chariots card allows Troy to add back in a disk and remove one from Mycenae. Thus, in effect, these two cards cancel each other out. See above table for a summary of these cards’ effects. The situation, after those three cards have been played thus looks like this:

Mycenae:

Troy:

The situation, however, is not as bad for Troy as it looks. Remember, Troy has the Armored Infantry card. Competition is fought in Rounds, and thanks to its Armored Infantry, Troy will not have to remove any disks in the first TWO rounds.

Competition Rounds are then resolved.

Round One:

The side with the fewer disks normally removes one. In this case, that would be Troy, but the Armored Infantry saves Troy from that loss. As Troy still has disks in the fight, now Mycenae must remove one disk. That is how Competition works: both sides go back and forth until either one side has no disks or EACH are reduced to a single disk — single disks can coexist in an area, but if anyone has at least two disks, the war continues. (White disks die first).

Round Two:

Troy would normally remove a disk first, as it has the smaller stack of disks; yet again, however, the Armored Infantry come to the rescue (for the second and, sadly for the Trojans, the last time). As Troy still has disks, Mycenae must now remove one: its second white disk. But Mycenae still has that one talent left in its Treasury – which it expends instead of losing a disk. So the battle still looks like this:

Round Three:

Troy, as the smaller force, removes a blue disk. Then Mycenae removes a disk, which must be its white one.

Round Four:

Troy, as the smaller force, removes a disk, and then Mycenae removes one.

Round Five: 

Troy, as the smaller force, removes a disk, and then Mycenae removes one.

Round Six:

Troy, as the smaller force, removes a disk, – its last disk.

As there are now no more Trojans. Mycenae does not have to remove anything – and emerges victorious, with two disks remaining. Had either of them been white, by any chance, that white one would be removed, as white disks are TEMPORARY and used only to mark advantages gained from the cards, Civilization Display and the Grand Temple Wonder.

With conclusion of Competition, Mycenae now controls the Mycenae Homeland area with two green disks and the Grand Temple Wonder remaining in the area.

Victorious Mycenae earns “Loot”.

“Loot” is earned if the defeated side loses at least three of their colored disks (white disks do not count). Troy lost four of its blue disks – one more than required for the victor to claim “Loot.”

“Loot” is represented by gaining a talent (a white disk). It is placed in the “Loot” section of the Civilization Display, to note it may not be expended in a different Competition elsewhere this turn. After the Competition Phase, it goes into the Civilization’s Treasury and may be used to purchase a card or saved for the Epoch’s next turn.

Mycenae, however, has a special ability when it comes to “Loot” (think of Agamemnon and the sack of Troy from Homer’s epic).

As this is Mycenae’s first Competition of this turn, due to its Special Ability, Mycenae receives two white disks (rather than the usual one) placed into its Civilization Display’s “Loot Box”.

Take heart, Trojan, they did not die in vain.

The Trojan may have lost the fight BUT when the dust settled, what had been a Mycenean City (3 disks) is now a mere Settlement (2 disks). While a Settlement will add a disk in Growth next turn, it is no longer a City. A City gains a Victory Point each turn – of which Mycenae has now been deprived by the brave Trojans. In addition, a Civilization gains an extra Card during the Draw Phase for every four Cities – and if the loss of this City knocked that down a peg, well, that means one less Card for Mycenae…

Play now moves to the next Competition to be resolved upon the ACIS map.

Conclusion

This example hopefully provides insights regarding the dice-less method to resolve Competition (aka “Battles”) in GMT’s upcoming Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea.

Please provide feedback… the Designers (Chris and Mark), as well as myself, would be interested in learning your opinion of this article as well as if other examples,  for the other Phases of a Game Turn, would be welcome.  Thanks!

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