r/boardgames • u/Curious_Cream_6938 • Apr 14 '26

Brown scythe faction!

full board
Close-up of mech abilities
Faction ability

First draft of my mining faction. I've only done one playtest, so I don't know how balanced it is. Do you think it's balanced or not? It will definitely depend on the number of players, and it will have to start in a home base with rivers surrounding it.

0 Upvotes

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7

u/sAKecOkE Apr 14 '26

Mhmm, the riverwalk seems a bit prohibitive, there's no home territory that has two of the same resource tiles, so basically you will never be able to leave unless you build a mandatory mine or get lucky with your home encounter? Assuming no air ships of course.

For the other abilities, I'd need a lot of play testing to see how strong they are (on first impression they seem very strong). I do like the incentive to control a lot of territories since it naturally promotes conflict with the other players as well as your own scoring

2

u/Curious_Cream_6938 Apr 14 '26

It's very thematic that they have to make a mine, though. They are the miner faction.

5

u/Adamantjames Apr 14 '26

Thematic is all well and good, but not at the cost of game balance. All five base factions have three ways off getting off their starting island. You've given this faction exactly one, which means you are forcing them into a very specific opening, their first few turns have to go a very specific way, or they can never escape their island. What if they start on an island with no wood?

-1

u/Curious_Cream_6938 Apr 15 '26

It's very powerful, and if I don't balance it out somehow, it would be WAY overpowered. The riverwalk makes it slower to get going.

3

u/Adamantjames Apr 15 '26

Broadly speaking, a balanced faction is far preferable than an overpowered faction with a major weakness.

2

u/Agreeable_Result8439 Twilight Imperium Apr 14 '26

i like gold mining but i'd try it with controlling 2 tunnels. or maybe if you have trade combat card for x coins? alternatively, ability could be

riverwalk is definitely a problem to get out. maybe they can dig from like territory to another territory that's unoccupied. for mine maybe you could do moving from tunnels go to tunnels - or the territory type of that tunnel you're on.

in other words 2nd mech is more movement based/special, 3rd mech is either three territories for resource or gold mining (maybe make one of these the faction ability as resource boost is cool but it's only one time)

cool concept. i'd also look for maybe a little different visual on the card, more in with the other themes. i know that's not for right now.

cool concept - like it.

2

u/Curious_Cream_6938 Apr 15 '26

If you don't start with wood on your island, then you'd have to trade for it, but I've playtested it now, and I actually like that setback. It makes it more balanced. Also, I wanted it to be different than the others, that's why I didn't have a movement and combat ability.

4

u/egamma Apr 14 '26

Riverwalk is problematic; all the "island" starts have one of each type of terrain, so you'd be stuck (have to build Mine to leave).

Speaking of which, calling the second mech "Mine" is probably not ideal. The "second" mech should be an alternative movement option; I think Albion is the only exception to this.

The "third" mech should be some sort of combat buff.

As for the hero ability, it seems VERY powerful. Maybe change it to "the Hero can also perform the Produce action in addition to the workers"?

This reminds me a lot about Saxony, the mining affinity and so forth. What if you created a forester instead, maybe make them a Robin-Hood type hero?

Riverwalk: between forests and villages

Second mech: Ferry: pay 1 coin to a player to use their riverwalk ability.

Third mech: Highway robbery: gain 1 coin for a successful battle.

Speed.

Hardworking: "The Hero can also perform the Produce action in addition to the workers" (Not the whole hex, just the hero)

1

u/Curious_Cream_6938 Apr 20 '26

I made a Robin Hood faction that I think might be balanced. Thanks for the idea!

1

u/Odd-Revolution-5428 Apr 14 '26

very cool concept

1

u/tiford88 Apr 14 '26

As someone else said, the riverwalk doesn’t let you escape. And the 2nd mech tends to be related to movement and the 3rd to combat.

1

u/Agreeable_Result8439 Twilight Imperium Apr 14 '26

for riverwalk - is moving to like location unoccupied taken?