In what was nearly a grievous oversight, I at first gave only a quick glance to reader DrObviousSo’s comment on my recent article hashing out a game idea. After all, I thought, this was basic economic stuff, like the second chapter of an Econ 101 class.

Then I realized the inherent assumption he was making, that I hadn’t been. The assumption was that every player can perform a finite amount of work on each turn. I had been assuming players would gain full resources from every controlled territory, like Settlers of Catan or Diplomacy or Axis & Allies. That left me with the thorny problem of how to keep the game one of trading and tactical aggression, rather than conquest. However, if you can only exploit a certain number of regions per turn no matter how many you own, the impetus for conquest is gone!

I’ve been thinking about this proto-game more and now have many more points:

• Players have 5 or so “workers.” Production is determined by where you have your workers go (forest, hills, etc.), the quality of those regions, and possibly other factors. However, you cannot increase your number of workers. So conquest may allow you better choice of resources to produce, or the opportunity to maximize production of a certain resource, but it won’t provide you a momentum-building resource advantage.
• Moving workers requires some small amount of resources. If a region you are working is “captured,” that worker doesn’t help on your next turn, but you get to move it somewhere else for free.
• The resources might include:
• Wood: Easy to anyone produce lots of, but needed for many ventures. Produced in forests, obviously.
• Iron: The cheapest way to improve your ability to attack or defend. However, not all players may have ready access to satisfactory amounts of iron. Produced in hills.
• Food: Important in small quantities everywhere. Can be produced pretty much anywhere, but some players may choose to take advantage of fertile locations or economy of scale, make extra, and trade it around. Unlike other resources, food spoils—a certain fraction of it is lost at the beginning of your turn if not spent. Produced in plains.
• Books: An abstraction for research and logistical planning. Produced in cities.
• Some other resource—perhaps Commerce, Trade Goods, or some other physical good?
• Some regions might produce more of a resource than others. For example, there might be particularly productive mines, dense forests, or large cities.
• To win the game, you have to complete five sub-goals. Three are common to all players. Two are drawn from a deck. There is a certain order they must be completed in, although you might be able to spend, say, Books to waive this restriction.

Intrepid reader John Rhoadhouse pointed out that “research” makes a bad resource because, after all, if a city is attacked, your scientists could just leave the city rather than continue doing research for your enemy. I think the “workers” mechanic makes this okay—you can just move your researchers to another town. And after all, the “workers” is just an abstraction for “where am I putting the strategic tax-collection and logistical resources of my government?”

Now that I have another board game backed up in my head, are you likely to see a prototype for it any time soon? No. However, you are a lot more likely to see a working prototype for Invasion as I get increasingly guilty about producing nothing on that front. Stay tuned.