Here are the design goals I have for Invasion. Hopefully, my intuition and playing-in-my-head has taken taken the game most of the way and playtesting and brainstorming can finish this into a great, enjoyable design.

Summary: Area-control game with emphasis on risk management and bidding for opportunities.

Weight: Light, just north of filler. I would like the playtime to be 20-30 minutes.

Players: 3-5. If it can fit a 6th without descending into chaos or dragging that would be great. Likewise, if it happens to work well with 2 that would be gravy. If tweaks to the map are required to make it work with 3 or 5 that would be OK but inelegant.

Feel: The game should feel chaotic–players should be able to plan for the current turn and a general strategy for the future, but not specific actions for next turn. However, the feeling should be chaos: “Events are going to come up that we’re all going to have to deal with” rather than favor “I got a bad roll, player B got a good roll.”

Inasmuch as it would be possible for a player to get a good roll or bad roll, it should be a deliberate risk-management choice: for instance, a player is falling behind on score so he narrows his focus to a certain small area, ignoring all others. Then in the unlikely event that region is scored several times in a row he can win; more likely, his hopes don’t come true and the plan falls flat.