A new take on the rules of cyvasse, with a complete rulebook and print-and-play pdf

[Cyvasser]

Here's a picture of the board, set up with pieces scavenged from other games.

And here are the rules and components.

There are already a couple other rulesets out there, so I'll list the major features that set this one apart:

- The board is made up of tiles, each comprised of multiple squares, which can be flipped, rotated and interchanged. This creates some interesting decisions during setup, while preventing things like completely surrounding the king with mountains. It's also the most faithful to the text, in my opinion.

- Because you can set your up side of the board however you like, your and your opponent's pieces start out very close, and captures can happen on turn one. There is no 'early game' like in chess, where new players will have no idea what to do; this is essentially replaced by the setup phase.

- The pieces behave pretty closely to their namesakes. That is, you don't have crossbows and catapults flying across the board to make captures, or elephants that can only move on diagonals, etc. The pieces move mostly the same way, just over varying distances — they are distinguished more by special rules and other properties.

- In order to distinguish ranged pieces from hand-to-hand, and light from heavy (e.g. light horse and heavy horse) there's a mechanic called 'engagement'. Pieces like horses and spears engage enemy pieces they're next to, while pieces like crossbows and dragons can engage from further away. Heavy pieces have to be engaged by two others before they can be captured, light pieces only by one.

Essentially, this version plays like chess, taken a step or two in the direction of a modern war game, and with a modular board that spices up the early game but still doesn't let you turtle too extremely. It's also very faithful to the text: the biggest liberty I've taken is to assume that 'catapult' and 'trebuchet' refer to the same piece.

Any and all feedback is appreciated! If you play a game, please let me know how it goes; the only way to improve from here is with more playtesting.

[BreastplateWithNipples]

Is it any fun to play?

[FuriousGeorge]

What is the meaning of 'turtle too extremely'?

[The Drunkard]

What is the meaning of 'turtle too extremely'?

To turtle is to go full-on defense mode. Just to sit inside your shell and make little, if any, offensive movements. To turtle "too extremely" I assume would mean making a perfect defense set-up and then do nothing, forcing the enemy to attack you and die, or also do nothing, in which case the game would suck.

[armidil0]

Have you played it yet? That is always the best way to find loopholes and game breakers. I want to get some of my friends to play some form of cyvasse, but they don't want to "play a broken game" which I think is part of hte appeal. :dunno:

If I can convince them it has been test played at least a little bit I might have more luck and can give better feedback.

Looks like a really small board, and the light horses can move three spaces, and go beyond the captured piece. This looks like a quick and hectic game. Pieces everywhere kind of thing.

[FuriousGeorge]

To turtle is to go full-on defense mode. Just to sit inside your shell and make little, if any, offensive movements. To turtle "too extremely" I assume would mean making a perfect defense set-up and then do nothing, forcing the enemy to attack you and die, or also do nothing, in which case the game would suck.

This is literally a perfect description of how I play risk when I start with Australia

[Cyvasser]

Is it any fun to play?

I think it's fun! I've played a handful of games. I find it plays like chess, but a bit more exciting IMO.

To turtle is to go full-on defense mode. Just to sit inside your shell and make little, if any, offensive movements. To turtle "too extremely" I assume would mean making a perfect defense set-up and then do nothing, forcing the enemy to attack you and die, or also do nothing, in which case the game would suck.

Exactly, thanks.

Have you played it yet? That is always the best way to find loopholes and game breakers. I want to get some of my friends to play some form of cyvasse, but they don't want to "play a broken game" which I think is part of hte appeal. :dunno:

If I can convince them it has been test played at least a little bit I might have more luck and can give better feedback.

Looks like a really small board, and the light horses can move three spaces, and go beyond the captured piece. This looks like a quick and hectic game. Pieces everywhere kind of thing.

I've played it with others a few times. I'm confident there's nothing broken mechanically, but the variable setup means there's a huge meta-game possibility space, so I can't tell how balanced it is on that level. And yes it's hectic, but less than you might think due to the engagement mechanic.

[jobmartell]

When my minds eye pictured this game during reading, for some reason I saw a "pop up" aspect to the board. Like a old school pop up book, but a mountain range or something similar in relation. Or seperate parts to the whole?

[jobmartell]

When my minds eye pictured this game during reading, for some reason I saw a "pop up" aspect to the board. Like a old school pop up book, but a mountain range or something similar in relation. Or seperate parts to the whole?

[jobmartell]

Sorry ^

[finger]

Here's a picture of the board, set up with pieces scavenged from other games.

And here are the rules and components.

There are already a couple other rulesets out there, so I'll list the major features that set this one apart:

- The board is made up of tiles, each comprised of multiple squares, which can be flipped, rotated and interchanged. This creates some interesting decisions during setup, while preventing things like completely surrounding the king with mountains. It's also the most faithful to the text, in my opinion.

- Because you can set your up side of the board however you like, your and your opponent's pieces start out very close, and captures can happen on turn one. There is no 'early game' like in chess, where new players will have no idea what to do; this is essentially replaced by the setup phase.

- The pieces behave pretty closely to their namesakes. That is, you don't have crossbows and catapults flying across the board to make captures, or elephants that can only move on diagonals, etc. The pieces move mostly the same way, just over varying distances — they are distinguished more by special rules and other properties.

- In order to distinguish ranged pieces from hand-to-hand, and light from heavy (e.g. light horse and heavy horse) there's a mechanic called 'engagement'. Pieces like horses and spears engage enemy pieces they're next to, while pieces like crossbows and dragons can engage from further away. Heavy pieces have to be engaged by two others before they can be captured, light pieces only by one.

Essentially, this version plays like chess, taken a step or two in the direction of a modern war game, and with a modular board that spices up the early game but still doesn't let you turtle too extremely. It's also very faithful to the text: the biggest liberty I've taken is to assume that 'catapult' and 'trebuchet' refer to the same piece.

Any and all feedback is appreciated! If you play a game, please let me know how it goes; the only way to improve from here is with more playtesting.

More, tell me more.

Where can you find it, or shall you make your own board and make do with some pieces taken form a toy-shop?

Is there any Tyrion's on-line cyvasse school?

And my friends playing f**king bridge. They know nothing.

Eta: Any do-it-yourself tube? On-line game? I DO have to play it

Eta 2: I see you include the instructions to make the board. The problem is with the pieces now

[Ser Pounce FTW]

This looks impressive. I think all it needs is some artwork on the board. I would be interested in playing. Do you know people who code? It looks like it might be fun playing online, too.

[Cyvasser]

When my minds eye pictured this game during reading, for some reason I saw a "pop up" aspect to the board. Like a old school pop up book, but a mountain range or something similar in relation. Or seperate parts to the whole?

The board is pieced together from tiles, but it's all flat. The Xs on the board represent the mountains.

More, tell me more.

Where can you find it, or shall you make your own board and make do with some pieces taken form a toy-shop?

Is there any Tyrion's on-line cyvasse school?

And my friends playing f**king bridge. They know nothing.

Eta: Any do-it-yourself tube? On-line game? I DO have to play it

Eta 2: I see you include the instructions to make the board. The problem is with the pieces now

Your best bet may be to print out the icons for the pieces (the last page of the components pdf) then cut them out and scotch-tape them to coins or checkers.

This looks impressive. I think all it needs is some artwork on the board. I would be interested in playing. Do you know people who code? It looks like it might be fun playing online, too.

If I have some time this summer, I'd like to make an application that lets you play hot seat. Online multiplayer may be beyond my capabilities, but if someone else is up to it they definitely have my blessing!

[A Man Has Said]

Fantastic! I was wondering when someone was going to get around to inventing this game that GRRM has only hinted at. I can hardly wait to find someone who actually wants to play a few games with me. Thank you VERY much.

Kudos for your efforts. :bowdown:

[Cyvasser]

Fantastic! I was wondering when someone was going to get around to inventing this game that GRRM has only hinted at. I can hardly wait to find someone who actually wants to play a few games with me. Thank you VERY much.

Kudos for your efforts. :bowdown:

Thanks! :) Let me know how it goes when you've played. If you have any questions about the rules or anything, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

[Nephew of Dragons]

Jeez, how did you piece all this together without George's help? It's really impressive...

[Cyvasser]

Jeez, how did you piece all this together without George's help? It's really impressive...

The few descriptions of the game and the scenes in which it's played actually provide a pretty complete picture of what role most of the pieces play. There's also an interview with Martin where he describes cyvasse as a combination of chess, Blitzkrieg, and Stratego, so that says a lot about how the game is supposed to feel. There are also a few very specific details in the text if you pay attention. For example, The customs officer moves his trebuchet to capture.

From there, the most difficult part by far was figuring out how to implement the modular board in a way that didn't actually detract from the game -- earlier ideas I had for the board made it too big, or too long, or made it possible to wall off completely.

[TheGingerDynamo]

Thanks! :) Let me know how it goes when you've played. If you have any questions about the rules or anything, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

My buddy printed out a set and we played a few games together and I just want to say this is a great game. The mechanics are super fun and we had a lot of fun setting up the board in different configurations. Thank you for your time and effort in creating this!

We did come up with a few questions while playing about the Dragon and the Trebuchet.

After reading the rules we couldn't decided if the Trebuchet could capture a lightly or zero armored unit by itself if the captured unit was at the edge of the Trebuchet's engagement range of four. My friend figured that after moving the Trebuchet back to capture, the engaged piece would then be outside of the Trebuchet's engagement range at 5 tiles, but the rest of us figured the Trebuchet was just that awesome and could take pieces at the edge of it's engagement range as long as no other units were in the way.

We also had a question about capturing unarmored units with the Dragon. We figured the Dragon could fly over enemy units to capture a crossbowman or a Trebuchet, since they didn't need to be engaged to be captured.

The games that we did play were awesome and super balanced, with a few unexpected comebacks. I'm definitely going to recommend this version over the other Cyvasse sets out there.

[Cyvasser]

The games that we did play were awesome and super balanced, with a few unexpected comebacks. I'm definitely going to recommend this version over the other Cyvasse sets out there.

That's great to hear! Thanks for writing that up, and sorry about the late response.

Regarding the rules, it sounds like you got it right. Whether you can capture a piece is always determined *before* you execute the capture, so the trebuchet is as awesome as you figured. Looking back at the rulebook, I think the trebuchet's text is clear on that, but the picture doesn't demonstrate its full range, so I'll probably change it. And yes, The dragon can pick off unengaged but unarmored pieces hiding behind the front lines. The trick is to make sure your opponent can't do that without losing his dragon.

By the way, if you find the game starts to drag on, I've been thinking of a few rule changes that could speed things up:

- Spears and crossbows can be moved two-at-a-time like rabble. (There's a strong case to be made that this is closer to how it works in the books.)

- The trebuchet can jump over friendly pieces like the king jumps over towers.

- You can also win by moving your king onto your opponent's side of the board.

Also, I'd be very interested to know how building the set and learning/teaching the rules went.

[TheGingerDynamo]

My friend actually built the gameboard and all the pieces. The one thing he said he would have done differently would be to raise the middle line of squares so its flush with the tiles once you put them down.

Teaching the game was a lot of fun too, we were all really learning it together, and for a while missed out on some pieces key abilities, like the elephants charge attack. At first we thought a pair of elephants on the board was a strong defensive tactic, but then we found out we could plough right through lines with them.

Moving two spears at a time sounds like a good idea, because in the games we played we didn't find the spears to have a lot of utility. I think moving two crossbows would make them way too overpowered though. They're already so strong. The King moving victory could be exploited too, I think. Like a king could run to the other side of the board and win.

I haven't played any games lately cos I moved and haven't found anybody interested yet, but when I do I'll be sure to post the results here.

Thanks again man!