ButtonMen Battle

ButtonMen Battle

ButtonMen Battle is an attempt to introduce a boardgame play typical for strategy war games like Risk into ButtonMen. The board is a map divided into several territories. Buttons are used as armies and players move them on the board and fight to claim territories.

Rules

One player will coordinate decision-making (how many armies each player will have, etc) and setup at the start of the game.

Each player picks the same number of buttons (usually 2) which will represent their armies (in the rules below words "army" and "button" will be used interchangeably). All Tournament Legal buttons are eligible. Each player also selects a color to mark their armies on the map. The number of players and the number of buttons picked by each player depends on the map, and will be decided before the game starts.

Once everyone makes their picks, players and armies will be randomly placed on the map. The map is divided into territories, so at the start of the game each player controls the same number of territories - usually 2 territories, adjacent to each other, with 1 army on each territory. The starting setup will be optimised so that each player is adjacent to approximately the same number of opponents.

Example: A map of Belgium, with each player controling 2 territories at the start of the game. Blue is adjacent to all 4 opponents, while each other player is adjacent to 3 opponents.

The game is played in rounds. In each round every player chooses one of their armies and attacks opponent's army which is controlling an adjacent territory. Player simply sets up a game against the other player using relevant buttons and publishes the game number on the forum adding information about armies and territories (for exapmle red player would write: Army A from Liege attacks Army B from Namur, game=12345). On a single turn, one army may attack only one oppoenent on particular territory, but can be attacked by multiple armies from different territories.

In a round each player needs to make a move and post their move on the forum. There is no fixed order of the moves (if two players post their move in the same time, the first post takes precedence and the latter needs to be revised, if in conflict). Instead of attacking, players may also write "pass" if at least one of their armies is already involved in a battle setup by a different player and they dont want to make a new attack. So each round each player needs to play at least one matchup.

Also, there can not be two matchpus between the same armies at the same time - if opponent uses their army A to attack my army B, I can not fight back using army B to attack army A, as this would create a second identical matchup between A and B buttons.

Once all games in a round are finished, the actions are resolved (check Resolve Actions below) and next round is played. When player does not control any territories, they are out of the game. If at the end of a round any player controls more than half of map (half of territories plus one), they win the game..

Resolving actions

In a simple matchup between two buttons the winner of the game gains control of the territory of the one who lost. The winning army gets split and covers two territories - player will have the same button on both original and captured territory. Note that territories remain separate and need to be captured separately.

If the losing army does not control other territories, it is removed from the game.

In case one army plays two games (or more) with different opponents, it fights on multiple fronts. If the army wins both games, it gains control of two new territories. If it wins one game and loses the other, it moves to the territory which was won and loses the territory owned so far. However if the army loses both games, its territory will be claimed by the opponent's army wich won most convincingly. There can be no ties, so if both games ended with the same result, there may be a need to count small points (form each round) to determine the winner.

If a player has both armies involved in a battle against one opponents army and they both win, player may decide which army claims the territory.

If other more complicated situations occur, they will be resolved during the game together by all players.

Example of gameplay

Here is an example of a first round in a game. Imagine we have 4 players (yellow is not playing): Adam (red), Beth (green), Chad (blue) and Dan (black). Each player has 2 buttons as their armies and the names of the buttons are written in the coloured circles. Players make the following moves:

• Adam (red) picks his Angel from Luxembourg and attacks Bauer (green), who controls Namur.
• Beth (green) decides to use Bauer to attack Coil (blue) controling Walloon Brabant.
• Chad (blue) decides to pass, as his button (Coil) is already involved in a battle.
• Dan (black) picks Dirgo and attacks Aldric (red) who controls Liege.

So the above matchups get played on the ButtonMen website with the following results:

Angel beats Bauer 3-2

Coil beats Bauer 3-1

Dirgo beats Aldric 3-1

We resolve the actions:

• In Dirgo vs Aldric game, both buttons were involved only in this one game, so the result is easy - Dirgo wins and takes over the territory from Aldric (Liege). Aldric does not control any more territories, so thisamry is removed from the game. Red player is down to one army and one territory.

• Bauer fights in two games and loses both. Angel won 3-2 while Coil won 3-1. Coil won most convincingly, so Coil takes over the territory from Bauer (if both games ended with the same result, we would look into the small points - nr of sides - gained in each round by each button, to determine who had bigger advantage). Note that Angel, despite winning a game, does not win any territory.

The map on the left shows the situation after the first round. Players Black and Blue control 3 territories now, while Green and Red control one territory. Green and Red both lost one army (Bauer and Aldric). Note that Black and Blue each have an army controlling two territories (Dirgo and Coil). Those territories remain separate and in order to fully destroy the armies both territories need to be captured (those armies need to lose 2 games).

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First BM Battle Game

Map: Belgium

Players: Kaori (green), Irilyth (purple), ElihuRoot (yellow), Blinkingline (grey), AnnoDomini (black).

Starting setup is shown on the map on the right.

Game 1, starting setup

Round 1 moves and results:

• Jellybean (East Flanders) attacks Konami (Antwerp) and loses 2-3
• Lascivia (Namur) attacks Giant (Liege) and wins 3-0
• Flying Squirrel (Luxembourg) attacks Lascivia (Namur) and loses 1-3
• Von Pinn (Flemish Brabant) attacks Lucky (Limburg) and loses 2-3
• Konami (Antwerp) attacks Von Pinn (Flemish Brabant) and wins 3-2

Situation after round 1

Resolving actions after round 1:

• Konami gains control of East Flanders
• Lascivia gains control of Liege and Namur.
• Lucky and Konami both won their battles for Flemish Brabant. As both armies belong to the same player, Kaori can decide which army moves to new territory. She picks Lucky.

Map on the right shows situation after round 1. Both armies of Blinkingline lost their battles so Blinkingline is eliminated from the game. AnnoDomini and ElihuRoot have 1 army left, while Kaori and Irilyth have 2 armies.

Round 2 moves and results:

• Echo b. Patience 3-1 for Wallon Brabant
• Spite b. Konami 3-0 for East Flanders
• Lascivia b. Lucky 3-0 for Flemish Brabant
• Patience b. Lucky 3-0 for Flemish Brabant

Situation after round 2

Resolving actions after round 2:

• Echo gains control of Walloon Brabant
• Spike gains control of East Flanders
• Lascivia and Patience both won against Lucky 3-0. Small points show the more convincing win (57pts advantage vs 12pts) was that from Patience, who captures Flemish Brabant.

Map on the right shows situation after round 2. Irilyth controls 5 lands, Kaori and AnnoDomini control 2 terirtories while ElihuRoot is down to 1 territory.

Round 3 moves and results:

• 

  Situation after round 3
  Patience beats Echo 3-2 and ElihuRoot regains control over Wallon Brabant
• Lascivia beats Lucky 3-1 and Irilyth captures Limburg. Lucky does not control any land and is out of the game.
• Spite beats Echo 3-2. AnnoDomini wins Hainault and Echo is eliminated as it does not control any land.
• Spite wins 3-2 against Konami and Spite gains Antwerp.

As both Konami and Lucky have been defeated, it looks like Kaori does not have any army left, thus becomes a second player out of the game.

We have therefore 3 players left and each of them has 1 button. Irilyth with Lascivia and AnnoDomini with Spite have 4 territories each, while ElihuRoot with Patience has 2 territories.

Round 4 results are as follows:

Situation after round 4

• Lascivia beats Spite 3-0 and gains Hainaut
• Patience beats Spite 3-1 and gains Antwerp
• Patience beats Lascivia 3-2 and gains Limburg

The map on the right shows the situation after round 4. Now two players control 4 lands each (ElihuRoot and Irilyth). AnnoDomini, who lost both games is down to 2 lands.

Round 5 games and results:

• Lascivia beats Patience 3-2 and gains Limburg
• Lascivia beats Patience 3-2 again and gains Walloon Brabant
• Spite beats Patience 3-2 and gains Antwerp

As a result Irilyth with Lascivia gains control of 6 lands and becomes the winner of the game (first player to capture more than half of territories). AnnoDomini takes 2nd place with 3 lands and ElihuRoot takes 3rd with 1 land.

Final result:

1. Irilyth - 6 lands
2. AnnoDomini - 3 lands
3. ElihuRoot - 1 land
4. Kaori - eliminated in round 3
5. Blinkingline - eliminated in round 1

Second BM game

As lessons learned from the first game, several rules have been changed for the second edition. Here is the list of new roulings:

• Pre-set order of players moves - like in a boardgame where the next player is the one on the left. Random order for the first round, then 2nd player in round 1 becomes first player in round 2 ect.
• Selected set of buttons to pick from based on their win %.
• Additional mandatory battle in the next round when 2 buttons fight for a single space (instead of a "most convicing win" rule).
• Buttons are tied to locations - when player captures a new territory, it also gains control of a new army.

Map: Lesotho

Situation at the beggining of the game

Players: Irilyth, Gauen, Kaori, ElihuRoot, AnnoDomini

Order of moves in Round1:

1. Irilyth
2. Kaori
3. ElihuRoot
4. AnnoDomini
5. Gauen

Results after round 1:

• Randy beats Horace 3/2/1
• Dixie beats The James Beast 3/2/0
• Massachusetts beats Horace 3/1/0
• Horace beats Gil 3/1/0
• Massachusetts beats Gil 3/0/0

So after round 1 only gauen gains 1 land while other players fight over Horace and Gil territories (mandatory battles for the second round. Updated map on the right

Situation after round 1. Tie-breaker battles continue in round 2 for grey areas.

Order of moves for round 2:

1. Kaori (cannot attack with Gil as this territory was lost, we just dont know to whom)
2. ElihuRoot
3. AnnoDomini
4. Gauen
5. Irilyth (cannot attack with Horace as this territory was lost, we just dont know to whom)

Mandatory tie-breaker battles:

• Randy vs Massachussets (over Horace province)
• Horace vs Massachussets (over Gil province)

Here are the results from round 2:

• New Jersey vs Death 3/0/0    

• Massachusetts vs Horace 1/3/0

• South Carolina vs Craptacualr 2/3/0

• Massachusetts vs Randy 3/2/0

• Randy vs New Jersey 3/2/0

• James Beast vs Craptacualr 2/3/0

Situation after round 2.

Resolving actions:

1. Horace beats Massachusetts, so Irilyth gains control over Gil land.
2. Masachusetts beats Randy, so Gauen gains control over Horace land.
3. New Jersey beats Death, so Kaori gains control of Death region.
4. South Carolina loses to Craptacualr, which means Irilyth gains South Carolina and AnnoDomini loses its last region
5. Randy beats New Jersey so ElihuRoot gains control of NJ
6. Craptacualr beats James Beast, so Irilyth wins this territory from gauen.

Therefore the situation after round 2 is as follows (map on the right updated)

1. Irilyth leads with 4 lands
2. Gauen is second with 3 lands
3. ElihuRoot is third with 2 lands
4. Kaori is fourth with 1 land left
5. AnnoDomini is out of the game.

Round 3 results:

• Death (Kaori) vs Randy (ElihuRoot) 3/1/0
• The James Beast (Irilyth) beats Dixie (gauen) 3/2/0
• Horace (gauen) beats Randy (ElihuRoot) 3/2/0
• Gil (Irilyth) beats New Jersey (ElihuRoot) 3/0/0

ElihuRoot is out of the game as he lost both matches.

Irilyth on the other hand has won both matches and claimed 2 new territories - he now controls 6 provinces which is more than half of the map and thus wins the game!!! Congratulations!