Heretics of Hexland 2: The New Land
A game of colonisation for 4-8 players
While the original Hexland, conquered and carved up after the death of the Leviathan, was overseen by the hegemony of the East Hexland Company; intrepid sailors dared to sail north to seek out fresh lands once guarded by the great beast. Whilst many were lost in the seething froth of the ocean dark, a few settlers from a handful of heretical civilisations washed ashore on a fresh island. Is this the last unsullied paradise? Or just one of an vast untapped archipelago? And which civilisation will get to name this new land?Sign-ups open for a turn-based colonisation game in a fantasy world. Each player controls a rival expedition from a civilisation of their making. Each expedition is made up of one species that is beholden to a heresy. These civilisations vie for control of Hexland. If you want an idea of what this looks like,
check out the last game (though some changes have since been made to the rules). Think of this as a mixture of
Civilisation,
Small World and
Diplomacy.
Civilisation Name: [this can be whatever you like]
Colour: [Choose your preferred colour for your civilisation's borders]
Heresy: [pick from the list below. This gives you a special action.]
Species : [pick form the list below. This changes the way one rule works for you. You can pick the same heresy or species as someone else, but not both so have a look at what other people have picked.]
Population: 1 [This starts out at 1 unless something else says otherwise.]
Population Range: 1-1 [Unless stated otherwise, you have population minimum of 1 + the number of cities you control, and a population maximum (cap) of the number of territories + cities you hold, so 1-1 at the beginning.]
Heterodox
The tolerant Heterodox embrace diversity and cultural interchange, believing that the truth is a prism that splits enlightenment into many beams.
Favoured Terrain: None
Victory Bonus: +2 points for every civilisation alive at the end of the game.
Co-opt - For this turn only, gain the species power of any other species currently in play.
Season: All (can only be used once per season)
Cost: 1 action
Mimic - For this turn only, gain the favoured terrain of one other civilisation currently in play.
Season: Any (once a season only)
Cost: 1 action
Shaker
They like to sit and tremble in awe at the world.
Favoured Terrain: Mountains
Victory Bonus: +1 point for any mountain tile you own
Tremble - Convert a mountain tile that you own or neighbour into a plain, any fortification or city is lost on the tile.
Season: All
Cost: 2 actions
Raise - Convert a non-mountain tile you own into a mountain.
Season: All
Cost: 2 actions.
Aquatic
They worship the dead Leviathan, and foresee the waters reclaiming all land.
Favoured Terrain: Lakes
Victory Bonus: +1 point for any owned lake tile
Channel: Create a river line on a border that joins an existing river line. A river line cannot form the border between any tile and an ocean tile. If a non-mountain tile is completely surrounded by river lines, it turns into a lake. Example: Channel the river to the southwest of 21 to the southeast of 21. (The only direction in Hexland are NE, E, SE, SW, W and NW.). A river line cannot border an ocean tile.
Season: All
Cost: 1 action
Deluge - Turn a non-mountain tile that you own or neighbour into lake tile. If the tile is a lake tile, it instead turns into an ocean tile.
Season: All
Cost: 2 action
Levellers
They believe the Final Age will be ushered in only when all the world is completely levelled, one vast empty wasteland.
Favoured Terrain: Desert
Victory Bonus: +1 point for any owned desert tile
Scorch Earth - Convert a non-mountain tile you own into desert.
Season: All
Cost: 1 action
Brutal Raid - Raid and Raze a neighbouring tile at the same time (i.e., the tile turns to desert and is no longer owned by anyone, you gain +2 actions for razing and +2 actions if that tile had a field on it). You cannot conquer a tile on the same turn as you brutally raid it.
Season: All
Cost: 2 actions
Bountiful
They believe that the world is already a paradise and they intend to keep it that way.
Favoured Terrain: Forest
Victory Bonus: +1 point for any owned forest tile
Forage - Gain a +1 population from a forest tile. Cannot be used more than once on the same tile in the same season.
Season: Summer only.
Cost: 1 action
Fecund - Convert a plains tile you own or neighbour into a forest tile.
Season: All
Cost: 1 action
Arid
Victory Bonus: +1 for any owned non-ocean tiles that were ocean tiles at the start of play.
The Arid, survivors of doomed battles with the Leviathan, hate the ocean and call upon arcane powers to eradicate it.
Reclaim - Change a neighboring or owned ocean tile into a desert tile.
Season: All
Cost: 2 actions
Shore up - Remove all rivers bordering a single tile. This counts as an improvement action.
Season: Summer, Winter
Cost: 1 action
Vile
These ne'er-do-wells have dedicated their life to destruction and suffering.
Favoured Terrain: None
Victory Bonus: +1 point for every time a civilisation is wiped out.
Sacrifice - Reduce your population by one (down to your minimum population: if you have three cities and five population, you can only sacrifice once). Gain two additional actions for this turn only.
Season: All
Cost: 1 action
Enslave - Conquer a hex and gain +1 population at the end of your turn instead of losing population (when you conquer, your pop cap always increases anyway).
Season: Fall and Autumn
Cost: 2 actions + defence of the terrain
Builder
The Builders seek to urbanise the world, turning all in a citadel pointed towards eternity.
Favoured Terrain: None
Victory Bonus: +1 point for any city tile you own.
Tower - Build a city on a tile (of any kind) you own. This action can only be performed once per turn. A tile cannot be Razed and Towered in the same turn.
Season: All
Cost: 1 action
Industrious Improve - Take one Improve action.
Season: Summer, Winter
Cost: 0 actions (once per season only)
Apostate
These are the heretic's heretics, splinter movements that have strange beliefs and little coherence.
Favoured Terrain: None
Victory Bonus: None
Apocryphal Dogma - When you choose Apostate, pick two actions belonging to any other heresies (say, Brutal Raid and Deluge). These are your actions and they have the same restrictions as normal.
Human: Start with population of 2, a population cap of 2 and a minimum population of 1.
The Doge's Men: Owned lake tiles are +1 defense, river lines give +1 defense when defending.
Ents: Forests do not offer a penalty to expanding.
Beetleswarm: When one of your tiles is conquered, attacker loses two population.
Spiders: Can Improve all year round.
Monkeys: Can Raid fortified tiles.
Antmen: Antmen fortifications give +2 defence to the tile.
Vultures: -1 action (minimum 1) required to conquer desert tiles and desert tiles give +1 defence when occupied.
Djinn: Can Grow on desert tiles
Merfolk: Ocean tiles that you don't own have 0 defence when expanding or conquering.
Parakeetkin: Can grow fields in forests.
Trolls: Mountain tiles are +1 defence when occupied, but -1 defence when conquering and expanding.
Swine: Harvesting a tile reaps double the population increase.
Letterbeasts: Can expand in Fall.
Impossibulls: Can cease to exist: on any of your turns you may take your victory score. All tiles you occupy are now uncontested and you leave the game.
Poults: Can build cities on fields and grow fields on cities without destroying either.
Ghosts: Ignores fortifications and city defence when conquering and fortifications aren't destroyed on conquering.
The game takes place over five years, after which the New Age will begin, as all heresies agree. Each year is made up of four seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter), and each turn takes exactly one season. (So each player gets 20 turns in the game). On your turn you may take a number of actions equal to your population number. Increasing your population mid-turn doesn't give you additional actions for that turn. You have a maximum population equal to the number of tiles you control + the number of cities you own. You have a minimum population equal to 1 + the number of cities you own (your population can't be forced beneath this number).
On your first turn, pick a
coastal embarkation point that is on land. Embarking doesn't cost an action.
Types of Actions
All actions cost 1 action unless otherwise stated.
Grow: Convert a plain tile you own into a field tile. (You cannot grow in the same tile as a city.)
Harvest: Convert a field tile you own into a plains tile. Gain +1 population.
Expand: Take over a neighbouring uncontested territory. This costs +1 extra action per defence of terrain (not including rivers crossed).
Conquer: Take over a neighbouring contested territory. This costs +1 extra action per defence of terrain. Both the conquered region and the conquerers lose 1 population, to a minimum of 1. All fields and fortifications in the conquered hex are destroyed.
Dismantle: for one action do one of:
Remove from a tile you own one of: a fortification, a city.
Convert a field into a plain without harvesting
or Abandon a territory you own, turning it into a neutral territory (destroying fortifications but leaving everything else intact).
Raze: Turn an owned plain or field into a desert, this tile ceases to be in your ownership at the end of your turn. Gain +2 actions for this turn only.
Raid: Turn a field tile you neighbour into a plains tile. Gain +2 actions for this turn only. A fortified tile cannot be raided. You cannot raid then conquer the same tile in the same turn.
Improve: Change a tile or river line or create a terrain feature, as follows:
Drain: Remove a single river line. If a lake tile has no river tiles next to it, it turns into a plain.
Deforest: Turn a forest tile into a plains tile.
Build City: Build a city on plain or favoured terrain.
Fortify: Increase the defence of the tile by +1 (a tile can only ever be fortified once, and conquered terrain loses its fortifications)
Irrigate: Turn a desert tile that is next to a river line into a plain.
Actions for Each Season
Spring - Grow, Expand, Raze, Raid, Dismantle
Summer - Expand, Improve, Raze, Raid, Improve, Dismantle
Fall - Harvest, Conquer, Raze, Raid, Dismantle
Winter - Conquer, Raze, Raid, Improve, Dismantle
The Red Civilisation has population 2. In Spring, they expand into a neighbouring sector and grow a field. Come Fall, they'll be able to Harvest that field to increase their population (and thus their number of actions per turn) by one.
The winner is the player who's civilisation has the most victory points at the end of the game, or whoever's left alive. Victory points are calculated as the number of territories owned, plus any bonus points given by the player's heresy.
In any given round, players take it in turns to act. The turn order is intially decided in order of population number (lowest first), with ties broken by species+heresy order (heterodox humans first, apostate ghosts last; in case of tie, the lower species wins). A player has a number of actions equal to their starting population (if they increase their population during a turn, it doesn't give them more population to use that turn).
When selecting a tile to act on, just give its number (e.g. Expand to 12, raze 43, build city on 28).
Terrain typesDesert
Colour: Beige
Defence: 0
Plain
Colour: Light green
Defence: 0
Field
Colour: Yellow
Defence: 0
Forest
Colour: Dark Green
Defence: 1
Lake
Colour: Light Blue
Defence: 1
(If a non-mountain tile is completely surrounded by rivers, it turns into a lake. If a lake tile has no river lines bordering it, it turns into a plain)
Mountain
Colour: Grey
Defence: 2
Ocean
Colour: Dark Blue
Defence: 3
(Oceans do not count towards terrain victory points. An ocean tile that is surrounded by land turns into a lake tile. An Ocean tile cannot be fortified. Ocean tiles do increase population cap like any other tile.)
Terrain FeaturesCity
Shape: Three towers in the colour of the civ
Defence: +1
(Cities add +1 to the base population of a civ. E.g. a civ with three cities can never fall below population 4, no matter how many times they're raided or no matter the number of conquests they are a part of.)
Rivers
Colour: Light Blue
Defence: +1 when conquering civilisation has to cross the river to enter the hex
(Rivers are in between borders)
Fortification
Colour: Same colour as the controlling Civ.
Shape: Shield symbols, the number of which represent the strength of the fortification (usually 1)
Defence: +1
1. Dariush
2. GreatWyrmGold
3. monk12
4. darkpaladin109
5. cerapa
6. a1s
Replacements- [Could be you!]
Turns will be processed at the end of each season. If a player does not submit an action within 36 hours of the last turn, their go may be taken by the mod. If a player is skipped twice in a row, they may be put up for replacement. When (as in the early game) your turn couldn't be constrained by the actions of players earlier in the turn cycle, feel free to submit your actions for the season out of turn. As a strict order of action resolution is maintained, feel free to edit your season's action if someone earlier in the turn order posts their action after you. Actions are always submitted publicly, but players are allowed to communicate privately if they wish as well as in-thread. It is possible to end the game prematurely through diplomatic resolution. Any queries, feel free to ask.
