While learning a new tabletop game can be difficult the first time in, I wanted to jump in and show just how The Genesys Project handles game play mechanic! Lets jump right in.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegenesysproject/the-genesys-project-revelations-and-exodus
GAME ROUNDS
The consists of 6 Game Rounds with an optional End Game element that can take the game into Rounds 7-10. In the event a game is close or your mission just needs another round you may can select any model still alive on the board to push the game using it's Command Characteristic (which is normally around 2-4 depending but could be higher) and roll a die adding to the Command of the model. If the result is equal or higher than the game round you want to take the game into, the game continues.
Yea, if the game is tight killing commanders is important. With tons of games played during the years playtesting we had only a single game reach Round 10. By then very little was left alive and they were fast and furious rounds of scrambling for our mission goals. Most often games are decided in 6, but Round 7 does occur.
PLAYER TURNS
Players alternate Player Turns during each round activating a number of squads equal to their Command Value (which is based on that Command Characteristic). This continues back and forth until each player has activated all the squads on the table.
ACTIVATIONS
Each squad may be activated once during a game round and consists of a Movement and an Action.
Movement is based upon your Movement Characteristic and all Characteristics are based on a 1-6, (mostly 2-4) with 3 being the most common Movement starting characteristic. You may move up to x3 movement but may also use your action to get another base movement out of your activation.
Actions most of the time involve Combat or other important activities. You may only have a single Action during your game round, and if you use it and are then later attacked you are considered exhausted. So only spend them when needed.
Reactionary Activations: You may once per opponents player activation do a reactionary activation. This interrupts gameplay, takes up one of your upcoming player turn activations and lowers your characteristic by 1. So if you were shooting at someone with a reactionary activation your Ranged Characteristic would be lowered by 1
Who Goes First in the Following Game Round? If you finish all your activations before your opponent you have the iniatitive for the next game round and go first! Your opponent can challenge that, but unless they are good at challenging or things are desperate the penalty for failure is a loss of Command Value for the Game Round.
Note that if you are loosing squads quickly to your opponent...... there is an excellent chance you will be going first next game round and can possibly change the course of the battle!
COMBAT
There are two types of Combat, Ranged and Melee which both work in the mostly the same manner except that in melee your opponent can choose to activate and fight back!
To hit someone in combat your roll a die and add your Martial or Ranged characteristic to it. If that number hits your opponents Target Number you hit!
So if I had a Ranged Skill of 3 and roll a 5 on a die the total is 8. If my target has a Ranged Target Number of 7 I hit!
Now my target gets to save against the attack. My opponent rolls a d6 and must equal the total number I rolled when I hit them with my attack.
So in the above example my total was a 7. If my target has a Toughness of 4 he must roll to equal or beat that number or take a wound.
If the number is too high that I cannot save on a d6 then the hit is a critical! Critical hits do additional damage and there is no save!
THE COMBAT SITUATION
In The Genesys Project all your situational modifiers are front loaded into what we call The Combat Situation. Before you roll to hit someone in combat both you and your opponent must combine any enhancements you have and compare them to each other to see which side has the advantage.
For example
- My ranged attackers are sitting on high ground and are stationary giving me a total of +2 Enhancements.
- My opponent who is moving quickly but is otherwise in the open has a +1 Enhancement for movement.
- This would give me a +1 advantage and that +1 is added to my die rolls to hit.
If my opponent had the advantage his bonuses would apply to his save against the hit!
Combat Situations are intuitive and come from the battlefield around you or from special traits and abilities. Here is an image on the possible Enhancements you can get from the Combat Situation.
Some special notes on these. While each bonus is generally 1, they can be higher than that. For example moving really fast may give you a +2 movement bonus. Soft Cover grants a +1 while hard cover a +2 Defensive bonus. These become very intuitive after doing them for a couple rounds of gameplay and are quickly calculated.
Charging into melee combat. You maintain your movement bonus through to your next activation. This means that if you are charging across the battlefield you maintain your charging bonus, even if its your opponents player turn and they charge into you! Both sides charging into each other for melee combat!
I hope that gives you a quick rundown of gameplay.
