Ascendancy

Under development

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This game is currently under development, in the Playtesting stage. Feedback is strongly encouraged! Feel free to give comments on game design or structure on the talk page.

Ascendancy
Dan Leonard
A turn-based game of tower building.
:Players	Players:	2 - 5
:Time	Length:	Fast
:Complexity	Complexity:	Easy
Trios per color:		5
Number of colors:		1 per player
Pyramid trios:
Monochr. stashes:		1 per player
Five-color sets:
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - -
2 dice, flat surface
Setup time:		1 minute
Playing time:		5 - 15
Strategy depth:		Low-Medium
Random chance:		Medium-High
Game mechanics:
Theme:		The wikipage input value is empty (e.g. <code>SomeProperty::, [[]]</code>) and therefore it cannot be used as a name or as part of a query condition.
BGG Link:
Status: Playtesting (v1.0), Year released: 2010

"Ascendancy" is a simple turn-based game that is loosely based on IceTowers. The game is simple and for everyone of any age.

Equipment

• 1 Icehouse stash per player
• 2 dice
• 1 flat surface

Terminology

• The player who owns the piece at the top of a tower is said to control that tower.
• A piece that has been placed directly onto the playing field and which has not yet been capped by another piece is said to be a solitary piece.
• If, at any point in a game, a player is not in control of any towers (not including solitary pieces), that player is said to be in a state of Inferiority.
• If, at any point in a game, a player is in control of all towers, that player is said to be in a state of Supremacy.
• If, at the end of a game, a player is in a state of Inferiority, that player is said to have achieved Subordination.
• If, at the end of a game, a player is in a state of Supremacy, that player is said to have achieved Ascendancy.

Preparation

Sit the players around the playing field (in two-player games, it makes no different whether you sit side-by-side in front of the playing field or face-to-face across it). Place each player's stash in front of them in stacks of the same size, i.e. one stack of five queens, one stack of five drones and one stack of five pawns. Each player's stash should be clearly separated from the playing field so as to avoid confusion.

Objective

To control the largest towers. See Scoring below for more details.

Gameplay

Pick a player to start. This player rolls two dice.

Placing a piece

For each die, the player should (if possible) place one of his/her pieces in the playing field according to the following rules:

• Roll 1 or 2: Place a pawn.
• Roll 3 or 4: Place a drone.
• Roll 5 or 6: Place a queen.

A piece may only be placed on top of a piece of the same size or larger, or placed alone on the table. A player cannot place a piece on his/her own colour.

If a player still has a piece of the size indicated by a die, the player must place that piece somewhere.

Splitting a tower

If a player has run out of the size of piece indicated by a die, the player may (if possible) split an existing tower. This should be done as follows:

• The tower split must not be controlled by the player
• The tower must be split so that the player controls one of the two smaller towers formed
• There must be at least one of the player's pieces in each of the new towers

A player is under no obligation to split a tower if a split is possible, and may pass on one or both of the dice, as long as they cannot place a piece with it.

Ending the game

The game ends when player has placed all of their stash. The score for each player is then counted.

Scoring

Players score points for towers they control at the end of the game.

• Players score 3 points for each queen in their towers, 2 points for each drone and 1 point for each pawn.
• A player's own pieces count towards their score, except for the pieces at the top of the towers, which earn no points for any player.
• Note that this means that solitary pieces do not score points for anybody.

The Winner

The winner is simply the person with the most points.

Notes

• This game has been playtested for two and three players, and seems to work pretty well for those numbers.
• I have listed it as up to five because if you have enough Treehouse sets for two-player, you have enough for five.
• If anybody does play if with more than three players, feedback would be appreciated. In fact, feedback from further playtesting of any kind would be helpful, and any ideas or suggestions would be considered.
• Thanks go to Simon Duffin, Ben Leonard and Sam Holland for help with playtesting and refinement.