Games Day 2013: Jervis' Game

As part of my joke post earlier, I included a photo of a little mini game that Jervis was showing off at Games Day.

As a note, by the way, this photo is of me just having beaten Jervis at his new game. This feels like it should come with a little achievement badge or something, although I know Jervis mentions he's not necessarily the luckiest man alive when it comes to winning war games...

So, here's my attempt to explain it and its rules.

This is a 'scouting' game as an alternative to rolling dice to determine who goes first in a game of 40K. The set up consists of a simple grid with five columns, numbered one to five (the small green dice on the centre line). Each player places five models in their starting positions at their 'edge'. The objective of the game is to have three of your figures across the centre line.

Each player takes it in turns to roll five dice. You are trying to get runs of three or more or sixes (and possibly three or more of the same roll, but I that didn't come up in our game and I don't quite recall). If you do not 'score' anything, then your turn ends and your opponent then gets to roll.

If you have some form of score, you can roll some or all of your dice again - however, if you do not add anything useful to your roll (extend a run or get another six) then you do not get to use any of your dice, even if you originally scored something useful.

You then use any dice numbered one to five which are part of a run to move a figure one square forward. Any sixes can be used to move any of your figures forward, and can also mean that a figure moves two or more spaces forward if the player wishes.

Example 1:
On my first turn, I rolled 3, 4, 5 and two 6s. This mean that I moved my Marines columns 3, 4 and 5 forward, and could choose any two other moves - I could have moved 3 and 4 forward a second square, or even to move one of those Marines forward three squares. In the end, though, I chose to move Marines 1 and 2 up a square each instead.

Example 2:
Jervis rolled 2, 2, 4, 4 and 6. This meant he could move one figure forward, but he chose to re-roll the 2s and the 4s. He rolled 1, 2, 4 and 4 - nothing new. That meant he lost the move from his 6, and sacrificed his turn.

If two models are facing each other, then instead of moving forward, the figure pushes the figure opposite it back one space. If a second move is allocated to it in the same turn, it can advance into the vacated square.

The winner, as stated above, is the first player to get three of their figures across the centre line.