Here is the "current" board (WarGear Teutonica)

https://www.wargear.net/boards/view/9567

And one I'm currently working on.. (Guildmasters)

https://www.wargear.net/boards/view/9568

The big issue right now is that it's too hard to capture two guilds. Here are some solutions:

1. Cluster the member towns ..closer to their guilds.
2. Have only 2 towns per guild
3. Start players out with an unsupported random guild (see Guildmasters description)
4. ??

I prefer 2. Don't like either 1 or 3, but I could conceivably be persuaded to go for 4

I like 2 as well, but 4 looks very promising

I like the idea of 1, though it makes it play more like a standard game. But I could be persuaded to 2. I think 3 is overly complex, though I guess it could be a scenario.

Other options for 4+:

• Heavier fog -- if you can't see, you don't know whose continents to break!
• Defensive border mods for towns so they're easier to hold onto once you've taken them, maybe combo with reducing the starting neutral count to 1.
• Abandon on with revert to neutral and a limit on number of attacks.

#2 is the only option among them, IMO.

I don't care for the heavy fog option at all. Almost always better to leave fog override as on.

Thanks for the input. Super helpful.

Abandon ON is super interesting, but it completely changes the game. iI we can't make things work without it, then I'll throw it back on the table. In many respects, I have made this an exercise in avoiding that scenario type.

#2 is definitely on the table, and I think it may end up winning out, but I want to try an intermediate scenario out first..

1. Maintain current win condition and guild affiliation set-up.
2. Bump up the fog level to Medium (this would not only be default, but it would be locked).
3. Start players out as the master of a "free" guild.

The combination of Medium Fog and a free starting guild (just the guild - all member towns start neutral) should make it much easier to meet the win condition. I haven't figured out how to make all six guilds active in 2,3,4,and 5 player games (*see below), but the idea is that with Medium Fog, players won't know who has which guild. Combine that with a mostly fogged board, and if anything, I'm concerned that achieving the win condition might be TOO easy.

*As of right now, I can only have 2 pre-determined guilds in a 2 player game, and 3 guilds in a 3 player game, and so on.. For instance I want to make it such that in a 2 player game, each player starts with a single randomly selected guild, and the other 4 guilds start out neutral.

M57 wrote:

For instance I want to make it such that in a 2 player game, each player starts with a single randomly selected guild, and the other 4 guilds start out neutral.

You can do this now. This is how the Lord Holders scenario for "Pern - The Southern Continent" is set up, and also how my Arena board works.

How do you do it? I can't set all the guilds to unallocated or the game will be over right at the start.

Assign one capital each to Seat 1 through 6 in the setup designer. Then use these rule settings:

Initial Setup

Initial setup Setup based

Lock seat colors Off

Lock seat order Off

Lock starting bonus to: Seat

Allow seat selection Seats

Capital cities On

Destroy unallocated Capitals Off

Some of the categories you meintion don't exist. in the 1.5 Designer. Here's what I currently have and I'm pretty sure these are the default settings..

The only one I see to change per your instructions is "Lock starting bonus.." --> Seat

Yep, that one's critical -- doesn't work if it's set to "Color" (don't ask me why, though).

Got it working! Thanks @K.

I've started a game where each player starts with a single randomly selected guild. It has medium fog so players have no idea who's starting with what.

https://www.wargear.net/games/join/81365845

Also working on a version with 2 towns per guild. I'm having a bear of a time getting things balanced when placing one of the towns adjacent to its affiliated contract.