I'm working on a 1v1 turn-based American Gladiators map, which is proving difficult to determine whether or not it is balanced.  I think it may be just about balanced now, but would like more opinions before I submit a potentially flawed board to be reviewed.  I have released it for open beta testing and would appreciate it if some other people played it and let me know what they think.

Thanks!

http://www.wargear.net/games/create?boardid=918&devmode=true

http://www.wargear.net/boards/view/918/

That looks familiar!

Yeah, it was a bust on WF, but it has some potential here.

I liked the map, but am not sure that there is an effective strategy to play and in our games, it was over rather quickly which is good and bad, but it seemed that a win was determined by luck (choice of attacks by the gun and luck of the dice on those attacks). I suspect that am I missing something and would like to know what others have found.

So far it seems that the victories are split just about evenly down the center between challenger and gladiator. There are some varying and distinct strategies, which are mainly dictated by the challenger. If the challenger does one thing, it affects how the gladiator can play. The challenger has to balance spreading out, keeping a bomb, and taking out neutrals. There's a lot of leeway between those options. There are also ways you can predict what the gunner might do and try to counteract the moves. It seems just about even, I'm nearly ready to submit it.

Here are a few issues that I can see.  No solution ideas yet but I thought I'd at least post them for discussion.

1. If the gladiator guesses incorrectly on the first turn and the challenger has decent rolls, the challenger will win on turn 2.  Losing due to luck is always disappointing.
2. The gladiator gets multiple free attacks because the UI does not count artillery attacks against empty territories (returns an error).  This gives the gladiator a serious advantage once the neutrals have been removed (turn 2 or 3).
3. A challenger can spread units and stay alive indefinitely due to the 3 attack limit.  For example, if I have 3 territories with 1 unit each, I will get a bonus of +3.  I will then occupy 6 territories.  Due to #2, the gladiator will kill 3 of them, but I will be left with 3.  I will never win, but I could make the game eternal.

Wallace Wishmaster wrote:

The gladiator gets multiple free attacks because the UI does not count artillery attacks against empty territories (returns an error).  This gives the gladiator a serious advantage once the neutrals have been removed (turn 2 or 3).

In regards to number 2: http://www.wargear.net/forum/showthread/603/Artillery_Borders_+_Fog

It does need some work. I'm going to step away for a bit and come back... as I have for the last few years.