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Laser/WAR™ - by Peter Montgomery

Concept
Team leaders move playing pieces on a map and lasertag scenarios are played out to resolve combat when 2 or more pieces are on the same map space.

Set up
Players are divided in two or more teams (example 4 v 4). Players use the Risk™ game board, Risk™ game pieces and for each team they need to make five unit pieces. More than five can be used, but it can make the game too complicated. The unit pieces should have these traits, 1 inch x 1 inch square paper or cardboard, a color to indicate which team they represent, a number on each side (1 through 5) and the letter "D" on one side only. On the game board each team designates a home country. The home country can be assigned randomly by drawing Risk™ cards. All the numbered unit pieces should start the game at their home country. The Risk™ pieces are used to mark captured territory. A list should be made listing the unit pieces 1-5 and the total number of players on that team next to each unit number.

Unit piece example

List Example

How to play
Team leaders roll a dice to see who goes first, highest roller wins. Team leaders then take turns moving their numbered unit pieces and marking covered territory with a Risk(TM) piece of their team color. Unit movement speed is the same for both sides, 2 spaces per turn. If two pieces land on the same space then the combat is resolved by lasertag.

Just like real Risk™, replacement players are earned at the beginning of each turn for each continent controlled (owning all the countries of one continent ) by a single team. The number of replacement players per continent controlled follows the same rules as in real Risk™.The replacement player may be added to any unit piece, that is not at full strength. No unit piece may have more players than there are real players on the team. If all the unit pieces are at their maximum, then a new unit piece is created to represent them and must be placed to start at the home country. Two or more unit pieces may combine to form one unit piece, but the new unit piece may not represent more than four players. Recombining may be done at the beginning or end of a turn and does not affect movement. A unit piece may not split into two or more smaller unit pieces.

Combat resolution
If two or more opposing unit pieces end a turn on the same space then the combat is resolved by playing a game of lasertag. The number of players on each team will be equal to the number of players represented by the involved unit pieces. The result of the game is then written down on each teams list of unit pieces.

For example if the Red team and the Blue team each have one unit piece on a space, then the players go to the real playing field and play a game of lasertag. If the Red team has one unit piece representing four players and the Blue team has one unit piece representing four players then a game of four Vs four players takes place. If the outcome is that the Red team lost one player and the Blue team lost all four of theirs, then the Red team marks on his list that the unit piece now represents only three players and the Blue unit piece is removed from the game board.

If the Red team has two unit pieces there and the Blue team has only one then it gets very interesting. For example if each team with four players plays and the Blue team wins by tagging out two Red players and the other two Red players retreat and the Blue team lost only one player, then the same four Red team players (representing the 2nd Red unit piece in that space) may play again against the three remaining Blue team players. In this example the Red team has two more players tagged out, but the Blue team also has two players tagged out and the last Blue player decides to retreat. The Blue unit piece is moved back one space away from the Red unit pieces that now occupy that space and on the Blue team list, that unit piece is marked as having only one player left. The Red team may now rearrange their players and units if they wish. For example the 1st Red unit piece with two players left may now join with the 2nd Red, also with two players, to form a single Red piece with four players, or they may stay as two units of two players or two units with one of three players and one of one player.

Defending
At the beginning of their turn a team may decide to not move a piece and claim they are defending the space they are on. The team leader should then turn the unit piece over to show the side with the letter "D". Next turn, if that unit is attacked, they only have to stay in the game a set amount of time (5-10 minutes depending on the size of the field and the number of players) to win that conflict. For example, if Red is defending Western United States with 4 players and Blue attacks with 4 players. The result of the lasertag game is that Red lost 3 players, but the last player did not retreat by leaving the playing field, but instead remained in for the full 10 minutes, then the Red unit piece remains on that space and the Blue unit piece must retreat to the space it attacked from, even if all four of their players remain untagged. If there is no clear winner of that engagement then both unit pieces remain on that space and neither can claim to be defending during the next turn.

Retreating
A team may retreat from combat. They may signal a retreat by in the following manner: after the opposing team places attacking unit pieces on their space the team leader states they will retreat without combat and move to an adjacent space that is controlled by them. If there is no space to move to they must enter combat or surrender. During the next turn a retreating unit piece may only move one space because it used up one movement point during their retreat. Another way to retreat is after entering combat. The players may decide it is best for them to retreat and must then leave the playing field at a predetermine retreating location. The retreating location is usually at their end of the playing field. Opposing players may try to tag them out before they reach the retreating location.

Example after a few turns of play

End of Game

When all countries are controlled by one team or
When one team has eliminated all of the opposition from the game or
Team with the most countries controlled at end of the game time. Either set a time limit (3 hours of play) or number of turns (10).

Fog of War
To make the game more challenging the strength (number of players) that each unit piece represents is kept secret and recorded only on the team sheet. If two opposing unit pieces are adjacent to each other at the end of a turn, then each pieces(only those pieces) strength is revealed to the other team. One strategy is if a piece is weakened to only one player, then use that piece as a scout to find out the strength of the opponents pieces. Also each team may have one or more "ghost" pieces that represent zero players, but can be used to bluff your opponent

Alternate Games
Other games can be substituted for lasertag, such as; paintball, water guns, checkers, chess, any head to head video game, etc.

Simple Version
No retreating is allowed, all units play until the last player is tagged out. The winning units are restored to full strength after a conflict. This way all conflict involves full strength units so all players can play in all conflicts.