Icehouse: Armada

20091220:
Michael and I played the first game normally (using only one stash). Our playing surface was the floor at Stephanie's house - deciding to play on 4 12"x12" tiles (2x2; possibly smaller than 12"x12"). We determined who gets to choose who goes first by dividing the Treehouse die in two: lower (aim dig hop) and upper (swap tip wild). One person rolls. The other calls. Winner chooses. About halfway into the game, I proposed that the only tools of measurement allowed at a time are the three pieces (one Large, one Medium, one Small). Michael found that to be reasonable.

I lost the first game, and we learned that it is necessary to protect the Large ships' rear. Hence a strategy would be to have two Large ships, one to the back and left of the other; the one in the back covers the rear. Note: Since I had extra stashes, I proposed to mark damage by stuffing Medium and Small into Large, and Small into Medium. This was fun, but it moved the pieces a bit, and I proposed not to do this during our second game.

Michael and I played the second game using 12 pips. That is, we each chose a fleet whose point total added up to 12, with a maximum of four per type of ship. Michael proposed we create our setup hidden from the opponent. I agreed. I turned around, we set up our ships, we finished, I turned around, and I translated my configuration towards the playing field. Remark: the initial configuration did not have a big effect on the gameplay.* Each of our initial three or four turns were spent approaching each other. Then, the ships began to swirl around each other. Now that I think about it, it would have been great if we had set up a camera and taken a picture each time the pieces moved. It naturally would have been an easily made stop-motion.

Variations we can do in the future:
[We weren't sure who this would give an edge to: Obstacles.]
[More than 2 players, perhaps 2 teams of 2.]
[I thought about: Randomized fleet (fill up the fleet with rolls of a dice. 1,2->Small; 3,4->Medium; 5,6->Large. Maximum four of each, with the exception of taking a fifth small when reaching 11 pips. If you reach 10 pips, 3,4,5,6->Medium.]

In regards to a randomized fleet, I generated some using http://www.random.org/integers/ (200 random int, 1-3 inclusive, 8 columns). I got the following randomized fleets (LEGEND: L=Large, M=Medium, S=Small, A=Small @ 11 pips, B=Large->Medium @ 10 pips):
LLMMSS__ 1 2 2 1 3 3 3 3
LLLMS___ 3 3 1 3 2 3 1 1
MMMMSSSS 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 1
LLMMSS__ 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 3
LMMSSSSA 2 1 3 1 2 1 1 2
LLMMSS__ 2 1 2 1 3 3 1 2
LLMMSS__ 3 1 2 1 3 2 2 1
LMMMSSA_ 2 1 1 3 2 2 3 2
LLLMA___ 3 3 3 2 3 1 1 2
LLMBSS__ 3 3 2 1 1 3 3 1
LLLSSA__ 1 1 3 3 3 2 1 1
LLMSSSS_ 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 3
LMMMSSS_ 2 3 2 2 1 1 1 2
LLMBSS__ 1 1 3 3 2 3 2 1
LMMMMS__ 2 2 1 2 3 2 2 3
LMMMMA__ 3 2 2 2 2 3 3 1
LLMMSA__ 1 3 3 2 2 2 3 1
LMMMSSS_ 1 2 2 1 3 1 2 2
LLMMM___ 2 2 3 3 2 3 3 3
LLLMA___ 3 3 2 3 3 3 2 2
MMMBSSSS 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 2 3 3 1 2 1
LMMMMS__ 2 1 2 2 3 2 1 1
LMMMBS__ 1 2 2 3 2 3 2 2

Types and frequencies:
MMMMSSSS ||
LMMSSSSS |
LMMMSSS_ |||
LMMMMS__ |||||
LLMSSSS_ |
LLMMSS__ |||||||
LLMMM___ |
LLLSSS__ |
LLLMS___ |||
LLLL____

*The post originally read "did haven't" which doesn't make any sense. But based on the next statement, it would make sense if the intiial configuartion "did not have a big effect" because the ships had time to move to new configurations on the subsequent turns.

[Actual Post Date and Time 12/21/09 9:43 AM][20210705 Edit]
Played 20091220 Michael (2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1) Me (3 3 3 3). Michael chose me first. Michael won. Played 20091220 Michael (3 3 2 2 1 1) Me (3 3 2 1 1 1 1). Michael chose Michael first. I won. Icehouse: Armada Icehouse: Armada page @ BoardGameGeek.com here Icehouse: Armada page @ IcehouseGames.org here (Rules) Icehouse: Aramda original rules here

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