LandGrab Table of Contents
The Board Screen


The board screen is the main screen in LandGrab.  This screen is where all the action takes place, including placing armies, reinforcing, attacking and fortifying.  When it is not your turn, you can use the board screen to view the current status of the game.

Layout
The board screen is laid out in two basic areas.  The left part of the screen is the control panel which is how you control attacks, reinforcements and fortifications.  The right part of the screen shows the map in its current state.

The Map
Each territory has the number of armies listed on it, with the color of the owning player.  By default, mouse-overs are enabled, allowing you to move your mouse cursor over a territory which will popup a small information window giving you more details about the territory.  If the game has been created with capitols, fortresses or leaders (or any combination of these), there will be icons next to the numbers on the board signifying which territories have a capitol, leader and/or fortress.

About fortresses:
Fortresses are areas on the map which are naturally easier to defend.  Because of this, the defender's highest dice roll will always be increased by 1.  Fortresses cannot be moved and a capitol cannot be placed on a fortress.  Fortresses are specified when creating the map.


Continents, Players
Below the map are two tables, titled "Continents" and "Players".  The Continents Table shows the status of the continents on the board.  The first column gives the name and color of each continent.  The second column, "Value", shows the point value for owning the continent.  The third column, "Owner", shows the nickname and color of the current continent owner, if any exists.  

The Players Table shows the status of each player.  The first column, "Turn", shows whos turn it currently is.  When the game has entered normal play (after placing initial armies), there is an arrow in this column pointing to the player whos turn it currently is.  Turn order is given by the row order in this table.  The player in the first row is the player whos takes their turn first.  The player in the second row has the second turn, etc.  The second column, "Name", shows the nickname for each player.  Clicking on the nickname of a player will show you the user details for that player.  The third column, "Territories", tells how many territories that player currently owns.  The base number of reinforcements that a player receives is derived from this number, using the formula described in the fifth column below.  The fourth column, "Armies", shows the total number of armies currently on the board for the player.  The fifth column, "Reinforcements", shows how many armies each player will receive at the beginning of their next turn given the current state of the board.  This number is not necessarily what the player will receive, since the board will probably change before his or her turn begins, however this shows what they will receive if nothing changes.  The formula for this number is as follows:
Reinforcements = Base Reinforcements + Continent Bonuses.
Base Reinforcements = Total number of territories owned divided by 3, rounded down, with a minimum of 3.
Continent Bonuses = The sum of the values of each continents that the player owns.

Taking your turn
When you view the board during your turn, the control panel on the left will give you instructions on how to proceed.  When the game starts, the all territories on the board are randomly distributed to the players.  After that, the game is in "initial army placement" mode, meaning that each player has a number of armies that they need to place on the board, onto the territories that they own.  



Initial army placement
To place your armies, simply click on each territory that you would like to place an army.  The total number of reserves to place is shown in the control panel, on the left side of the screen.  If you would like to replace an army, use the dropdown select box to select "Remove 1 army", then click on the territory where you have already placed an army.  You cannot remove armies that were residing on the board prior to beginning your turn.  If you have a large number of reinforcements to place, you can use the dropdown select box in the control panel to select "Add 2 armies", "Add 5 armies", or "Add 10 armies".  This will place the selected number of armies onto a territory each time you click on it.  Once you have completed placing all of your armies (once your reserves reach zero), you can finalize your placement by pressing the "Done" button.  If you find you want to restart your placment, you can press the "Reset" button to remove all placed armies and start over.


Capitol Selection
If the game creator has requested capitols to be used in the game, you will now need to select your capitol.  Click on a territory to select it as your capitol, then press the "Ok" button in the control panel on the left.

About Capitols
Capitols represent your livelihood.  If a player conqueres your capitol, you have been defeated from the game.  Because of this, you will want to defend your capitol at all costs.  In many cases, it is even a good idea to leave a leader with the defending army.  When a player's capitol is conquered, the remaining territories become ownership of the attacker, however, at some cost.  Since tyranny is never pretty, there will be a "conversion ratio" (which is a number from 1 - 100, chosen at random) that is applied to tell how many armies remain after the capitol is conquered.  For example, if PlayerA's capitol is conquered by PlayerB, all of PlayerA's territories will become the ownership of PlayerB.  The conversion ratio will be chosen at random, for this example, we'll say it's 73%.  If PlayerA has a territory with 10 armies, that territory will become PlayerB's, with a remaining army of 7 armies.  Any partial armies are always rounded down, with a minimum of 1 army to hold the territory.

Some rules about capitols:

Initial leader placement
If the game creator has requested leaders to be used in the game, you will now need to place your first leader.

About leaders
Leaders are used both offensively and deffensively during attacks.  When attacking a territory which contains a leader, the defender's highest dice roll is increased by 1.  If the defender rolls 6 and 3, the actual numbers used are 7 and 3.  Likewise, when attacking with a leader, the attacker's highest dice roll is increased by 1.

Some rules about leaders:

After all players have placed their armies, the game will begin normal gameplay mode, and the first player will be emailed that it is time to start his or her turn.  You can go to the home screen to see which players have completed their initial army placement.

Normal game play
During normal game play, the turns are conducted as follows:
  1. If card trade in is required, trade-in.
  2. Place reinforcements
  3. If leaders are being used in the game, and you currently have no leaders on the board, place one leader.
  4. Attack phase
  5. Fortification phase
  6. If leaders are being used in the game, and you currently have less then the total number of leaders defined for the game (viewable in the game details), place one leader.
  7. Recieve a card if you've conquered at least one territory during your attack phase.
1. Card Trade-In
Depending on how the game was configured when created, you may be forced to trade in cards if you have accrued too many.  If this happens, you will be forced to trade in your cards before you can view the board.  If you have not yet reached the maximum accrual, but you have a valid set, you will see a message when you begin your turn stating that card trade-in is possible.  It is your decision whether or not you wish to trade in cards at this time.

See the Cards Screen help for more information about card trading in.

2. Place Reinforcements
Reinforcments are given at the start of each turn based on the reinforcment formula described above.  You now must place all reinforcements onto territories that you own.  Placing reinforcements is accomplished in the same manner as described above, under initial army placement.


3. Leader Placement
If leaders are being used in the game, you must have at one leader on the board to begin your turn.  If you do not have any leaders on the board at the start of your turn, you will be allowed to place one leader onto any of your territories before your attack phase.


4. Attack Phase
After you've placed your reinforcements, you now have the option to attack other players' territories.  To attack a territory, click on the territory you wish to attack from, then click on the territory you wish to attack, then specify the number of attackers you want to use.  The control panel on the left side of the screen shows where you are attacking from and to, and shows the buttons for specifying how many armies to use in the attack.  You can also cancel your attack or finish your attack phase by pressing the appropriate buttons in the control panel.

About attacking:
After you attack and conquer a territory, the minimum number of armies are moved in to the defeated territory automatically.  You have the option to move more armies in, up to 1 less then the total army remaining (you must always leave at least 1 army behind to defend a territory).  To move more armies in after an attack, use the select box in the control panel on the left side of the screen to designate how many armies you wish to move, then press the "March!" button.

You may continue attacking as many times as you like during your attack phase.  Once you have finished attacking, press the "Done Attacking" button to finish your attack phase.


5. Fortification Phase
During fortification phase, you can move armies from one territory to another to fortify your holdings.  The rules for fortification vary, depending on the fortification option that the game creator picked during game creation.  The control panel, on the left side of the screen, will show you what your fortification rules are.  There are 3 different types of fortifications possible:
You do not need to move any armies in the fortification phase.  Press "Cancel Fortify" to leave the armies as they are.

If you wish to move armies, click on the territory you want to move armies from.  You will notice the name of the territory that you picked in the control panel.  Next, click on the territory you wish to move armies to.   Again, the control panel will show the two territories that you have selected.  Finally, use the drop-down select box to designate how many armies you wish to move, then press the "Fortify" button.  If you want to select different territories, you can click the "Reset Fortify" button, then pick new territories.

Leader Note: If you are fortifying armies from a territory which contains a leader, you will be given the option to move the leader with the fortification.  Press "Ok" to move the leader with the fortification, or "Cancel" to leave the leader where it is and only move armies during the fortification.  You cannot move a leader onto a territory which already contains a leader.

If you pressed "Done Attacking" by mistake, you can go back to the attacking phase by pressing the "Return to Attack" button before you fortify your armies.

6. Supplementary Leader Placement
If the game that you're playing in uses leaders, after you fortify your armies you may have the option to place another leader.  The game creator selects the number of leaders used in the game (from zero to five).  This number is visible in the game details screen.  If you have fewer leaders on the board than the maximum number of leaders, you will be allowed to place one leader at this time.

7. Receive a card
If you have conquered at least one territory during your attack phase, you will be given a card and you will be automtically redirected to the Cards Screen to view your cards.