MICROGAME OF THE MONTH

City of Glass

City of Glass is an experimental tabletop miniatures game for 1-4 players inspired by the Paul Auster story of the same name. This game was a response to a challenge on the podcast to write a non-combat skirmish game based on a novel.

The game is set in any time or place you wish. You need four miniatures (or even four chess pieces) that all look like they could share the same city, a deck of playing cards, one six-sided die, a tape measure in inches and a pile of paperback books.

This game uses ‘true line of sight’, which means you need to stoop down to get a model’s eye view when checking if one model can see another.

SETUP

Clear an area roughly three foot by three foot. Set up D6+4 piles of paperback books to represent the city. Each must be between one and six books high (roll a D6 for each pile).

Place one of the four models as close to the centre of the play area as possible. Players take turns to place the remaining three models anywhere that is not touching a book, and which is out of sight of any other model.

HANDS

Shuffle a deck of playing cards (including the jokers) and deal three to each player. When the deck runs out, shuffle all but the top card of the discard pile back into the deck.

ROLES

Models play shifting roles during the game, indicated by the current role card beside them:

♠ Private Eye ♦ Victim ♣ Murderer ♥ Betrayer THE TURN

1. Play a card onto a model as its role

2. Move that model

3. Make a private exchange within 2”

4. Draw back to three cards

5. Play passes clockwise

When it is a player’s turn, they play one of the cards from their hand, placing it beside one of the four models as its current role. A model may not be given a role that is the same suit as one currently possessed by another model.

If a model already has a role card next to it, players may only play a card onto that model which matches the suit of their existing role, and must discard the existing role card.

If a player does not wish to play a role card, or cannot, they may discard a card from their hand as their entire turn.

After setting a role card beside a model, the player may move that model a number of inches up to the face value of the model’s current role, not through books.

After moving, the active model may make a private exchange with another model within 2” if able.

Then the player draws back to three cards in hand.

Then play passes to the next player clockwise.

SOLO: If playing solo, when discarding a role card, if the card is lower than the top card of the discard pile, discard it to the top of the discard pile, otherwise, discard it to the bottom of the discard pile. This permits the discard pile to act as a timer. When an ace is discarded, this is the final activation and then the game ends.

SPECIAL CARDS Joker:

When played, discard all in play role cards and pass play clockwise without activating a model.

Face Cards: count their face value as J:11, Q:12, K:13. 10: When played, discard it from this model at the end of this activation (leaving the activated model with no role)..

7: When played, this role card may be swapped with any other role card at the end of this activation.

2: When played on a model with a current role, activate the model but discard this card instead of the current role card.

PRIVATE EXCHANGE

If the model is within 2” of another model and both models can only draw line of sight to each other and no other models, then they may take the following action:

The ♠ Private Eye may catch the ♣ Murderer. The ♦ Victim may unmask the ♥ Betrayer. The ♣ Murderer may murder the ♦ Victim. The ♥ Betrayer may seduce the ♠ Private Eye.

In each case, both models roll a die and add the face value of their role card. If the acting model’s total is equal to or higher than the target model’s then the target model is removed from play, and their role card is discarded.

FINAL SOLITUDE

The game ends when only one model remains in play and the currently active player is the winner.

SOLO: When an Ace is discarded, the game ends at the end of the current activation. If only one model remains in play at the end of the game, the player wins.