Make it up as I go

Artur was preoccupied with plans he had yet to quite put into motion, with the need to teach himself all he needed to know in a short amount of time. He had no faith in the pack to provide him with what he needed so he had set himself to find other teachers and to learn at his own breakneck pace. He had just come off sentry duty, however, and today he would be doing a double with his second duty being a walking patrol with only a few hours break. It wasnt particularly taxing, but it left him no time to leave pack lands, which meant he had a few hours of leisure time and nothing to do with it. The idea of hours without purpose made him uneasy with grief still so close to the surface, nor did Aurielle's ideas of 'fun' appeal to him. Lounging around telling stories, or meaningless play, as though the whole pack were meant to be stuck in puphood. If the stories were meant to be lessons then call them lessons instead of wrapping them in fables. Bah. No, every moment needed to be filled productively if he was to achieve his goals.

One particular gap in his knowledge frustrated him in particular, since he knew both Caelia and Cairo were getting schooled in it by Aurielle, while the rest of them were left to languish. He could teach himself to be a good fighter, with experience. He could teach himself to fight with a group. What he couldn't get experience with was the strategic side of leadership, from organization to feeding to the various mechanics of large groups. He needed to somehow find a way to simulate that, and knowing he would have some time stuck in pack lands today he had spent his sentry duty planning.

He carefully stacked stones in a large square shaped wall, filling it halfway with sand. He spent some time sculpting it into a landscape, hills here, rivers there represented by small river stones set into a bed carved in the sand, a deep canyon over there, sticks to represent forested areas. Over it he laid out a grid of squares formed by overlapping long reeds. The idea was to be able to set it up in different sizes depending on the scope of the simulation. Right now it was relatively small, just big enough for him to curl up in - though considering he had reached his full height, that was not an inconsiderable amount of space - but he imagined it being set up much larger for multiple "packs", with the terrain changing every simulation to make new scenarios. A line of pebbles marked pack boundaries.

He studied what he had so far and nodded, satisfied with the setup. The sand was lightweight and mouldable, easy to change the landscape for different scenarios but held together so it would hold together for as long as he wanted it in that configuration.

He turned his attention then to the "units" that would represent the wolves in the scenario. Small chunks of granite to represent the sort of wolf that was strong but slow. Quartz to represent the balanced fighters. Sandstone for the fast, lightweight ones. Some were given specialties that gave them advantage points for certain circumstances. Acorn-topped units moved faster in the forested areas, pinecone-topped in the hills, seed-head-topped in the flatlands. Healers were represented by a dried rosebud and could increase the hit points of any fighters in their range but got no attack of their own. Red river stones were battle medics and got smaller boosts to health than a dedicated healer but could attack. A walnut was a dedicated hunter- without enough of them the warrior unit attack points would be decreased under the assumption they would be providing food for themselves. Forget-me-not flower heads in the pack boundaries represented non-combatants, pups and elders and other wolves who couldn't fight. Enough hunters had to remain with them to ensure they didnt starve, but could also provide for combat units within a certain distance of the pack boundary. Not leaving any combat units there would put them at risk if the other player chose to raid.

That's where it got complicated. You could win by knocking out enough of the other pack units in battle, but if you left your pack vulnerable a raid could capture your own pack while you were out of reach, putting you below the minimum units to maintain a pack. You could trade for more units of different types, but you needed the pack and hunters to support them.

The simulation was modular enough to start from a low level. Small group tactics, just two groups of wolves without packs meeting in battle. Certain units supported other units better and arranging them and using the terrain would win it. The next level would be two nearby packs with a dispute, when supply lines would be easy and didnt need to be figured in. That gave you more options for win conditions, since you could capture non-combatants in raids as well as knocking out battle units. Larger distances gave you more terrain options and uses for specialized units, but made supply more difficult and risked leaving your pack vulnerable. Adding a third player would add uninvolved packs and reputation began to matter, with your methods gaining or losing support for your pack. A brutal win might defeat your initial opponent, but it could have you fighting another one before you could recover. Attacking non-combatants like healers and hunters would disrupt and weaken the enemy fighters but would also lose reputation points. Captured enemy units who weren't killed would need guards but gained you reputation.

Adding even more players have the option of allied packs, either starting out allied or gaining them through trade and reputation. Losing reputation points could lose an ally, and allies could choose to betray their allied pack.

It could get complicated fast, and Artur was pleased with how scalable it was. Not portable at all, though it wouldnt be difficult to find the pieces to set up a quick game anywhere. He likes the idea, and liked that it gave him a chance to practice strategy and logistics in spite of the blatant favoritism that got Cairo and Caelia training in this very subject but held his other siblings and him back. Maybe he could teach Geoffrey to play - his younger brother might not be a fighter, but Artur thought he might appreciate the bloodless, intellectual nature of the strategy game.

He carefully packed all the units and landscape pieces within the small stone wall so he wouldnt have to find more later, and tugged a hide over it to cover it and protect it from casually being messed up. Now that he had worked out most of the details, he was satisfied. He would come back and play later when he had time and someone to teach it to, but for now he needed to head out on his second patrol.

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