Rules v1.2

At the beginning of the day today, after briefly discussing our research and ideas Juliette showed us her concept idea for a game (See Juliette's blog for the original Rules v1.1 concept @ http://juliettesgad.blogspot.com). Slowly over the course of the day we have been developing these rules. We have decided that focusing on aesthetics or narrative themes too early on is a bad idea, so at this time the game takes on an abstract, strategy based gameplay style. This allows us to focus entirely on creating a core mechanic with which to work with. If we later decide to make the game more family friendly, we can add a colourful theme and/or a luck based element to the game on top of a solid core mechanic.
Because of the games current abstract gameplay style, it is very tricky to get the gameplay just right, so that it is both fun and challenging, without becoming frustrating or boring. In fact, it has shown to be quite tricky just to get the gameplay to balance out so that it all makes some kind of sense, and avoiding situations that become too complicated.
As it stands, here are the rules so far:
Rules v1.2

Setup & Pieces 

The game currently consists of several tetrahedronal pieces called "units" which all have numbers written on the edge of each face ranging from 1 to 4. The number at the base of the unit is the unit's "class". The pieces of are all placed onto the board, which is a large grid of squares. When the game has 2 players one quarter of the fold out board is used. When the game is played with 4 players the board is unfolded and the whole board is used. At the moment there is no specific starting setup other than to line up each players units at opposing sides of the board. With the current 4 units vs. 4 units setup, each unit is given a different class and assembled in the order of class (1, 2, 3, 4). The next player then lines up their units in the same way so that the opposing classes line up (4 face 1, 3 faces 2 and so on). 

Aim & Overview

The game can be played with 2 or 4 players. The aim of the game is to capture all of the players units. Units can be captured and removed from the board by placing on unit onto the square of a unit with an opposing class. 

Movement & Turns

On a players turn the player can choose to either move a unit or change a unit's class (see "Changing Classes"). If the player chooses to move a unit he can move any one unit the number of squares allowed by that unit's class, which is the number found at the base of the unit , or the class's "speed". The speed of each class is as follows:

• Class 1: Speed 4
• Class 2: Speed 3
• Class 3: Speed 2
• Class 4: Speed 1

The unit can move in any adjacent or diagonal direction the number of squares determined by it's speed. The unit can jump over any units inbetween it's starting square and the square of destination. The unit  must move the number of squares allocated to it's speed, no more, no less, with the exception of reaching the edge of the board where the unit must stop in the nearest available square within it's speed range. A unit cannot move into a square occupied by another unit owned by the same player. A player can only move one unit on their turn.

Changing Classes 

If a player decides to sacrifice moving a unit in order to change a unit's class, the player must select one unit and turn the unit to match it's new class. The class a unit becomes is determined by the class it currently is, as follows:

• Class 1 becomes Class 2
• Class 2 becomes Class 3
• Class 3 becomes Class 4 
• Class 4 becomes Class 1

  Combat & Capture

When a player's unit lands on the same square as another players unit, the players must use the above system to determine which unit gets captured and removed from the board. To make the system above clear the unit class capture system is as follows:

• Class 1 can capture Class 4
• Class 4 can capture Class 3 and Class 2
• Class 3 can capture Class 2 and Class 1
• Class 2 can capture Class 1

Once a unit has been captured, it is removed from the board. The remaining unit has the value of the class of the unit it just took subtracted from it's own class value with the exception of class 1 capturing class 4, where the remaining unit becomes class 3. This system is demonstrated as follows:

• Class 1 captures Class 4 and becomes Class 3
• Class 2 captures Class 1 and becomes Class 1
• Class 3 captures Class 1 and becomes Class 2
• Class 3 captures Class 2 and becomes Class 1
• Class 4 captures Class 3 and becomes Class 1
• Class 4 captures Class 2 and becomes Class 2

After a player has taken another players unit, the player finishes their turn and the next player takes theirs. The game ends once all but one player's units remain.