torpak

A land-grab of dice, wars and cards

torpak is a turn-based land-grab for two to six players on a hex map of farms, hills, rivers, ruins and mountains. Roll to take land, fight your neighbours for theirs, and spend your gold on cards that turn a roll, a war or a whole round.

The roll

Every turn you roll. The face times your multiplier is your points, and points buy land: any cell touching the land joined to your capital. Plains cost one, hills and rivers two, a farm pays you gold every round you hold it, a ruin pays a bounty once, a shrine scores while it is yours, and a mountain is never taken. Unspent points are lost, so every roll is a small puzzle of what to take first.

The war

Or skip the roll and declare one war on a neighbour's cell. Both of you roll the same die. The difference, times your multiplier, is the right you spend on their front line, chaining cell after cell. A tie rolls again. A defender who wins spends the right on your land, in your turn. Hills are natural cover, a Fort holds, a capital that falls moves rather than dies.

The cards

Gold from your farms and your capital buys cards from a private row dealt every round, at the same time as everyone else. Twenty-eight cards in five kinds: Openings played before you roll, Reactions committed blind in a hidden window while the dice are in the air, Tactics that move a cell's price, Traps set face down on your land, and Structures built on it. Rare cards wear their own finish.

The table

• Two to six seats, any mix of people and AI.

• Online over Steam: create a room with a password, quick match, or browse the open rooms. Quick chat and text chat at the table.

• A dropped connection is not the end: rejoin your seat, and the game goes on if the host leaves.

• A local game against the AI at three strengths, with three board sizes, eight to eighteen rounds, and turn timers.

• Keyboard and mouse, or a gamepad.

Free to play

torpak is free to download, free to play against the AI, free to quick match online, and free to join any table a friend hosts, with every card and every seat. The host's pass unlocks hosting a table online.

The end

When the rounds run out, the land joined to your capital wins, cut-off land counting half, shrines on top. Lose your last cell and you watch the rest from the side. Fun with two, best with three or more.