Spatial Mechanics: Boards, Areas, and Movement
Key ideas about board topology, area control, movement reach, and network building for game prototypes.
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Questions Covered in This Set
12 cards to master
Why is a board called a "constraint machine"?
Because limiting what players can affect (e.g., only adjacent spaces) creates scarcity of position, and scarcity is what makes decisions interesting.
Stripped of art and theme, a board is what mathematical structure?
A graph: nodes (spaces) connected by edges (legal connections/adjacency).
What problem do diagonals create on an 8-adjacency square grid?
Awkward distance math — a diagonal step covers ~1.41 units of real distance but costs only 1 move.
Main advantage of a hex grid?
Every neighbor is equidistant, six directions, and no diagonal distance problem — great for fluid maneuver and flanking.
Why choose a point-to-point / node map?
Maximum designer control: you draw exactly the connections you want and can build deliberate chokepoints and tense front lines.
What are the three families of spatial mechanics?
1) Area control / majority, 2) Movement and reach, 3) Network building / connection.
Why is area control described as "soft" conflict?
You don't have to destroy an opponent — you just out-invest them in presence within a region.
Give three design levers for area-control scoring.
Scoring 1st vs 2nd place, scoring timing (game end vs every round), and unequal region values.
Formula for threat range
threat_range = movement_points + attack_range (e.g., 3 move + range 1 = threatens 4 steps).
Effect of turning board density down (fewer spaces per player)?
A cramped, aggressive game where blocking matters; turning it up feels peaceful, expansive, and builder-like.
Why should units have different reaches?
Equal reach flattens the board; varied reach creates rock-paper-scissors geography (fast scouts, slow artillery, tough blockers).
Piece-density example: 4 players, 12 regions
6 pieces each = 24 pieces (~2/region), majorities decided by one piece — razor tight; 10 each = 40 (~3.3/region) allows escalation and bluffing.
