"Miniature Tower Defence Game?" Topic

I've been trying to adapt the computer game Toy Soldiers, which is a World War I-themed Tower Defence Game with toy soldiers instead of actual soldiers (as the game suggests), into an actual miniatures game. However, I'm having difficulty in trying to convert a tower defence game to the tabletop. Any suggestions?

Hmmm. Interesting query.

The cornerstone of tower defense games is building stuff in real-time to deal with invaders who are mere footsteps away. Like, you want to build a ballista turret and boom, next turn it magically pops up on the battlefield where you want it to be. But wait, it's weak enough that it will be destroyed (thus removed from the battlefield) if it's alone and unsupported.

I just don't know how this would dovetail with tabletop miniatures. Frantically placing and removing terrain pieces and units would create a game experience that is pretty far from traditional notions of tabletop gaming.

I agree, I think it is the speed of play that makes tower defense games tricky. Sure there are tactics involved, but it is the quick nature of the game that makes choosing and invoking the tactics difficult.

Question, are you thinking solo or multiple players.

WARNING: very little thought has gone into this idea.

How about making it more of a card game? Players roll dice or select random towers. They then place their towers on the board. Minis move 2d6 inches across the board or down the 'trails'. Towers get a dice roll to attack the minis. Cards can be played to boost your towers or harm other players towers. Winner is the owner of the most effective tower.

Boost cards: rapid fire (bonus attack), freeze (slow the minis), flame (mini takes more damage), jam (tower looses attack), poor production (tower has weaker attack), reflect (whatever card was just played is now played against the guy that played it), relocate (move a tower, yours or another players), swamp (generate more minis near a tower)

@Thomas Whitten
I'd like to make it a multiplayer game.

@PatrickWR
I was thinking of something akin to Last Stand from Plants vs Zombies. Basically, you start with a fixed amount of points at the beginning of each round to spend points deploying troops, building machine gun nests, and so on. Then, the game begins, and we have our regular miniatures shennanigans. After the round ends, you get a certain amount of points based on how many enemy troops you killed that you can spend on deploying more men, or upgrading your defences. Then the game starts again. Whoever gets to the enemy base first wins, and if the 5th (3rd?) round ends with no winner, then whoever killed the most units wins.

For cards, draw a certain # each turn, #'d cards give you 'build points', face cards give you upgrades, specials, or already completed pieces.

For dice, roll 2D6 or 3D6 for 'build points', with doubles or triples giving you specials (as above.)

I think it would work best as a 'player vs system' game. Waves of soldiers keep coming, and every time you pile up five kills, you can draw a card that provides an upgrade.

The waves can have multiple entry points, and the strength and entry points, and routes to follow, can be card-driven as well.

It would work great as a convention game.