Hamster Valley Designer Diary #2: Stances

A challenge with Hamster Valley has been that each turn is not “structured”. You have a collection of different actions and you are allowed to do each action once each turn, in any order you want. This means a lot of freedom and flexibility. It also means a risk for backtracking when you realize halfway into your turn that you should have started with another action.

Recently I came up with a neat way to package the actions into four groups. I call these groups of actions for stances. All stances consists of three steps that must be performed in order. The player makes one impactful core choice each turn – which stance? This is easier to grasp for beginners and it adds interesting constraints for more experienced players. I also really enjoy how well the stances plays into the theme. I’ve tried to find names for the stances that: A. Reflect the animal/hamster theme. B. Reflect roughly what actions that are available in that stance. For example, Hunt is about getting food but the word is also associated with movement and aggression/fighting. C. Are easy to pronounce and remember, even for kids.

The four stances

The stances are explained with symbols on each hamster mat. The player places a marker beside the chosen stance.

• Hunt: 1. Move or Fight. 2. Collect Food. 3. Food to Burrow or gain Focus.
  This stance is perfect for catching a Food in an adjacent territory. Or to fight for a die in the territory where your hamster stand. The third step is a nice focus engine early- and mid-game, before you start putting Food to Burrow.
• Gather: 1. Collect Food or Gain Heat. 2. Gain a Material. 3. Food to Burrow or Gain Focus.
  This stance is very strong early in the game. The only caveat is that you can not move with your hamster.
• Snatch: 1. Move. 2. Fight. 3. Collect an Item or Gain a Strength Re-roll token.
  Ideally use this stance to snatch both an Item and a die from an adjacent territory.
• Rise. 1. (Only when not in Temple) Move to Temple or Cat and must Fight if the Cat or another hamster is there. Move back to the territory you started in, if you lose or the Cat is still there after the fight. 2. Collect a Food or Collect an Item or Food to Burrow. 3. (Only in Temple) Gain +1 Energy and a 2 Heat token and may Move.
  This is the stance you must choose to move into the Temple or fight the Cat in another territory. This is also the most complicated stance, but the rewards are great for the players that learn to master the Temple. If you are in the Temple you must choose this stance, thereby costing a Focus because you chose the same stance as last turn. This ensures that a player’s focus will eventually be depleted if they stay in the Temple.