I think this may be something fun:

Putting an alternate mode in which you don't get cards but you can buy them for your income. If the game was in this mode, then you would be able to set prices for them just as you're setting the amount of pieces and weight of the cards right now.

I don't thing that it would get popular, but it would give a twist to some games - just like the multi-attack mode does right now. And as an experienced player I'd enjoy playing this way at times, just as I do with multi-attack.

What do you think about it?

I like it.

This could become very "interesting" (read: abusable) in games with negative-sanctions cards...

Reinforcement cards could be fun though, as long as you use one of the progressive settings (the fixed number of reinforcement would be rather pointless).

I do like the idea of buying airlift cards: "sacrifice" a couple reinforcements to buy the card, fly in a ton of armies which were stuck far away from the front and get them back to the action.

For the other cards no nice effects / abuseability come to mind right now.

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Issander, do you want to allow buying specific cards, or do you want to only allow buying additional "sets" (identical to the sets you get at the end of your turn, possibly including random card pieces)? If you want to allow buying pieces, I think you should use the "weight" setting for that; keeping the "number of pieces" setting as-is will allow buying a whole (expensive) card in multiple turns, just like you can collect pieces over many turns right now.

It would require a lot more care on the part of the game creator to make the cards even (making sure some cards cost as much as they are worth, so that only buying the best card isn't the standard). That said, it could make for some very cool competitive matches when people get to decide if they want an order delay card or 1.5 order priorities (or whatever).

I like it.

Yeah, I like it but agree you'd have to be more careful in setting it up right.

Well, the reinforcement card would be the one obviously excluded from that. It cost more armies that it gives or the same - it's pointless. It costs less - everybody will just buy it.

I've actually thought of it as a shop, where you could buy cards anytime. Ability to buy airlift when it's needed, spy, abbandon or sanctions would be fun, but of course they would cost more than order-delay or reconaisance.

Of course there would be a lot of setting to make while making such a game, but there would be some default settings, just like they are now with cards (only reinf for 6 armies in 3 pieces).

The other ideas about it I've got just now after reading your posts:

- it may be possible to buy "random card" or "card pieces". For example, each card has 5 pieces, and you can buy as many pieces of cards as there are different cards in game (i.e. if there was reinf, ailift and abbandon, then you'd buy 3 pieces) for 1 army. And if you're lucky, you'd get something useful cheap.

- limitations. The first one is about amount of transactions. For example one may do only 3 transactions per turn. Or 10 transactions in whole game. Of course that setting would be changable.

- the other limiations would be about availability og the items. For example in shop may be only 5 airlifts and 10 order-priority cards.

RvW, I also see it working nicely with OP or OD. Give up a little bit of income to insure first order or last order. It could also have great effect with Spy/Recon cards. In certain maps, like big USA for example (I hate big USA, but just for the sake of argument), a spy card can be crucial to a victory, so think about how much income would you be willing to give away to see your enemy's location.

With the right amount of thought by the games' creators as to how much each card should cost, I think fantastic games could come out of this.

I'm a fan of this idea.

I don't think the reinforcement army card would be useless to be bought.. Obviously it shouldn't cost less than the armies required to buy it, but even if it did cost more armies than it's worth, it can be seen as a way to transfert the armies you gain in one turn to use them in a subsequent turn.. i guess it should be tweaked precisely to avoid promoting weird behaviours like accumulating most of your armies into reinforcement cards and using them all together as soon as you spot the enemy..

You also have to factor in the timing. Would the pieces appear immediately after purchase or end of turn like normal card pieces?

@Bais: Oh yes, good catch!

Cheap reconnaissance, surveillance and spy cards together with high fog levels might also be a great challenge.

To sum up this thread: Issander's idea has lots of potential!

nice idea - good twist of the rules imo

Thats an outstanding idea in my opinion as for it bein abused i dont belive that is compltey true as you should always read the setting of a game before you join it. yes i know theres a problem where you read the settings sometimes and someone takes your spot. i think that should be adressed first it would be cool if when you decided you want to join game but wanted to read the settings first you could hold the spot for 15 or 20 seconds 1 times only to see if you like the rules then accept the position