Cannon Indeed – Journal Entry #5

Ready…Aim…FIRE!

 

When I was a kid I always wondered how fighting someone using cannons felt like. I thought I had everything I needed: enthusiasm, courage and some small wooden balls that I thought I could use as ammo. But I soon realized that I was missing the most important part of it: a damned cannon!

 

Lucky, I now own an entire deck of cannons and I can shoot whoever I want with them! Well, only if I have the right ammo for every cannon I own. And if I manage to get my cannon ready to aim and fire before a dice roll stops me. Sigh, I thought it would be easier now that I’m older…

 

Created by Rayleigh Chan, Cannon Indeed is a game of war which involves math, luck and logic along with hand management and push your luck mechanics in order to defeat your enemy (be it another player or an AI). It is specially designed for single player, but multiplayer mode is supported with the involvement of multiple decks (up to 4 players), meaning each player will need to have their own deck.

 

There are 2 multiplayer modes available: PvP and Co-op. Additional Multiplayer cards such as “Divine Intervention” and “Monster Cannon” are required to play these modes.

 

The deck consists of 132 cards split between 3 categories:

Besides these, the deck comes with a 6-sided dice, a Special Event card, a Monster Cannon card and 8 Divine Intervention cards.

Single player

Single Player Setup

• Draw 1 card from the Tower deck
• Play 1 card from hand
• Discard 2 cards of same color from hand to destroy one enemy ammo

PvP Mode

1. The setup remains the same, except that now every player has his own ammo and cannons under their control.
2. The gameplay remains the same but the last phase is now called a Battle Phase and not Enemy Phase.
3. During this phase, the player can choose any number of their cannons to be in Attack or Defense mode.
4. All players except the 1st one starts with their cannons in Defense mode.
5. The targets in special events are changed.
6. The Divine Intervention cards are added to the game. These are placed face down and each player can only play one of these cards up to 3 times during the game at any time. The player can play one of these cards if their discard pile is taller than their Tower deck.

 

The Monster Cannon always starts first and the player’s cannons start in Defense mode.

 

The MC only has the Battle Phase. During this phase, any player can roll to determine MC’s total damage dealt this round.

 

Example: The MC rolls 3.

 

Total damage dealt by him to all players is based on the number of Cyan and Black cannons in play multiplied  by the number of Cyan and Black ammo in play, including the preloaded ones.

 

The MC’s total life is based on the following formula: (number of players * 2) + 1

 

In order to take down the MC, each player has to deal damage in multiples of 13 (that is 13 damage for 1 life point, 26 damage for 2 points, etc.)

 

Players are allowed to destroy the cannons or ammo of other players if necessary.

 

Gameplay, Setup and lose conditions follow those of the PvP Mode.

 

All the special events now target the player.

 

The Divine Intervention cards can be used if the MC’s life is below 50%.

Cannon Indeed is a great filler game to play while waiting for others to come to your game night or even when waiting for someone at a cafe. One game usually takes around 10-15 minutes but can take even less if your dice rolls are lucky!

 

There is a lot of math involved when taking decisions, especially in the multiplayer modes. Knowing which cannons to place in Defense mode and which ones to attack with can be a game changer sometimes. Sometimes, it can be good to go full Defense if your enemy has a great number of cannons and ammo that match colors. However, if their cannons and ammo don’t match that much, you should take advantage of it and go full Attack against them, as they can not reduce your damage by much and you may get the chance to crush them badly.

 

Luck also plays an important role, in all modes. I’ve noticed that rolling many 6s can give you a great advantage, as this replenishes you 10 HP and can be a life saver. Also, getting rolls that let you replace enemy ammo/cannons can be very helpful sometimes, as you can choose which ones to remove, and this way you may actually lower their damage output.

 

I’ve found that a good strategy is to get rid of enemy Black cannons and ammo as soon as possible, as those are the main damage dealers. Afterwards, just go for which color combination is more dangerous for you.

 

I personally prefer the PvP mode because it involves more strategy and it can create very tense moments when every dice roll or card drawn matters. Probably one of my most intense matches was one when I had 1 cannon left and my enemy had 1 ammo so we were at each other’s throats. Neither of us could deal damage to the other so everything got down to what cards we were drawing from our Tower decks. I got lucky and managed to draw two Aim cards and I destroyed their last ammo and won the match. It felt so good to be the winner after such a match.

 

Divine Intervention cards can be a double-edged sword. Their effects usually apply to all players and they can be both beneficial or detrimental to you. For example, one card states the following action: “Put all cannon cards with odd number from play into the discard pile”. This can be helpful if your enemies have odd numbered cannons, as this may reduce their damage considerably, but can also hurt you very much if you also have odd numbered cannons. I once lost 4 of my 5 cannons due to this card, and the game ended pretty fast after that.

 

In the end, I would recommend this game to everyone who’s interested in games that require logic skills and to those who like math based games. You will often find yourself calculating the damage you enemy can deal to you if you do or don’t do certain actions.

 

The game has not yet been published. It is still in development and will go through a Kickstarter campaign later this year. If you want to hear more about it in the future, you can follow it on Instagram or Facebook.

Players: 1 (up to 4 with multiple decks)

Time: 10-20 min