A question of Choices

When this adventure began, I immediately focused on the mechanics of the game and, in particular, the assignment of actions to characters.

I had one word in mind: Choice.

I wanted choices to be a constant feature of the game for players: who should be assigned the shillings? What actions should they be used for? Which actions should be given the advantage of the highest-value dice? Etc...

And this was only the beginning; no miniatures had been placed on the table yet, and no flame tokens had spread.

Other choices loomed on the horizon: is it more profitable to pursue your own strategy head-on? Is it worth blocking your opponent's strategy? Is it better to focus on civilians or on your faction's personal objectives?

As the game took shape and the various systems I had designed were discarded or improved, as the case may be, the flames also came to life and spread. This is why, as the rounds increase, players acquire new dice and new shillings, simulating the tension and haste that arise on the battlefield as the situation becomes more critical. The flames rise high into the sky, buildings collapse, and civilians suffocate, lost in the alleys of the city.

More dice, more shillings, more possibilities! 
And more choices: maximise individual actions? Focus on the certain success of a single big blow to the opponent? Is it better to try to save the civilians on your side or to prevent them from escaping to the other side?

A wise man once said that, when in doubt, the best choice is always to blow up a building. Yes, that wise man was me!

Marco