Phantoms of the Ice

For 5-8 players. Draft postal rules by Richard Smith 2015. F2F rules (1994 White Wind edition by Tom Dalgiesh) available here.

Gamestart

Each participant is the manager of an ice hockey team (that he should name) and is sent the card images for his initial squad of players.

A Turn

Each manager may choose to challenge one opposing team that they have not already played as their home game for the next turn. Example: Salford Stickies have already played Portsmouth Puckers at home, and have been challenged by Neasden Netbusters (away game). Salford may challenge Neasden but not Portsmouth in subsequent turns. After a team has played all opponents at home, their challenges are reset.

Each manager should choose the order for his team (default = random) for each game he is scheduled to play in the next turn (can be the same order or different). There will be no games played on the first turn. Injured players will be replaced automatically. The manager should also supply an order (can be random) to be used in the event of a sudden-death playoff: If not the same order supplied for the game will be used, if any (random otherwise).

In addition each manager may perform...

a) a Trade (choose opposing team to plunder)
or
b) a Draft (choose player from own team to replace)

Game Reports

Team members are only exposed when a game is played. Unless exposed by a playoff or another game in the same postal turn, replacements for injured players are not publicly reported. These are privately sent to the manager along with the results of any trades or drafts. If a player selected for a draft is replaced the replacement will be handed in unless conditional orders are used such as "draft replacement for my worst forward".

Start Player

This moves clockwise each round. Games are played in order by home game. Drafts and trades also take place in this order.

Other

The GM should record the number of wins and who has challenged who in a status table, which could also include the order for next turn. The number of cards in the spare player stacks should be stated somewhere (e.g. for an 8-player game there are 7 forwards, 7 defenders and 4 goalies.

Game End

The game ends when either
a) one or more teams reaches 9 or more wins
or
b) 10 rounds have been played
In either case, the team with the most wins is the Phantoms of the Ice League Champions. If there are multiple teams tying for the most wins there will be a playoff (round robin if 3 or more). In addition, The Golden Clog is awarded to the team that has injured the most players.

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