Commander's Ludo
Roll, deploy and command platoons, tanks and rockets in a tactical battle inspired by Ludo.
Overview
Commander’s Ludo reimagines the family race game as a tactical battle, and it is one of GameYantra’s original takes on a classic board. Instead of four identical tokens you command a small army — platoons, tanks and rockets — moving them around the board, capturing enemy units, and racing your platoon home to win. The units are not interchangeable: your platoon and tanks travel the straight track while rockets cut across diagonal paths, giving them unusual attack angles and turning familiar Ludo into a game of manoeuvre. Captured units are not gone for good, either — they return to play when their owner rolls a 6 and regenerates them, so momentum can swing back and forth. The result keeps the roll-and-move rhythm everyone knows from Ludo, but layers combat, unit roles and comeback mechanics on top, so a single lucky or unlucky roll rarely decides the whole game. It plays quickly against the AI or a friend, and rewards thinking a couple of moves ahead.Ludo has a pacing problem
Years ago I set out to build classic Ludo as a two-player online game, playable in the browser in AS3. I finished it, started testing — and got bored of my own game. Four pieces each to walk all the way home meant a 30-minute session where most turns don’t matter.
What I tried first
I kept the classic mechanics and added to them. Pawns could stack on each other and move at half the dice score — one square for a 2, two squares for a 4. Stacked pawns became invisible to attacks unless the attacker was also stacked. It was more interesting. It still wasn’t strategic enough. Also my main target to make the game fast paced was not achieved.
What came next
This made me start thinking about using the core mechanics of classical Ludo, i.e. dice scores, exact score to reach home and free up a pawn, and some time even expediting the pawn movement and giving them short cuts.
I created and played with multiple game board layouts and designs for the same. And finally thought what if some chess elements can come into this classic game, can units move cross paths like a bishop and catch up with units moving on regular straight paths like rooks.
And boom this game was born —
- Where I can play on multiple layouts and create much complex race/sprint paths.
- Where regular straights get overlapping cross paths and those junction points become more lethal.
- That’s it, it made the mechanic where you have to just circle a platoon carrier around a regular straight path.
- To home it you need exact scores, preserving the Ludo mechanic.
- Moreover you have other supporting units to help you out during that journey which should be used strategically — for example tanks, heavy and moving on straight paths, same as the platoon carrier. Small rocket units which can only go on cross paths and provide a faster coverage of the board.
The game came out really engaging. I created multiple levels of the same, but three of them are built into this web and mobile version as they use a complete square board more suitable for a mobile phone’s screen.
Goal
Move your platoon clockwise around the battlefield and return it to its starting home before the enemy platoon.
Turn flow
- Roll the die, then choose one eligible unit.
- Tap a unit once to preview its landing tile.
- Double-tap to confirm the move.
Your units
Platoons and tanks use the straight track. Rockets travel on diagonal cross paths, creating different attack angles.
Captures and regeneration
Landing on an enemy destroys that unit. A captured unit remains out until its owner rolls a 6 and chooses to regenerate it.
Rolling a 6
A 6 lets you regenerate a destroyed unit or make a normal move, then grants another turn.
Strategy and winning
Use tanks and rockets to clear routes and protect your platoon. The first commander to bring the platoon safely back home wins.