Monthly Archives: August 2014

Posted on

Next War Series: Behind the Curtains of the International Posture Matrix

by

imageIt’s no secret that the Next War Series incorporates variations of mechanics from other distinguished games. One of those games is Mark Herman’s Flashpoint: Golan (FpG). I contacted Mark during the design and development of Next War: Korea regarding using a version of  FpG’s International Posture Matrix, and he graciously agreed. There are differences, naturally, in the execution, and the Matrix is evolving even further in Next War: Taiwan. The intent, however, remains the same: it provides a method for players to randomly determine the effects of international influence in the primary operational area. Of course, players are always free to experiment with simply assigning Intervention Levels to explore various “what if” scenarios of their own devising.

Use of the Matrix requires a player, usually the attacked side, to roll a die to determine the sentiment of three “factions” of a particular nation: the Administration (i.e., executive and/or legislative branches), the Military, and the Popular Vote (i.e., the willingness of the people). Each faction can end up in one of the three Postures: Passive, Moderate, or Aggressive. Each Posture has an assigned value (-1, 0, +1 respectively), and the player simply adds each faction’s Posture value to generate a Posture Sum. This Posture Sum is then compared to a table to determine the overall National Posture: Passive, Moderate, or Aggressive. This National Posture is, finally, cross-referenced against the particular scenario and generates an Intervention Level. While it sounds complicated, it probably took more time for you to read how to do it then it takes to do it.

ipmThe secret sauce, if you will, is in determining which nations would or can intervene and at what levels would they intervene given enough provocation as represented by the various scenarios. The general underlying assumption is that the longer a particular nation has had to consider the issue at hand, the more likely they are to intervene at higher levels.

Posted on

What Does it Take to Have Your Game Accepted by GMT? (Part I)

by

Hi everyone!

We got a bunch of feedback and questions in response to the “Anatomy of a Game Design: The Gallic Wars” article that encouraged us to give you guys more insight into how we accept new game designs. Some of the questions came from existing or  aspiring designers or friends of guys with a pet design project, some from customers  just looking for a deeper understanding of our processes. I hope this article will be beneficial to all of you.

More than an Idea:

Before I get into the details, I should say clearly that “We do not accept game IDEAS.” There are many creative people in the gaming world, and frankly, ideas are a-dime-a-dozen. So we generally won’t even look at a “design proposal” that doesn’t include a functioning prototype, at least not from a new designer. If you want us to accept your game, take the time to build a prototype, then test and refine it. It doesn’t have to be perfect when you bring it to us, but it does have to be an actual functioning game, with rules and pieces.

The Gatekeepers:

So, once you have a prototype, to whom do you submit a game if you want GMT to evaluate it?

Andy Lewis, VP of Acquisitions & Development

Andy Lewis, VP of Acquisitions & Development

Andy Lewis and I do virtually all of the new game evaluation and approval here at GMT. Andy lives in Delaware and gives up most of his vacation time to attend several large East Coast Conventions each year, including WBC, where he is on the board. I live in California, and run a couple of GMT Weekends at the Warehouse here at our HQ each year (April and October). I also attend the Consimworld Expo in Tempe, AZ, and occasionally conventions in LA or SF. So between us, we have at least half a dozen  opportunities per year to talk to designers and evaluate new games at a multi-day convention. For new designers, it usually takes one of us playing a physical copy of the game – often at one of those conventions – before we are willing to accept a game to add to our P500 list. There are rare cases when this isn’t true, and that’s usually because either Tony or Mark (who play a LOT of games and whose opinions Andy and I totally trust) have seen the game and know the designer and recommend we accept the game (This happened recently, actually, when Mark saw the Gallipoli 1915 game at a convention, was impressed, and came back and made the case to us to accept the game. Hey, if Mark likes it, I’m in!)

Posted on

Fields of Despair and the 100th Anniversary of the German Attack on Liege

by

When I met Kurt Keckley at a GMT Weekend at the Warehouse in 2013, he wanted to show me a WWI block game. Now the success of games from Ted Raicer and Mike Resch has shown me that I should never say “no” out of hand to a WWI title, but I have to admit, I had my doubts. That is, until Kurt drove 90 miles to my house one night and walked me through how to play. I was blown away (although he would tell you that I hid it well! 🙂 ) Here was a strategic West Front WWI game with really fun fog of war, production choices, cool mechanics for air and artillery development, and an elegant and well-thought out flow of play. I was “in,” so Fields of Despair came to the P500 list earlier this year.

Kurt is a teacher by profession, and his instructional and organizational skills shine through in his game design. I think you’ll see from his article, below, that Kurt really pays attention to detail, and that’s great news for all of us who love games, because Fields of Despair is a gem! I hope you guys enjoy Kurt’s first InsideGMT article, and look forward to future installments. – Gene

————–

Today, August 5th, marks the 100th anniversary of the German attack into Belgium.  What better day to give you a little peak at where we are with development as it relates to the opening moves of the war?

When playing the 1914 Mobile War or Grand Campaign of Fields of Despair, your first order of business is to plan the attack into Belgium.  In your way is the fortress city of Liege just as it was 100 years ago.  Below is a photo of the scenario set-up and my awesome hand-drawn arrows to illustrate the German war plans.

LiegeSP

Posted on

Mobile Bay – “Damn the Torpedoes!” Rebel Raiders’ Style

by

Mark McLaughlin is as interesting a guy as you’re going to find at a game convention. When I think of Mark, I think “learning and laughter,” as I always learn something when I talk with him, and there’s always a lot of laughter involved! I’ve really enjoyed the few occasions (Mark is East Coast, I’m West Coast, so we don’t see each other very often) we’ve had a chance to sit down and talk about history, games, and even science fiction! Mark is one of those cool guys who takes great care and pride in his work, but doesn’t let his many accomplishments inflate his ego. He’s a down-to-earth great guy who is a terrific fit with our teams here at GMT. He and Fred Schachter, his developer, are a joy to work with, and I look forward to you guys getting to know them both in this blog.  In terms of GMT game credits, Mark is the designer of The Napoleonic Wars, Wellington, Kutozov,  Rebel Raiders on the High Seas, and an as-yet-unannounced series coming to P500 soon. Mark is a professional journalist and author, who publishes his own blog at http://markgmclaughlin.blogspot.com/. Check it out!  – Gene

—————-

mobilebay

August 5 is the 150th anniversary of the biggest naval battle of the Civil War:  Admiral David Glasgow Farragut’s massive assault into Mobile Bay.  In GMT’s strategic naval game on the Civil War, players can recreate that epic fight – in which this time, thanks to cards and dice, going “full speed ahead” may not be the best tactic.

Recreating the Historical Battle….in Rebel Raiders on the High Seas

-I. The Union Fleet

On August 5, 1864 Admiral David Glasgow Farragut led 18 warships into one of the most heavily defended ports in the Confederacy:  Mobile Bay.  His four armored monitors and 14 screw sloops and gunboats mounted nearly 180 guns.   Among the larger ships were the “unsinkable” USS Brooklyn and the mighty USS Hartford – from which Farragut flew his flag.

Posted on

Happy 18th Birthday, Luke!

by

Those of you who have been to a GMT Weekend at the Warehouse know that the Billingsley kids have been involved with GMT for most of their lives. Samantha, our oldest, was born six months after I created the first version of Silver Bayonet in 1990. Rachel came along two years later, and Luke in 1996. All of them worked at GMT during summers and sometimes on weekends from very early ages, and all have done virtually every job in the warehouse and many of the jobs  in the front office. Many of you have received packing slips signed by one of the Billingsley kids dating back to the late 1990s. They all grew up with GMT as the “family business” and are about as “Inside GMT” as you can get. Even now, they stay plugged into what’s going on with GMT (they watched the TS Kickstarter campaign with great interest this summer) and continue to offer good suggestions and feedback on how we’re running the business.  Most of all, though, they all PLAY our games!

They’ve played a bunch of our games over the years, starting with a road trip with the girls about 15 years ago to meet Reiner Knizia in a San Francisco hotel and play games all day when Andy and I were first looking at some of his games. And they are fiercely competitive (must be from their mom’s side of the family! 🙂 ) Samantha owns family bragging rights as the only sibling to have, partnered with dad, won Mike Lam’s ACES Down in Flames tournament. The other two have made valiant attempts, but so far 2nd place is the best finish for Rachel and Luke. Besides Down in Flames, the girls mostly like our more Euro titles – we STILL take Ivanhoe with us on every family vacation. Rachel plays a mean game of Labyrinth, though, and reminded me just last week that she beat me the last time we played. Luke, though, likes both Euros and (thank you, Lord!) WARGAMES! He and I have played a lot of games of Combat Commander over the years, and he’s had a friendly grudge match going with John Leggat over various Combat Commander battlefields for years now (John, you have been a tremendous positive influence on Luke over the years. Thank you!). He also likes Labyrinth and the COIN series games, and this year discovered he liked to play Chess, so we’ve had some fun over the chessboard, as well.

My "little playtester" got big!

My “little playtester” got big!

This summer, in between a lot of travelling, Luke has been helping me get Mr. President ready to hand off to the test teams. I always knew he was a good gamer, but this summer he has really impressed me with his attention to detail. He has an editor’s eye and reminds me of Volko in terms of organization and detail skills (that’s about the highest praise I can give), so he has been very valuable to me with his work on Mr President this summer.

Posted on

Overheard in the Oval Office

by

Mr. President is a game unlike any other I’ve ever attempted to design. It is a solitaire game that puts you in the shoes of the President of the United States, attempting to govern, with limited resources, in a complex and ever-changing world. It is not a game about getting elected, and it definitely does not have a political affiliation or point of view. It is about GOVERNING, and the choices and trade-offs you make to try and balance keeping your citizens protected and happy while the world seems to be disintegrating all around you.

As an aside, when I begin design work on Mr. President several years ago, I ran the idea by Andy Lewis just to see what he thought. What you need to know is this is THE game I’ve always wanted to design, and intend it to be (by far) my best design ever. But when I told Andy about it, he was very lukewarm to the idea (although in Andy’s defense he says now that he didn’t realize it was going to be a solitaire game), and didn’t really think a game like this would sell. I was a little disappointed, but, naturally, I totally forgave Andy for his lack of vision and faith and went on with the project, right? OK, well that’s NOT quite the whole story. When it came time to create the Advisor counters in Mr. President, I told John Welch, my design assistant, “We’re going to put Andy Lewis in the Advisor mix. And we’re going to make him by far the sorriest advisor in the Cabinet.”  Now for the record, I really like Andy Lewis and love working with him, and the rest of this is just all in good fun. But I DO remember…. 🙂

I hope you enjoy this brief look inside the world of Mr. President. We’ll post more as the design/development process advances.