Monthly Archives: April 2021

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Inside GMT One: Behind the Design of Tru’ng

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This month we wrapped up design work on the bots for Fall of Saigon, the upcoming expansion to Fire in the Lake. This seemed like a good moment to reflect on the journey that it took to get to this point and share some of the things we’ve learned along the way. This is definitely not the end of the road – more card-based COIN bots are coming – but it’s a good point for reflection. The card-based bot system used in Tru’ng does not originate with Fire in the Lake, but is an offshoot of Bruce’s work on Gandhi (the card based system in All Bridges Burning is unrelated to Tru’ng and Arjuna, and was developed by VPJ Arponen specifically for ABB). When Volko asked Bruce to make card-based bots for Fall of Saigon, we knew that we would have to evolve the system to accommodate the increased complexity in Fire in the Lake. After all, we couldn’t make bots that could play Fall of Saigon unless they could also play Fire in the Lake.
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Laban! Chapter 5: The New People’s Army in People Power

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The New People’s Army (NPA) has its genesis in the Hukbalahap rebellion, fought by tenant farmers after World War II. By the late 1960s, the social conditions which had led the Huks to rebel remained unresolved and led to the formation of the New People’s Army by José María Sison and Bernabe Buscayno. The NPA was not the only insurgency fighting the Filipino Goverment – the Bangasamoro people of Mindanao were in the early years of the Moro Independence struggle, which peaked during the mid 70s, before a peace agreement was brokered by Muammar Ghaddafi in 1976.

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Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, Through the Lens of Imperial Struggle

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Below you will find another fantastic article from Clio’s Board Games, this time discussing Robert Walpole through the lens of GMT’s Imperial Struggle. You can also find this article on Clio’s blog. Enjoy! -Rachel

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Congress of Vienna: Designing Its Two Player Game

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: This article follows up a previous piece’s description of efforts made by one of the CoV Teams making fine and appreciated contributions to the game… “Gutt’s Guys”… who’ve come up with a set of rules converting CoV’s 4-player game into 3 and 2-player versions.

With this article, designer Frank Esparrago describes efforts to make Congress of Vienna into a completely competitive and fun two player game with all the intensity and excitement of its Standard multi-player versions… but one which delivers some unique design elements to hopefully create novel and exciting player experiences and “puzzles to victory” conundrums to explore. Later articles will describe how CoV’s Bots were created for solo play enjoyment; and shall provide a description, with examples, of how they work.

Understanding Congress of Vienna’s basic game system(s) should enhance readers’ appreciation of this article and its ensuing follow-ups. To that end, GMT’s site for the game contains a wealth of material: GMT Games – Congress of Vienna 

We hope you enjoy that content and take it away Frank!

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Crusader: FAB #4 Development Update

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First an update on where we are with the game at this moment. The final playtesting is underway and I’m very pleased by the excellent work the playtest team have done so far. The difficulties have been all the new concepts in this volume and to transfer the FAB system to the wide open desert and desert warfare, where there are no strict frontlines and swirling battles are fought all across the map. 

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“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter Two, Part One – Competition Cards

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Chapter Two: Competition, Trade, & Resource Cards of ACME

Part 1: Competition Cards

Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East provides eleven (11!) regular Competition cards. For those unfamiliar or needing a refresher as to how an Ancient Civ game’s Competition is resolved for each Contested area, see the extended example of a Competition accessible through this link: Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) Example of Play Part 3 of 3: Reckoning Phase with Additional Examples of Competition – Inside GMT blog. Several of Chapter One’s Great Person Competition cards, as well a couple of those encompassed within this article, are cited.
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“All Along The Demilitarized Zone”: Playing Next War: Korea (Part 1)

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Ian M. Sullivan is the Special Advisor for Analysis and ISR at the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, US Army Training and Doctrine Command.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this post are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, or Army Training and Doctrine Command

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Laban! Chapter 4: The Reformers in People Power

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In People Power the Reformer faction encompasses all the liberal, nonviolent, political opposition to the Marcos regime, including politicians, Catholic leaders, and regular citizens who were willing to voice their disdain for Marcos and his cronies. However, there is little doubt that the voice of the Reformers was, for many years, one man: Benigno Aquino Jr, known to Filipinos simply as “Ninoy.”

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Faster Fire Resolution for Mons 1914 and Gallipoli 1915

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Mons, 1914: The Mad Minute will include the 2.0 version of the Rifle and Spade series rules; the 1.0 version shipped with Gallipoli, 1915: Churchill’s Greatest Gamble. The new version is focused on readability and faster play, while retaining the same historical accuracy. Rules that rarely came up in play or that were difficult to remember were dropped, obscure language clarified, and several key procedures simplified – the new rules are 20% shorter and the playtesters are all much happier. Gallipoli can be played with the 2.0 rules, using replacments of the Fire DRM chart and the Fire Results Table.

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Commands and Decrees of the Deccan Empires: Aims, Means, and Victory Conditions

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Introduction

In the last article we introduced some of the main modeling choices in Vijayanagara, in particular the concepts of Tributary and Independent Provinces, and Obedient and Rebelling Units. Having identified three major actors in the region during this period of Indian history, we set out to identify the central features representing their distinct goals and their asymmetric means of attaining them. The game is won by the player whose Faction’s victory condition is highest at the end of the game, with ties broken by comparing Resources. (A second, optional tie-breaker is a short match of Aadu Huli Aata, an ancient asymmetric hunting game found etched into temples where Vijayanagara once stood. This will be the topic of another article, and a copy of the game will be contained in the Vijayanagara box.) Each faction in the game has a set of standard Commands and special Decrees  which they may choose at different times in the game. We will now explore the unique goals and actions available to each faction in turn.