Monthly Archives: December 2021

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Inside the History of Twilight Struggle: Red Sea — Conflict in the Horn of Africa (Part 3)

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The Context between the Super Powers

Part 3 of a three part series: The Cold War in the 1970s.

Twilight Struggle Red Sea is now nearing completion and will soon join the cue of GMT titles ready for printing.  TS: Red Sea is a free-standing, two player card-driven game that builds on the Twilight Struggle system.  The game covers the period between the mid-1970s and the conclusion of the Cold War.  It emphasizes the many proxy wars and revolutions in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa during this portion of the Cold War.

With a more limited scope and much shorter playtime, TS Red Sea is the perfect way to introduce new players to the Twilight Struggle. Yet this new game maintains all the tension, decision making, and theme of the original classic. 

This is the third of a three article series, introducing players to the history reflected in the game, and providing some example events that illustrate the ties between history and gameplay.

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The Last Hundred Yards Ladder Play After Action Reports: Mission 1.0 — On Their Own

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The Last Hundred Yards (LHY) Vassal Ladder is an ongoing monthly tournament in which players are matched up roughly by skill rating. As players win or lose, they move up and down on the ladder. There is nothing particularly “official” about the ratings and we welcome players of all skill levels. We currently have about 20 -22 regular participants. Players can join, leave, and re-enter the ladder each round as they have available time. The LHY Ladder players are located around the world in many different time zones. A small subset of the players competes by Play by Email only (PBEM). Everyone from the game’s designer to brand new players participate in the ladder. Players of all skill levels are welcome. The Ladder is a great place to learn the game and to improve your play.  A typical ladder mission should last between 90-120 minutes. Players should be familiar with the rules but can certainly discuss and help one another learn them better. A typical ladder round lasts for about four weeks so there should be plenty of time to schedule and play a match. Once the mission is completed, players are responsible for providing mission results and a short After-Action Report (AAR).

In addition to becoming more familiar with the game and improving your play, players can expect to meet a variety of friendly competitors from around the world! If you would like to participate in the LHY ladder, you contact Mark Buetow at buetowmt@gmail.com.

The following three AARs are from the most recent ladder mission played, Mission 1.0 Own Their Own.

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Reconquista and Riposte – Almoravid Full Scenario Replay

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Ace Levy & Campaign testers Christophe Correia and John Campbell face off in a run through the full-length scenario of Volume II, Almoravid. The scenario covers the Reconquista years 1085 to 1086 that historically saw Christian conquest of Toledo and a major Almoravid intervention from Africa in response. Christophe played the Muslims and John the Christians, all on Brian Reynolds’ beautiful production Vassal module, play-time for this epic scenario 7-8 hours. Cristophe gives us the blow by blow, including a climactic Battle of Toledo that will decide the conflict, while Volko adds rules orientation and historical comparisons. Enjoy this trip to medieval Spain!

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Cross Bronx Expressway: Building Historical Narrative Arcs

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As soon as an event deck was introduced to the design of Cross Bronx Expressway, it was clear that it needed to be split into periods. Covering 60 years of history, for the game to have an event from the 1940s played in the 1990s only works if you abstract away all of the historical meaning of the event itself. A deck of generic events from such a broad timespan would leave players without the context to understand the decisions the game has them make. An event deck like this would make the Bronx just a background setting without any real significance. My aim was to give players the agency to play through the history, and to accomplish this the event deck is split into six periods, each featuring a set of events from the corresponding decade to serve as historical guideposts. 

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A Holiday Gift from GMT One: Free Print-and-Play Solo Opponent for Fort Sumter

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It’s been a whole year of GMT One, and to say thank you to our customers and supporters, we have a Holiday Gift for you: a free print-and-play Solo Opponent for Mark Herman’s Fort Sumter. 

During the pandemic, I spent many nights working on the Solo Opponent for Fred Serval’s Red Flag Over Paris, which uses the same game system as Fort Sumter. As we were wrapping up, I realized that the underlying approach could easily be ported to Fort Sumter, so I asked Gene if we could do the Solo Opponent as a free giveaway. He was quite enthusiastic, so I got to work. It turned out to be a bit more work than I expected – as most Solitaire rulesets seem to be – but it was also a lot of fun to dissect Mark’s game. 

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Getting to Know I, Napoleon: Part 1: The Components

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First, let me thank everyone who caused I, Napoleon to advance up the p500 faster than any of my previous designs. Second, let me thank Richard J. Kane Sr. and Michael Ruttle for Clash of Arms’ game Legion of Honor, which inspired this design. Legion of Honor covers the career of an ordinary French soldier through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, which raised the question in my mind, What if that soldier was instead Napoleon Bonaparte? Though I, Napoleon turned out to be a very different animal, it would not have occurred to me without LoH.

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Cavallata per Cortona – INFERNO Scenario Replay, Part 3

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Volko’s test replay of Levy & Campaign Volume III proceeds into the scenario’s first Campaign, with the formation of each side’s Plan, while he incorporates and explains some ongoing development of the game. All art shown is merely for playtest, not final. …

In the first two parts of our Inferno replay we set up this introductory scenario (set in the Spring of 1259) and then Levied some added forces. Now it’s time to Plan each side’s Campaign—the movement of troops and stuff by marching and gathering supply and their pursuit of objectives by ravaging, besieging, and perhaps even fighting each other.

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“There stands Mr. Beneš, and here I stand!” – Victory Conditions in The Bell of Treason

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Hitler gave two speeches targeting Czechoslovakia during the Munich crisis. The first speech at the Nazi party rally in Nuremberg was mainly a message to Sudeten Germans that they are “not helpless and abandoned”. Two weeks later, during the second speech at Berlin Sportpalast, Hitler targeted Czechoslovak president Dr. Edvard Beneš, revealing his world view of a fight between two men embodying their nations. Beneš was so tired from his hard work trying to manage the crisis that he slept through the whole speech. When he was later told about Hitler’s personal attack, he just smiled and replied: “That’s an honor.” The Bell of Treason is a game about the Czechoslovak decision to either concede the demanded Sudetenland territory to Germany, or to stand and fight against German aggression, even without allies and with little hope for victory. From the perspective of the decision itself, achieving victory is simple, with victory points representing the popular legitimacy of the decision to Concede or Defend. However, the strong personalities of Beneš and Hitler complicate that decision for both players. Let’s start with Beneš.

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Gameplay Overview—How to Play Bear Trap

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In this article, I’ll provide a high-level overview of the mechanics found in Bear Trap, and an explanation of the gameplay. This example of combat in a prior InsideGMT article will also help elucidate some of the explanations found here.

Note that, for the sake of brevity, the rules aren’t described here in complete detail—for anyone interested in reading further, the draft player aid and draft rulebook can be found on GMT’s webpage for the game.