Monthly Archives: July 2023

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Imperial Fever: Deckbuilding With a Twist

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Many of the more experienced players of historical games have fond memories of Pax Britannica, a game published by Victory Games in 1985. According to its rules, “Pax Britannica recreates the dynamics of the colonial era, from 1880 to the outbreak of the Great War”. However, many players feel that Pax Britannica has not aged too well, and it is a difficult game to bring it to the table today. It requires detailed bookkeeping and players need to fill in meticulous tax-like forms to reflect income and expenses. Also, the action phase lacks structure, without any specific player order, so that players may interrupt and compete for actions without clear rules. When wars break out, a separate game system opens where only the involved players act, with the rest just looking on for what can be rather lengthy periods of time. Accommodating up to seven players, a game of Pax Britannica usually lasts a full day, often longer. There are other issues regarding diplomacy, asymmetry, and agency, but these are not relevant to the topic of this article.

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Order & Opportunity: Extended Example of Play, Part 1

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Some weeks ago, a new game named Order & Opportunity: Making of the Post-Cold War World Order entered GMT Games’ P500 list. This is the seventh in a series of articles covering different aspects about the game.

In this and a number of following installments, we will follow along a strategic, multi-turn example of how to play Order & Opportunity.

The year is somewhere early 2000’s and a new US administration — controlled by us! — has taken the helm. In this example, the EU, China, and Russia turns will be played by the bot system contained in the game, but we will abstract those turns away to allow us to focus on the US turns.

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1848: The Springtime of Nations — Revolutions

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In Europe, the year 1848 was defined by a series of revolutions that swept the continent from west to east, from France to the eastern borders of the Austrian Empire and Romania. Obviously, therefore, a game about this series of events must make an effort to simulate the multiple revolutions of the era as core part of the game, and in a CDG based on the system originating with Twilight Struggle this means revolutions need to arise from the players’ efforts – from gameplay – rather than just the “deus ex machina” of event cards.

Fortunately, there is an existing model to draw from. Players familiar with 1989: Dawn of Freedom (henceforth 1989) will quickly understand that Revolutions in 1848: The Springtime of Nations (henceforth 1848) are very similar to the Power Struggles in that game. In 1848, Revolutions are the most prevalent source of VPs, and most of the actions players take are aimed at setting up an advantageous position for these showdowns that take place across the nations and empires depicted in the game.

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Fields of Fire Volume 3: The Parachute Regiment, Episode 2 – Falklands

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Note: All game images are of Vassal playtest art and not final

Volume 3 of Fields of Fire brings three campaigns featuring The British Army – the Battle of Arnhem in 1944, the Falklands War in 1982, and Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2008.

Previous Article: Episode 1 – Arnhem

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Mr. President Sandbox Scenario #2: A Clear and Present Danger

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This is the first in a series of alternate Sandbox Scenarios that offers you different possible world situations and settings that alter the focus and play experience for your Sandbox Scenario games of Mr. President.

In this scenario, we postulate the following: A situation in the mid 2010s that might have happened but, thankfully, didn’t.

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Roots of Decisive Action

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Flipping through the pages of Military Modeler magazine as a twelve-year-old kid, I and found scattered throughout ads for board wargames. Who would have thought that these games would help lead me down the path to becoming an Armored Cavalry officer and serve in the U.S. Army for twenty-five years? Then to a further career as a civilian working in the Department of Defense, then to design my own historical board wargames, and now finally to designing my own modern tactical wargame?

SPI game advertisement

Before all that, I had some lawns to mow. A lot of lawns.

When I finally saved up enough, the first game I ordered from one of those ads was MechWar ’77, a 1975 Simulations Publications, Inc. release by Jim Dunningan. I soloed it countless times, picturing myself fighting the Soviets in the fields of Cold War Germany. I also played Dunnigan’s Firefight (1976) and Mark Herman’s innovative MechWar 2 (1979), all piquing my fascination with modern tactical warfare. I entered the United States Military Academy in 1981, though it would be many more years before I would design my own game.   

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The Iron Storm Game Engine

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In this article I will talk about the game engine behind Iron Storm, the main mechanics of this system that I have invented. Some time ago there were not so many strategic World War I games, but in the last few years there have been a number of them released. Many people interested in Iron Storm ask how is this game different from the others? I would say that, apart from the fact that the entire war can be played realistically in one session, what is different is the game system. I think the system is innovative enough that it doesn’t look too much like any other published wargame.