Monthly Archives: November 2024

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How to Play with Each Major Congress of Vienna Game Power: Russia (2024 Edition)

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: Game Designer Frank Esparrago continues his InsideGMT exposition of CoV Major Power Strategy pieces, the last presented through a “Strategies for Austria” piece: How to Play with Each Major Congress of Vienna Game Power: Austria (2024 Edition) | Inside GMT blog . This link will bring you to other material regarding this fun and exciting GMT P-500 offering.

Please note this article, as its preceding France and Austria segments, presumes a four-player standard Congress of Vienna Full Campaign game without any Optional Historical Rules.

We believe it best to follow-up the Austria article with Russia since those two Congress of Vienna Major Powers are both simultaneously partners and rivals as only one player can win the game.  Consequently,  Russia and Austria are, to use a popular reference, “frenemies”. When should Russia actively partner with Austria versus taking a more cautious approach in seeking its own game victory? That’s an intriguing and  fascinating game play challenge Frank explores.

With that, take it away Frank!

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Congress of Vienna at Nov. 2024’s SDHistCon Gaming Convention

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As mentioned in a prior InsideGMT post, Jon Carter, of CoV Transatlantic Team Playtest Team fame*, created a version of the game, from Terry Leeds’ graphic files, for bringing Congress of Vienna to SDHistCon in San Diego.  In recognition of a four-hour time limit per play session, Jon chose to present the three turn Desperate Times: The Campaign of France 1814 scenario.  For more regarding this scenario, with links to additional Congress of Vienna material, see: Congress of Vienna Scenario Set-Up Maps with Associated Historical Backgrounds | Inside GMT blog

Below is a copy of the email Jon provided Game Designer Frank Esparrago and Assistant Designer/Editor Fred Schachter, with some excellent photographs, of Congress of Vienna at SDHisCon.  

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The Medical Breakthroughs of the Armée d’Orient in Egypt (Part 2)

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The first part of this article showed us the many advances made by the French in the crucial field of injury treatment and emergency response in the heat of battle. Now it’s time to see how this relates to the mechanics of Napoleon in Egypt.

French Regulars are the most powerful unit in the game. British Regulars are a close second but still, no unit packs more punch than the French Regulars, who get to roll the prized Elite die. At the start of the campaign, 35 of those Regulars set foot in Egypt, a force that looks downright unstoppable. It would make sense for these well-trained soldiers to be harder to kill but instead of using a “2-step unit” system, we decided to link their resilience directly to the scientific progress that would lead to field hospitals, flying ambulances and all other breakthroughs Pascal talked about in part 1.

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Order & Opportunity: November 2024 Development Update

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It’s been a very exciting few weeks for the development of Order & Opportunity.

Over here in Europe, the Essen Spiel Fair 2024 took place in early October. With a little bit of help from a friend, the Estonian designer and publisher Aigar Alaveer, I was able to get some table space and demo Order & Opportunity at the fair this year. It was great to see many gamers stop by ranging from those who said they had already backed the game as well as curious folks who seemed not to have played a historical game in their lives.

Aigar accommodated me at one corner of his booth space, for which I am extremely thankful. Be sure to check out Aigar’s games at https://www.2d6.ee/. Among others, I got the game Arabella published by Aigar and 2d6, billed as an “18xx roll and write” set in Estonia, which sounds absolutely fascinating.

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Propaganda and Strategy in Hammer and Sickle

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In the previous article, we covered the Production phase of each Season and saw the differences between Summer and Winter. In this final installment, we’ll explore the Propaganda phase of the Season and conclude with some strategic thoughts for how each faction can maximize their chances of victory.

Hope is born in [the people’s] hearts, and let us remember that if exasperation often drives men to revolt, it is always hope, the hope of victory, which makes revolutions. – Peter Kropotkin

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How to Play Italy in Illusions of Glory

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The second edition of Illusions of Glory: The Great War on the Eastern Front (“IoG”) is currently on the P500 list.

Links to prototype unit counters, player aid cards, mapboard, rules, and playbook can be found on the IoG webpage.

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How to Play with Each Major Congress of Vienna Game Power: Austria (2024 Edition)

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: Game Designer Frank Esparrago continues his InsideGMT exposition of CoV Major Power Strategy pieces, the last presented through Part 2 of 2 of “Strategies for France”: How to Play with Each Major Congress of Vienna Game Power: France (2024 Edition) Part 2 of 2, Emphasis on War | Inside GMT blog. Attention is now given to Austria… whose Hapsburg players have challenges quite different from those in the role of the French emperor, Napoleon, as well as the two Allied Major Powers of Russian and Britain.  Yes, different indeed!