Designer Blogs

Men of Iron Historical Look – Battle of Bosworth 22 August 1485

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In William Shakespeare’s Richard III, the eponymous character is described as physically deformed and a psychopathic villain. Was this the truth or Tudor era propaganda? Shakespeare has these lines in the play depicting Richard as deformed in body: “To help thee curse this poisonous bunch-backed toad.” “O, thou didst prophesy the time would come that […]

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Designer Blogs, Inside the Game as History

A Vietnam RSG: Capturing the Core of the Combat Commander System

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While the game comes with 12 scenarios, there is also a 2-page roll-your-own scenario system that will generate a HISTORICAL situation in about 5 minutes, after which both players secretly choose from one of many historical forces of platoon-to-company size with which to fight. -Chad Jensen on Combat Commander: Europe (2006) Magical Realism The premise

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Designer Blogs

A Fading Star #3: On Designing a Game About an Ongoing Conflict

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In today’s article, I wish to discuss the context around designing A Fading Star as an ongoing conflict. The game covers a pivotal period of the Somali Civil War (2007-2014), which one could term “the golden age of Al-Shabaab.” But since I started working on the game and researching this topic, the situation that stemmed

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Designer Blogs

Men of Iron Historical Look – Battle of Montgisard 25 November 1177

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As seen on TV, or at least in the movie Kingdom of Heaven, the Leper King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem was a striking figure in a silver mask to hide his leprosy. There is no evidence that Baldwin IV wore a mask, though he suffered from disfigurement of his face and limbs as his disease

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Designer Blogs, Inside the Game as History

Historical Events in Tsar

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This is the second in a series of InsideGMT articles from Paul Hellyer about his board game Tsar, currently on GMT’s P500. You can view the first article here. As part of Nicholas II’s coronation in 1896, the Tsarist regime planned an event to placate the common people of Moscow: a giveaway of food, kvass,

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Designer Blogs

The Tale of the “Spectre” – “Infernal Machine’s” Scenario Ten from a ‘Northern Aspect’

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As our play testing of “Infernal Machine” continues apace, it is interesting to see how our teaching scenarios can be tinkered with to make sure they are providing much-needed information on game play and hints on strategy, as well as have some fun with the game system. Scenario Ten has the Player fill the shoes

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Designer Blogs

Congress of Vienna Goes Electric, 2025 Edition (with VASSAL!) 

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer/Editor, Fred Schachter – For those unaware, to familiarize this InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago created with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, available via GMT Games; InsideGMT has presented articles including a “Strategies for” series… (think of the old Avalon Hill General magazine’s “Perfect

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Designer Blogs

Rebel Raiders Still Lives!

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Some weeks ago, an enterprising YouTuber, Andrew Choong, with his delightful British accent, posted several videos singing eloquent praise of GMT’s Rebel Raiders on the High Seas: a seminal game of the American Civil War at sea and the major rivers of North America by Mark McLaughlin (Mark and I enjoyably teamed together on several

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Designer Blogs

The Women of Baltic Empires: Part Two

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Below you will find Part Two in Brian Asklev’s “The Women of Baltic Empires” two-part article series. In the first part of this article he looked at Marie Louise Gonzaga and and Sophia Alekseyevna and you can read that here. -Rachel Queen Christina (1626-1689) Christina became Queen of Sweden as a young child, upon the

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Designer Blogs

The Historical Figures in Nicholas II’s Regime

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This is the first in a series of InsideGMT articles from Paul Hellyer about his board game Tsar, currently on GMT’s P500. The human element is a key part of Tsar’s simulation: the historical figures responsible for Russia’s fate during the reign of the last Tsar Nicholas II. The game aims to capture their talents

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