Introduction by Hannibal’s Revenge Game Developer, Fred Schachter: To those who placed P500 orders for the game and/or InsideGMT readers curious regarding the all too long hiatus in communications regarding it, Mark and I, after tragic periods in our personal lives (we both lost our beloved wives within a single year), are pleased to resume Hannibal’s Revenge progress with our wonderful publisher, GMT Games’, support. The first game of the “Card Conquest System” series is Hitler’s Reich. This game, although using a similar “engine” for resolving conflict, modifies the system to depict a fascinating and legendary historical struggle. Now to Mark for his update of this next “Card Conquest” Series game.
Introduction by Game Designer, Mark McLaughlin:Hannibal’s Revengeis not your typical game about the titular scourge of Rome. Nor is it your typical wargame. It does cover the Second Punic War, as have so many games which have come and gone before (with a tip of the helmet to Mark Simonitch for his classic Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage | Board Game | BoardGameGeek – both the original and the glorious remake with chess-like model soldiers), but in a unique manner. As to my design regarding this topic…
Last time we shot, this time we’ll move, next time we’ll communicate. Erm, we’ll shoot this time, too. Maybe communicate as well. Heck, we’re just going to do it all!
That said, we’re not going to cover movement in Decisive Action in any great depth since, if you’ve ever played a hex-and-counter game before (pretty likely if you’re reading a wargaming blog), you already know what’s going on. Instead, we’ll talk about two features that are different from your standard hex-and-counter fare.
The Soviet Union was just as surprised as everyone else when the Cuban revolution succeeded, and their initial attitude towards Castro was cautious, as it was not yet clear where his sympathies lay. The Cuban communist party (the PSP, or Popular Socialist Party) had even supported Fulgencio Batista during his first presidency from 1940 to 1944, and were regarded with suspicion among the Cuban revolutionaries, who came from a diverse range of political backgrounds. However, after the US embargo was established in October 1960 the Soviet Union stepped in to purchase Cuban sugar and provide other economic aid, and this relationship rapidly escalated after the Bay of Pigs invasion, eventually leading to the deployment of nuclear weapons and the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. Similar to the United States faction, the Soviet Union faction represents especially those within the Soviet government and military who are in favour of using Cuba as a tool to increase their regional influence and extract concessions from the United States. In this article I will outline some key features of the Soviet Union faction and their new menu of Operations and Special Activities.
In the earliest development of Rebellion: Britannia we were visualizing the systems in the form of various levers, so that the key elements of Briton Tension, Briton Warbands, and Legion Cohesion (which is rather fun to say out loud) all had mechanisms to both increase and decrease them. We might show this in the form shown in Table 1. (It did not look this neat in our original notebooks.)
At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba’s imports.
Cuius Regio is an operational level wargame depicting the military activities of the Thirty Years War. This is a summary of activity in the first two turns of a Campaign game from one of our teaching games with our playtest group. While this is not a detailed explanation of the rules, but it does provide a description of the flow of the game and the basics of how the game works.
NOTE: The Map art depicted in this article is almost final (pending a few minor corrections), but the counter art is not. This game was played online using Vassal.
Here the designer of Epipolae: The Athenian Expedition in Sicily, 415-413 BCE (P500), presents his thoughts on why the Levy & Campaign system works well for ancient settings. (All images are public domain from the Illustrated History of the World, 1881.)
Levy & Campaign
The Levy & Campaign (L&C) series of games was designed from the ground-up to model operational-level medieval military campaigns. This includes some modeling of the feudal system of Lords and vassals, obligations and fealty, and organization and service. [1]
Key features in the series include each turn of the game consisting of a Levy phase and a Campaign phase. Each Levy phase is used to muster allies, vassals, capabilities, transportation, and supplies. Each Campaign phase allows players to plan and command the movement and various actions of their Lords and armies, subject to the logistical constraints of the previous Levy phase(s). Each game board has two features: a calendar and a map. The calendar serves as a turn record track that is used to track the availability and service of various Lords and vassals. Each map is point-to-point, where Locales are connected by Ways, which control movement and supply routes. Victory conditions vary, but can be achieved through conquering strongholds, defeating enemies in battle, and ravaging and plundering. [1]
Key Features
Levy Phase – mustering allies, vassals, capabilities, transportation, and supplies.
Campaign Phase – plan and command Lords and armies subject to logistical constraints.
Calendar – track availability and service of Lords and vassals.
Imperial Fever is a game of Great Power competition in the period 1880-1914. However, the term “Great Power” is difficult to define and open to discussion. The four players in the game take on the roles of the United Kingdom, France, the Central Empires (which for game purposes comprise Germany and Austria-Hungary), and the Emergent Powers (which include the United States and Japan). However, there are other powers, both in Europe and outside Europe, that were very active or important in this period. Russia, Italy and most certainly China come to mind. On the other hand, other powers such as Spain, Portugal, or the Netherlands, had been major imperial actors until very recently and were still active in the international stage. Even Leopold II, the king of a small and recent country like Belgium, secured an important if notorious role in the colonial race starting in the 1880s.
The role of all these international actors is not neglected in Imperial Fever, even if they do not appear as player factions. The aim of this article is to explain and analyse how Imperial Fever incorporates their actions and influence.
The new Cuban government that came to power in 1959 was initially very popular, replacing the Batista dictatorship with an apparently moderate liberal regime, and with ambitious plans to stamp out political corruption, to enact land, labor, and education reforms, and to normalize relationships with important trade partners like the United States. However, as Castro and his allies began to strengthen their grip on power and expand the scope of their economic reforms, resistance began to grow, including not only wealthy landowners but also revolutionary veterans concerned by the political direction of the new regime. The Resistance faction in Resisting Revolution represents a loose coalition of urban political opposition, clandestine rural cells, and a guerrilla insurgency in the central Escambray Mountains, united by their commitment to overthrowing Castro but without much popular support or organized structure. In this article I will outline some key features of the Resistance faction and their new menu of Operations and Special Activities.
Small Battles of the American Revolution: There are many interesting American Revolution battles that are simply too small for the Battles of the American Revolution series scale (200 yards/hex, 100 men/strength point and 1 hour/turn). That’s why I’m pleased to report that Bruno Sinigaglio is designing the first “Small Battles of the American Revolution” game!
In the Small BoAR series, the base scale will be 25 yards/hex, 12 men/strength point and roughly 7.5 minutes/turn. At this scale individual units are identified as carrying predominately muskets or rifles, and all infantry units will be able to fire (something that is abstracted at the current BoAR scale). Fire results are also more granular with results such as “reform”, “recoil” and “shattered” now possible. At this scale, cavalry will have the ability to charge, and players will be able to put cavalry in reserve during movement and then to charge!
The first game in the series will be Cowpens, which lends itself perfectly to this smaller scale. This game introduces a new unit type (Skirmishers) and terrain features (cane brake and “gentle slope”). Research on this battle has been extensive, including a day-long visit to the battlefield by Bruno, developer Dave Stiffler, and BoAR series designer Mark Miklos. The result is what might be the most historically accurate Cowpens battle map ever produced.
Other Small BoAR designs in progress are the Battles of Hubbardton and Bennington by Curtiss Fyock and Cooch’s Bridge by Rob “Cappy” McCracken.
Update from Mark Miklos:
Battles of the American Revolution: Volume 11
The Battle of Green Spring Plantation
I am hard at work designing volume 11 in the Battles of the American Revolution series, The Battle of Green Spring Plantation. Fought in Tidewater Virginia in July 1781, this battle was the immediate prelude to Yorktown and represents Cornwallis’ last victory during the American Revolution.
British forces had been rampaging virtually unchecked in Virginia until General Clinton, expecting a Franco-American attack against New York City, requested Cornwallis send him reinforcements. As ordered, Cornwallis moved his army from Williamsburg, VA to Jamestown Ferry on the James River, intent upon crossing over to Portsmouth.
Shadowing the British in Virginia were the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron von Steuben, and “Mad” Anthony Wayne. Their combined forces of crack light infantry, Pennsylvania Line, and Virginia militia remained just out of reach. Deceived by British “deserters” and run-away slaves into thinking the British had already crossed the bulk of their forces over the river and that only a rear guard remained holding the ferry, the impetuous Lafayette, and the equally impetuous Wayne, rushed ahead to defeat this exposed element of the British force in detail. Little did they know that Cornwallis had laid a trap into which the Americans obligingly fell. Only the heroics of Wayne and his Pennsylvanians prevented disaster.
The Battle of Green Spring Plantation will feature a historical scenario and a campaign game. Very little new chrome will be added to the core series rules in this volume although rules for skirmishers, who played a key role in springing the British trap, are being developed. Counter density will approximate that of Saratoga.
The sketch map, reflecting on-site and archival research, is complete as is the British Order of Battle. American Order of Battle and Exclusive Rules are being written as this goes to press. We anticipate Green Spring Plantation to be ready for P-500 in 2024.
