There are 12 rounds in each game of Rebellion: Britannia – unless an automatic loss condition for Rome is triggered (she has 2+ Forts and 6+ Settlements burnt at the same time, or has all 4 Legions destroyed) in which case the game ends immediately. At the beginning of each round the top card of […]
Rebellion: Britannia, The Events Deck, Part #1 Read Post »
Designer BlogsThe Somali Civil War is an ongoing, now three-decades-long outburst of violence that has displaced millions and killed thousands. The international public knows about this conflict primarily through news headlines generated by the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” incident and its eponymous 2001 Hollywood movie depiction. However, the global media otherwise paid little attention to the
A Fading Star #1: The Somali Civil War Read Post »
Designer BlogsThere’s another systemic layer to the game we haven’t really discussed in the blogs before now, at least not in any detail, which is a source of potential Victory Points (VPs). This element concerns indigenous British culture. It’s a later addition to the design and something we are still exploring in development. Early playtesting exposed
Rebellion: Britannia, Indigenous British Culture Read Post »
Designer BlogsIn this article in our series previewing Downfall, we continue our typical game to show a range of orders and activities that might occur, such as strategic warfare, event triggers, intra-Axis conflict, weather and partisan warfare. At the end of Preview 3, the Western Faction’s Initiative Marker occupied the lowest-numbered space on the Initiative Track
Downfall: Conquest of the Third Reich Preview 4 — Action Rounds Continue Read Post »
Designer Blogs, Development UpdatesThe core design of Bear Trap is now done, and the two-player game is polished. So, in today’s article I thought I’d share some comments on my experience designing Bear Trap. Ideation I first thought of creating a game about the Soviet-Afghan War while teaching Military Ethics at university in 2013. I was drawn to
Bear Trap Designer Notes Read Post »
Designer BlogsTwilight Struggle has long been the game that I most wanted to find a satisfying way to play solo. The game rewards knowing your hand intimately, and guessing what’s in your opponent’s hand as well. Because the game is so tactical in determining the order and timing of card play, it is a difficult game
Inside GMT One: How I Designed a Solo Bot for Twilight Struggle: Red Sea Read Post »
Designer Blogs, Developer NotesIn last week’s blog post, I discussed the Bank of New York and the strategic flexibility is adds to 18EUS. In this final blog post, let’s talk about one of my favorite parts, the private companies. I had so much fun with the design of the private companies of 18EUS. The auction mechanism draws from
Private Companies in 18EUS Read Post »
Designer BlogsIn last week’s blog post, I discussed the games and people that inspired me to make 18EUS. As part of that, I mentioned that one of the key new elements of 18EUS is the Bank of New York, which allows players to either take elective personal loans or invest in the Bank if they do
18EUS: The Bank of New York Read Post »
Designer BlogsGreetings again, ladies and gentlemen, and boys and girls of all ages! After having been flooded by hundreds of thousands of emails and posts requesting more information about this game (well, that’s a rough estimate … maybe it was just Harvey from East Northport who wrote me, but I can’t remember just now), I had
WELCOME TO PLUM ISLAND (or … A Brief Tour of a Soon-To-Be Hellscape)! Read Post »
Designer Blogs, Development UpdatesMy interest in strategy board games started early when my grandfather taught me chess at six years old. In high school I enjoyed playing on custom-designed Risk maps with my friends, and in college I discovered Settlers of Catan. Next was enjoying the plethora of modern Euro games. I moved to Grand Haven, Michigan in
18EUS’s Origin Story Read Post »
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