Category Archives: Designer Blogs

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Congress of Vienna (with Wargame Flavor Rules) After Action Report Turns 6-8: “Austria at War”

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: The below is an After-Action-Report (AAR) of a CoV Campaign VASSAL game whose core players were located in the USA and Europe. It is a compilation of emails I provided the team between gaming sessions. I served as the game’s chronicler as well as an observer and kind of “living rulebook” should a question arise. A CoV Campaign Game comprises ten turns and a one turn session was conducted each Saturday.

The first five turn’s of this AAR, encompassing the period of Austria’s neutrality, before it joined the fray against that “Corsican Ogre”, Napoleon I, emperor of the French, are covered by this piece’s initial segment: Congress of Vienna (with Wargame Flavor Rules) After Action Reports Turns 1-5 “Austria’s Neutrality”. Inside GMT blog readers are encouraged to reference this for background as to how our AAR’s players came to the juncture this article encompasses.

During each one turn session the players were not rushed and could take as much time as desired to negotiate with one another and deliberate a play. No one minded each turn taking 1-2 hours to complete for everyone was having a joyously fun time (which, of course, is why we game)! It should be noted that experienced Congress of Vienna players, who agree to limit “table talk” or simply progress at a brisk pace, can get through a Campaign Game in 5-6 hours with the shorter scenarios being much quicker to complete.

To best appreciate this AAR, a general background regarding CoV will assuredly help. This can be gained by referencing GMT’s site for the game which is replete with a variety of material. See: GMT Games – Congress of Vienna

With that, enjoy this Congress of Vienna Campaign Game After-Action-Report for its turns 6-8, the period before Austria abandons neutrality and enters the war! At the conclusion of this history the four players share their musings about this particular contest and the Congress of Vienna game overall. The CoV VASSAL map saw a few improvements during this game’s conduct as Frank, myself, and the players noticed need for a clarifying “tweak” here and there as well as for a few rule improvements…

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Designing a Narrative Solitaire Experience for In the Shadows

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From the very start of the Consim Game Jam we (Chris, Dan, and I) wanted to make sure that our design offered both an excellent two player and solo gaming experience. In the Shadows is a card-driven game about the desperate struggle of the French Resistance against the occupying Nazi and collaborating French forces between January 1943 and June 1944. The game offers both an intense two player game and a story driven solo experience. In this article I want to talk a bit about how In the Shadows embraces the narrative nature of solo play to create two distinct gaming experiences in the same box.

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Factions in Red Dust Rebellion: Martian Provisional Government

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Today marks the 20th anniversary of the human presence on Mars. 200 years ago, a small group of intrepid explorers from multiple of Earth’s nations set foot on our world. And starting from that first brave step, we have built all that you see around us today. A living, breathing, vibrant community, a rich diverse world of peoples from all the nations of Earth and many of us who have always called Mars home.

Today is a day when we must reflect one where we have come from. The debt we owe our forebears and the struggles and sacrifices they made to carve out a life in the barren rock of Mars. The botanists who learned to grow plants that feed us, the engineers who built the tunnels we live in, the scientists who built our water reclamation system, the miners who dug up the materials we need, and the machinists who built the places we now call home.

Today we must reflect on where we came from. But we must also look forward to the next 200 years of this greatest of human endeavors. We will terraform Mars. We will build a new world, a new home for humanity. It will be our greatest accomplishment. And for all that our forebears have done to bring us to this point, we must do more.

For our future, for our children’s future, and for the future of humanity. Let us all work together in this noblest of goals.

Teresa Yeo, Prime Minister of the Martian Assembly, Bi-centennial day address  
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Roles and Relationships in Prime Minister

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The first InsideGMT article for Prime Minister discussed the game’s use of numbers to simulate Britain’s political system. Now we’ll go beyond the numbers and look at how player roles and relationships evoke the struggle for political power.

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A Desperate Struggle: Event Cards and Suits in In the Shadows

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In the Shadows was born in a whirlwind. We (Chris, Dan, and Joe) created the game for the inaugural Consim Game Jam in October 2020. We were tasked with designing an original game using the existing components from one of the COIN series games. And, if that wasn’t challenging enough, we only had 72 hours to do it!

Amidst the swirl of creativity, we desired to design something that told the story of the French Resistance within the framing of a Lunchtime Game. In the game you will play as either the Resistance or the Occupation in a fight over the hearts and minds of the French People. In this article we will focus on the Event cards and the importance of the regional Suits.

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The Analog Computer Inside Prime Minister

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Glance at Prime Minister’s game board and player mats, and the first thing you’ll notice are all the numbers. The most important one is 330: the number of seats you need for a majority in the House of Commons. In this article, we’ll take a look at Prime Minister’s numerical side, with a focus on its measurement of public opinion.

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Congress of Vienna (with Wargame Flavor Rules) After Action Report Turns 1-5: “Austria’s Neutrality”

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)s Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: 2020 marked one year of Congress of Vienna being a GMT P-500 listed game and we once again thank all who’ve placed much appreciated orders for it. What a year 2020 was; not only for us all due to the Pandemic, but for our beloved gaming hobby and the development of CoV. May the year 2021 be a better experience!

The below is an After-Action-Report (AAR) of a CoV Campaign VASSAL game whose core players were located in the USA and Europe. It is a compilation of emails I provided the team between gaming sessions. I served as the game’s chronicler as well as an observer and kind of “living rulebook” should a question arise. A CoV Campaign Game comprises ten turns and a one turn session was conducted each Saturday. When a player was on holiday/vacation, either designer Frank Esparrago or developer Dick Sauer would substitute for him.

During each one turn session the players were not rushed and could take as much time as desired to negotiate with one another and deliberate a play. No one minded each turn taking 1-2 hours to complete for everyone was having a joyously fun time (which, of course, is why we game)! It should be noted that experienced Congress of Vienna players, who agree to limit “table talk” or simply progress at a brisk pace, can get through a Campaign Game in 5-6 hours with the shorter scenarios being much quicker to complete.

To best appreciate this AAR, a general background regarding CoV will assuredly help. This can be gained by referencing GMT’s site for the game which is replete with a variety of material.  See: GMT Games – Congress of Vienna

With that, enjoy this Congress of Vienna Campaign Game After-Action-Report for its turns 1-5, the period before Austria abandons neutrality and enters the war! Here’s an image of the VASSAL CoV game board which was used. A more comprehensive description of changes since Nov. 2020, which this illustration incorporates, should be included within the team’s next month GMT Update:

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Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East: Meet the Urartians

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Below is the eighteenth in a series of articles from Mark McLaughlin showcasing the civilizations in Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East. You can find the first seventeen articles in the series here.

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Historic Characters in Banish the Snakes: Arthur, King of the Britons

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In previous installments, I have described the “main characters” in Banish the Snakes: the historic people that players represent in their attempts to convert Ireland. But now I’m moving on to the “supporting cast” of historic characters, people who were notable in the history of the time and show up in the game on Event cards. The previous articles in this “supporting cast” series can be found here.

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Congress of Vienna: Update and Look Back at an Exciting Year

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: December 2020 marks the one year anniversary of Congress of Vienna becoming a GMT P-500 listed game and we once again thank all who’ve placed much appreciated orders for CoV. What a year it has been; not only for us all due to the Pandemic, but for our beloved gaming hobby and the development of CoV.

This monthly update is a retrospective by designer Frank Esparrago, a reminiscence going back to the game’s earliest features. Its particular focus is on the developmental progress of Congress of Vienna since it made its debut as a prospective GMT game during July 2019’s CSW Expo in Tempe, AZ… ah for those wonderful seemingly halcyon days when we could physically gather for a good old traditional gaming convention! Hopefully, those days shall soon return.

In conjunction with this article’s InsideGMT publication, the latest files of sample cards and counters are shared. These replace those posted with CoV’s P-500 listing.  For those, and a host of related Congress of Vienna material, which should provide useful and hopefully entertaining background for this article, kindly reference: GMT Games – Congress of Vienna

With that, take it away Frank!