Category Archives: Designer Blogs

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Firefight Friday #21: Countless Tales of Valor

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Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week we covered the game’s bot, how it works, and the design philosophy behind it. This week we are wrapping up Firefight Fridays with a subject I am very excited about. I have mentioned many times over the course of this series how I wanted it to be easy and rewarding to build custom scenarios for Firefight Tactical. Even the core game scenarios themselves were designed in part to demonstrate the ease of making tweaks to the system to significantly alter gameplay. This week we will be talking about the logic behind custom scenario creation. Let’s jump in.

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1867 Big Wyoming: Deposits, Resources, & Refineries

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It is impossible to portray the history of Wyoming railroads without acknowledging the critical role natural resource mining and refinement played in their development. Today, Wyoming’s geography and economy is defined principally by natural resources, just as it was in the late 19th century. Driving across Wyoming, you will pass any number of towns whose demise were predicated by the failure of a local mine; what large(ish) cities remain boast mines and refineries on their outskirts. These are realities I knew I had to capture.

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Firefight Friday #20: Dehumanize the Enemy

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Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week we wrapped up our coverage of the scenarios in the core box with “Crossing the River Styx”. We are nearing the end of Firefight Fridays, but before we call it a wrap, I have two more things to talk about. This week I will be doing an overview of the bot in Firefight Tactical. I have covered the bot elsewhere, mostly on YouTube, but I wanted to make sure I talked about it as part of this series and use the freedom to talk about why I designed it the way that I did. Let’s go.

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Three Days of Gettysburg Deluxe Edition – May 2024 Designer Update

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Scenario design continues on the deluxe edition of this Richard Berg classic. Most recently, this designer has homed in on the pivotal role of Robert Rodes’ division and his fragmented attack on the Union flank anchored on northern Seminary/Oak Hill Ridge.

For those unacquainted with the intricacies of this action, Rodes, a relatively new division leader, faces a rare military opportunity – a flank attack on a stretched and thin Union line. However, Rodes’ leadership is tested as he deals with his less competent brigadiers, including Colonel Edward O’Neal and the infamous Brigadier General Alfred Iverson. Rodes’ other Brigadiers, BG Stephen Ramseur and BG Junius Daniels, perform better, but not exceptionally. Rodes’ best-performing brigade of George Doles, while teaming with Early’s division, significantly contributes to the defeat of the brave but unlucky Union XI Corps on the eastern part of the field. Rodes, unfortunately, misses Dole’s leadership on Oak Hill Ridge.

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Coast Watchers: Scenarios Preview

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Volko’s latest P500 title Coast Watchers will include an amazing 15 different scenarios to play, plus 4 ways to combine them into campaigns. Here Volko takes us on a quick tour of the South Pacific of 1942-1943, via the military situations facing the Allied and Japanese players in the game. (All images are playtest not production art.)

Coast Watchers portrays Allied field intelligence from the Japanese invasion of the South Pacific in January 1942 through the neutralization of the great Japanese and sea base at Rabaul by December 1943.

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Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The British Contingent, 2024 Edition (Part 1 of 4)

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago created with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering; InsideGMT presented articles of “Designer’s Notes”and a “Game as History” series entitled “An Historical Introduction to the Congress of Vienna Period (CoV)”.  Use this link to access copies of these articles and more: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx .

Since this game is a proud member of GMT’s “Great Statesmen” series, it seems appropriate to now focus on those Statesmen who made this Napoleonic Wars historical period so fascinating and compelling to our hobby from perspective of the game Frank designed.

Consequently, here’s part one of a four-part series: “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The British Contingent”. The next article increments will address the Austrians, Russians, and finally the French.  It should be noted this piece was originally InsideGMT published during early 2020.  This is the 2024 edition… which is an update including Terry Leeds’ gorgeous graphics of Congress of Vienna’s cards.

I enjoyed learning more of the personages behind the game’s cards and hope you do as well. Now to meet the Great British Statesmen (and military leaders) of Congress of Vienna…

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Firefight Friday #19: Scenario Design 12

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Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week we covered the paratrooper scenario “Best Laid Plans”. We also took a look at Demolition Teams. This week we will talking about the final scenario of the core box, “Crossing the River Styx”. This scenario covers the battle for Nijmegen. There are no new rules to introduce in this scenario (though there are a couple scenario specific ones). It is just a big, epic scenario with all the bells and whistles on it. Let’s jump in.

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

After securing the canal crossing at Eindhoven, the next set of bridges to fall for Operation Market Garden were those in the city of Nijmegen. The British forces which had dropped at the final city of Arnhem were up against stiff resistance and needed to be relieved. This meant time was of the essence for the paratroopers at Nijmegen. Unfortunately, delays after the drop gave the German defenders of the city time to organize a defense and secure the targeted bridges over the Waal River. Most of the bridges were destroyed, but the primary road and rail bridges were occupied and remained intact. After days of sustained fighting in the city itself, desperation led to a plan by the Americans to use canvas boats to cross the Waal River downstream of the bridges and then attack from the side. The thought was that continued conventional fighting over the bridges would cost the Allies in Arnhem time they did not have. The plan was a success, but came at the cost of heavy casualties from the men of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment while crossing the river.

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Congress of Vienna’s Optional Historical Rules 15.7 – 15.17

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Introduction by Fred Schachter, CoV Assistant Designer & Editor: Within the Congress of Vienna InsideGMT article, A “Congress of Vienna” GMT Production Process Status Report | Inside GMT blog, it was shared that due to space limitations, it would not be possible to include in the published game all Optional Rules, called OHR’s for “Optional Historical Rules”. 

That’s sadly understandable, but it’s like asking in optional game rule terms “Which of your children do you want to abandon?”  Fortunately, due to InsideGMT and the ability to post additional content such as Optional Rules on the GMT games website, where a host of material concerning CoV already resides: GMT Games – Congress of Vienna it doesn’t have to be! 

The published Congress of Vienna Rulebook will contain OHRs 15.1 through 15.5. Consequently, the other Optional Historical Rules, which limited Rulebook and Playbook space compelled exclusion from the printed game, are provided via InsideGMT.  This is the second installment.  It concludes this presentation.

But first, here’s an introduction to all Congress of Vienna Optional Historical Rules (OHRs):

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1867 Big Wyoming: Capturing Wyoming Rail History

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The history of railroads in Wyoming is unlike any other. When the Union Pacific Railroad arrived in Cheyenne in late 1867, Wyoming was still a part of the Dakota Territory and was home to fewer than 8,000 people. The Wyoming Territory was not organized until 1869 and Wyoming was not granted statehood until 1890, at which point the population had grown to over 60,000. The Union Pacific is credited with much of the growth during this period as well as the success of many of the towns that served as stations as it crossed the state–Cheyenne, Laramie, Rawlins, Green River, Rock Springs, and Evanston.

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Factions of The Weimar Republic: Radical Conservatives

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This overview provides historical perspectives on the Radical Conservatives playable faction in The Weimar Republic, as well as some insight as to how the faction functions in gameplay terms. For an overview on the NSDAP and KPD factions, be sure to check out my earlier posts on Inside GMT.