Category Archives: Designer Blogs

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Napoleon in Egypt: Local Units Side with the French (Part 1)

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In Napoleon in Egypt, the French Player has several different types of Units at his disposal: Regulars, Grognards, Militia, and Auxiliaries. In this article, we will take a more detailed look at the background history of the various Auxiliary Units, original and colorful troops who can either be recruited by the French Player for 2 APs or show up through historical Events.

During the French campaign in Egypt and Syria, Bonaparte faced a major challenge: the renewal of his troops. Since the start of the Revolutionary Wars, the French armies had always maintained a link with their mother country, a natural source of new soldiers. Moreover, the revolutionary enthusiasm which had spread to some conquered territories and populations had assured an influx of allied units for the Republic. But after the naval disaster in Aboukir, sending troops from France to Egypt and Syria became impossible. Bonaparte had no choice: if he wanted to swell his ranks and benefit from fresh troops, he had to recruit local units, a principle he would later adopt throughout the Empire.

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1867 Big Wyoming: Union Pacific & Burlington Northern Acquisition

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One of my earliest goals when working on 1867 Big Wyoming was to create an endgame that differed from your standard 18xx “script.” Most 18xx games end with a prolonged and workmanlike series of operating rounds in which meaningful decision points become increasingly rare and the dynamic character of earlier game phases gradually disappears. While this sort of endgame appropriately rewards players for the foundations they’ve laid over the course of the game, I’ve never found them very fun or very engaging. I have yet to meet anyone who claims the end of an 18xx game is their favorite part.

1867 Big Wyoming’s endgame, which is driven by a series of acquisitions by the non-player Union Pacific and Burlington Northern systems, is my favorite part of the game. The seed of this acquisition system can be found in 1860: Railways on the Isle of Wight, designed by Mike Hutton. 1860’s acquisition system, while a breath of fresh air, lacked player agency and often tended only to make the rich richer. 1867 Big Wyoming’s acquisition system is, by contrast, full of meaningful decision points that have a significant impact on the game’s outcome.

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Hannibal Wonders, “Do ALL Roads REALLY Run to Rome?”: A tour of the penultimate version of the map for Hannibal’s Revenge

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It has been a long road (no pun intended) from my original kindergarten-(well, maybe 2nd grade) level playtest map to what we are soon having printed for ongoing play test and “Learn the Rules / Play the Game” demo session purposes, but it has been worth the trip. Readers can glance at the original Hannibal’s Revenge hand-drawn map I devised (should they want to start their day with a groan or a giggle, depending on their point of view) by going to this posting: Meet the Leaders & Gameboard of Hannibal’s Revenge | Inside GMT blog

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Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The Austrian Contingent, 2024 Edition (Part 2 of 4) with CoV’s Bibliography as a Bonus

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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 is the fifth game of GMT’s “Great Statesmen” series, it seems appropriate to focus on those very Statesmen who make this Napoleonic Wars historical period so captivating to our hobby from perspective of the game Frank designed.

Consequently, following Part One’s “British Contingent,” here’s part two of a four-part series: “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The Austrian Contingent.”  The next article increments will address the Russians-Prussians (a single player controls them both) and finally the French with their USA Allies for the War of 1812. 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.

This piece includes bonuses!  #1: The Military & Diplomacy Cards of Congress of Vienna and #2: a Bibliography, whose works lay behind the game’s design.  Alas, as previously explained, this material could not be accommodated within CoV’s Playbook due to space limitations and is consequently here presented.

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

In italics we include a description of the cards’ historical background, and their CoV opportunities and weaknesses:

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Factions of The Weimar Republic: Democratic Coalition

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

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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.