Category Archives: Designer Blogs

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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.

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Firefight Friday #18: Scenario Design 11

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Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week we got back onto talking about the scenarios with scenario #10, Panzer in the Pocket. This week we will be talking about the penultimate scenario “Best Laid Plans”. This one has has a small but interesting wrinkle to it that I will cover first, then a new unit type, and then we will get into the usual overview.

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Illusions of Glory, Second Edition: A “Step” Too Far?

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The second edition of Illusions of Glory: The Great War on the Eastern Front (“IoG”) is currently on the P-500 list.

Links to prototype unit counters, player aid cards, mapboard, rules, and playbook can be found on the IoG webpage. 

Gamers who examined these game components have commented, and I have answered their comments on forum sites.

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Infernal Machine: The Inventor’s Vade Mecum (Nautica ed.) Part 11: What to Do When the Yankees Come A-Callin’

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By Ed Ostermeyer (Master Engineer – Grade 2)

Again, I bid you a good day, my young prodigy.

Thank you for meeting me in this out-of-the-way location.

Our talk today requires restraint and privacy between colleagues.

We will speak of shifting loyalties.

As you may have gathered, the life of a Confederate Inventor and Entrepreneur is anything but a sedate one. 

Not only are you in need of both funds and employees on what seems to be almost a seasonal basis, but there’s that pesky business of the Civil War taking place elsewhere in the country, causing your best-laid plans to vanish like a hatful of fog.

Such as:

Martial Law Proclamation by Union General John C. Fremont – Saint Louis, Missouri, August 1861 {National Archives}

One of the biggest roadblocks in your journey towards engineering success and financial security is the possibility that the Union Army will not only conquer the city where you work, but then use the occasion to come knocking on your machine shop door. 

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Firefight Friday #17: Scenario Design 10

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Back to the Frontlines

Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week I took a bit of a breather to recover from GMT’s Weekend at the Warehouse. This week we are starting on the home stretch of scenarios going into the core box. We begin with “Panzer in the Pocket”, our Falaise Pocket scenario. This is our first scenario with infantry guns, so we will cover that first and then get on with the scenario work up. Let’s jump right in.