“It is difficult to think of a great passage of arms in which one critical day of battle was so strangely – and so soon – underscored by another” – David Ascoli, author of A Day of Battle On the evening of Tuesday, August 16th 1870, the battlefield of Mars-la-Tour looked much like countless other […]
BLOODY THURSDAY: The Battle of Gravelotte-St. Privat 1870 Read Post »
Designer Blogs, Inside the Game as HistoryTriumph and Tragedy was designed from the bottom up as a three-sided game, taking the viewpoint that the democratic/capitalist West, the fascist Axis and the communist Soviet Union were at bottom irreconcilable rivals for European (and possibly world) hegemony. A corollary is that the historical West-Soviet alliance was not inevitable, but arose from necessity (Axis
Addition by Subtraction: Creating the 2-Player Bonus Variant for Triumph and Tragedy Read Post »
Designer Blogs, Scenarios/VariantsThis article started as an attempt at some design notes for Next War: Taiwan (NWT), but it quickly also became somewhat of an essay on my general take on game design with the bits of how it affected the Next War games woven in. It’s long and a little rambling at times. Hopefully, you get
Next War Series Design Notes Read Post »
Designer BlogsOne of the challenges of designing a game that depicts the vast sweep of Comanche history was how to model the phases of their history without a host of special rules and exceptions. In short: how do you put the player into a position from which he or she can get a reasonably realistic perspective
Comanchería: Designing For Feel Read Post »
Designer BlogsThe GMT Weekend at the Warehouse offers gamers an opportunity to play their favorite games amongst the shelves of thousands of GMT games. For me, the best part is the opportunity to meet designers and other notables that created and love the games. Now that I am designing Liberty or Death it gives me the
A GMT Weekend at the Warehouse with Örjan Ariander (April 2015) Read Post »
Designer Blogs, The Inside ViewWhen I decided to do a 25th Anniversary Edition of Silver Bayonet, I knew that I had to commit to doing a MAJOR revision of the game map. There are artistic reasons to want a new map because the maps that Mark and Charlie are capable of creating today dwarf what we were able to create in the
Anatomy of a New Map for Silver Bayonet Read Post »
Designer Blogs, Development UpdatesHi Everyone! This update is to let you guys know that we are making good progress on both the digital and the physical rewards for our Twilight Struggle project! I know last month’s update might have been a bit of a downer, as you read about delays on both the digital and physical fronts. So I’m
Twilight Struggle Kickstarter Update Read Post »
Designer Blogs, Digital Versions of our GamesComing Soon! No Retreat! The Italian Front will be released soon! I have been very busy with the details of the design work and haven’t been able to spend much time online telling you all about its peculiarities and qualities. So please, let me correct this lapse today. Why This Game? This is the fourth game in
Inside No Retreat!: The Italian Front Read Post »
Designer Blogs, Development UpdatesAs mentioned in previous articles (Design Diary #1 and Design Diary #2), I believe that one of the most distinctive aspects of any card-driven game (CDG) is the set of historical events that are featured on the operations cards used in the game. Not only should the events provide players with interesting alternatives to the
Time of Crisis Design Diary #3 Read Post »
Designer BlogsThunder Alley did exactly what Carla & I had hoped it would do. It brought the feel of a stock car race to our table. No runaway leaders, frequent yellow flags and when there were no yellows, there was tension around the event cards with half the table hoping for a yellow to catch up
What’s New in Grand Prix? Read Post »
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