Next War: Vietnam isn’t offering anything ground-breaking in terms of the overall series, but, as in all the games, I hope to provide a new and engaging situation that seems fresh and different even through it’s using the same rules as all the games in the series.
Armistice, Veterans, and Grognards,
On behalf of the Frank Chadwick’s ETO development team, we are happy to celebrate this day that saw the end of the First World War, when we honor our veterans who stood up and defended America, and to that list we want to add our own nod to wargame grognards who have taken the time the learn (and play) the history which puts November 11th in perspective. Our society of armchair historians, wargamers, and those who design, develop, and devour though play these thoughtful “time machines” is a special year-round gift that is ours to share with all who will partake – we know that you have something to contribute.
To help you with that, we have something very big to share. We have opened the public beta testing of Frank Chadwick’s ETO Volume II: The Middle Sea. If you know how to use vassal (or even if you don’t but need the “right game” to start learning how to use it, as many on our team have), we hope you will join us in this WW2 Mediterranean game which features 14 distinct scenarios and several Campaign Games. TMS also adds the ETO Naval System to this series so veterans of Volume I: Thunder in the East will have some great new “toys” to play with managing their naval communication, transport, battles, etc.
To get the ball rolling, go to the ETO Support Page here: https://www.watchword.biz/eto-support and it is only a short scroll down to the Vassal section. There you will find links for the free Thunder in the East and The Middle Sea (beta) vassal kits, as well the latest ETO Rules and the TMS Scenario documents. With those, you are all set.
To give us feedback, either use that website’s Forums, or post us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/282953878860040/), ConsimWorld (http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX/.1dda3495/1486), or Boardgame Geek (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/209951/thunder-east/forums/0).
We have our eyes open at each of these locations and look forward to hearing from you as you explore The Middle Sea with us!
Happy Armistice/Veterans Day from your Frank Chadwick’s ETO development team!
Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS) received an overall warm welcome from the gaming public. For many of our fellow hobbyists the game hits a sweet spot with its epic theme served in the frame of quick and simple gameplay. A second game in the series, Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East, was recently announced on GMT‘s P500 list: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-836-ancient-civilizations-of-the-middle-east.aspx .
During the game’s development, I had the pleasure of assisting designers Mark and Chris, as well as developer Fred, by crafting a functional VASSAL Module for internal team use during playtesting. After the game’s publication, the opportunity arose to polish the Module for a public release. That release was accomplished 9/21/19.
Designer Frank Chadwick and I have crossed paths a few times in our decades as wargamers. In 1986, I wrapped the Fire & Movement Beginner’s Guide to Strategy Gaming around Frank’s new Battle for Moscow game design. Years later, I would republish Battle for Moscow as a stand-along game with a Winter Counteroffensive expansion kit courtesy of developer Lance McMillan.
Out of the blue, Frank asked if I was interested in publishing a new board wargame, the first from him (I think) since closing Game Designer’s Workshop. Called The Arduous Beginning (inspired by a book of the same name and subject), it used the venerable Battle for Moscow game engine to show the first bounds into Russia of Army Group Center during Operation Barbarossa.
“Am I interested? Frank Chadwick’s return to board wargaming? Huh. Yeah, let me get back to you on that…”
Labyrinth: The Forever War is the second expansion to Labyrinth: The Global War on Terror and follows five years after publication of the first expansion, Labyrinth: The Awakening. Like its predecessors, Forever War adds 120 new event cards to the Labyrinth game system, and like Awakening, covers five years of current events (roughly 2015 through 2019). Forever War achieved its P-500 number in just over 2 days on the market, suggesting there is a demand for inexpensive expansions that add value to a base game, and a desire for games that explore recent political and military events. This brief article will provide some insights and considerations when designing a simulation game based on current events.
It is 2019 and Imperial Struggle is so close to players I can almost taste it. Thanks to Joel Toppen’s heroic work on the VASSAL test kit, the game has received much more intensive playtesting than it ever has – probably more in the last four months than in the rest of the development cycle combined.
Playtesting is such a challenge. Often, a designer will rely on two types of playtesting. The first is repeat play from a trusted group, sometimes a face-to-face hobby group that is generous with its time and tolerant enough to try a game that is definitely not finished. That type of testing is wonderful, but the same people testing a game against one another over and over will inevitably lead to favored lines of play getting much more play than others.
“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays. It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and release of the Talon 1000 expansion. Since Space Empires:4x Replicators is also releasing soon and there is crossover between the two development teams, Replicator articles will be featured as well.
Issue #46 Vassal Update for Talon – Stefano Tinè
It is October 2018 and the Imperial Struggle continues! Thanks to the heroic efforts of Joel Toppen, we are on the verge of electronic playtesting via VASSAL, and I’ve been tweaking cards and cleaning up rules all summer. The game is playing very well on paper; now it’s time to find the problems that only a larger volume of games can reveal.
We are progressing steadily on Conquest and Consequence [CnC], the Pacific/Asia brother to Triumph and Tragedy. Like T&T, the game is a representation of the struggle for regional hegemony during the period 1936-45, but in the Pacific/Asia region. The map stretches from India to the US west coast, Siberia to Australia. The three factions are Japan, the USA/British Empire, and the Soviets.
Here is Part 4 of Mark’s “Advice on Peloponnesian War, from 38-year old Mark†as published in his original article from The General. Enjoy the article! – Gene
