For those interested, here is a cross-post from Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea and Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East Co-Designer Mark McLaughlin’s blog where he shares an audio recording of the account from Pharoh Rameses III describing his victory over the Sea Peoples. In this article, Mark also discusses the Sea Peoples as they appear in both of his ancient world games. You can also read this article on his blog here. Enjoy!
In previous installments, I have described the “main characters” in Banish the Snakes: the historic people that players represent in their attempts to convert Ireland. But now I’m moving on to the “supporting cast” of historic characters, people who were notable in the history of the time and show up in the game on Event cards. First up is the most famous High King of Ireland, Niall Noígíallach- translated into English as Neil of the Nine Hostages.
We turn after our recent tour of Muslim al‑Andalus to the 11th-Century Spain of the Christians. Like the later Teutonic and Danish crusader states of the Levy & Campaign Series’ previous volume, Nevsky, the Christian lords featured in Almoravid seek to expand their realms at the expense of neighbors of a competing religion. Albert and Volko introduce us to these Christian kingdoms and counties along with their depictions and roles in the game. All game art in this article is playtest only and game details are provisional.
With the support of Twilight Struggle fans around the world, Twilight Struggle: Red Sea moved to “made the cut” status after just a few days on the P500. TS: Red Sea is a free-standing, two player card-driven game that builds on the Twilight Struggle system. The game covers the period between the mid-1970s to the conclusion of the Cold War. It emphasizes the many proxy wars and revolutions in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa during this portion of the Cold War.
With a more limited scope and much shorter playtime, TS Red Sea is the perfect way to introduce new players to Twilight Struggle. Yet this new game maintains all the tension, decision making, and theme of the original classic.
This is the second of a three article series, introducing players to the history reflected in the game, and providing some example events that illustrate the ties between the history and game play.
Our Almoravid research and design team take us on a guided tour of 11th-Century Muslim Spain—a patchwork of middling to tiny “taifa” emirates. Al‑Andalus in the Levy & Campaign Series’ second volume presents players a far different political geography to exploit and maneuver across than that of Nevsky. Here we visit each 1085 taifa state and its ruler in turn, with a quick word on their likely roles in the game. All game art in this article is playtest only; all game details are provisional not authoritative.
Twilight Struggle: Red Sea, the newest addition to GMT’s Lunchtime Series, will be added to the GMT P500 list this week! TS: Red Sea is a two-player, card-driven game that builds on the award-winning Twilight Struggle system and recreates the sudden spark in the Cold War around the Horn of Africa and its vital sea lanes.
With a more limited scope and much shorter playtime, TS: Red Sea is the perfect way to introduce new players to Twilight Struggle while maintaining all the tension, decision making, and theme of the original classic.
This series of articles will introduce players to the history reflected in the game and provide some example events that illustrate the ties between the history and gameplay.
Introduction (By CoV Editor Fred Schachter): Welcome back! The first part of this article series provided an overview of the 1805-1812 Napoleonic Wars period. This episode sets the historical stage for commencement of GMT’s P-500 offered Congress of Vienna Game.
This article Part 2 of 4 resumes the exciting narrative with Napoleon’s remarkable comeback after his disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia. Will he triumph or is the emperor’s journey to Elba assured?
Here’s a map depicting, in highly stylized form, the historical military situation for a game of Congress of Vienna’s commencement.
Note: If you would like to view any of the above or below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.
Here is the final installment of my series of articles on the main characters in Banish the Snakes, who are called “saints” in the game. I hope you have enjoyed these short biographies. Perhaps they have brought some understanding to a little-known episode in world history.
Born in Ulster Province, Moninne was the daughter of Machta, a high chief of Ulaid. Tradition says that she was baptized as a child and also later confirmed by Saint Patrick himself. It is said that he predicted that her name would be remembered forever. Perhaps because of this prediction, she chose a religious life, and was raised in the faith by Brigid of Kildare. Some say that when the time came, she was “veiled” by Patrick.
