Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV) Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter: My what a wonderful journey it’s been since, through circumstances best described as “karma”, I some years ago met CoV Designer Frank Esparrago through his daughter Ana who was furthering her finance education while working in Seattle and introduced us through a local game club I was affiliated with during my time residing in that fair city. Members of that club, Metro Seattle Gamers (MSG), helped Frank playtest an early hand-made version of Congress of Vienna and while playing this fun and exciting game realized it had commercial possibilities (thanks Nathan & Scot!).
So that’s the genesis of how the Congress ofVienna commenced its road to publication. If interested in learning more, here’s a link to an InsideGMT article conveying additional details: Congress of Vienna Designer’s Notes (Part 1 of 2) | Inside GMT blog. It will also bring a reader to GMT’s site for the game which is replete with a host of CoV related pieces readers will hopefully find interesting, enlightening, and entertaining.
A lament in more than a few of those InsideGMT pieces is how most Congress of Vienna’s rules had to be inferred. Space did not permit presenting them in requisite detail. Ah, but that’s a correctable situation and this article with its attachments is a first step to doing so.
At the conclusion of this piece are two versions of Congress of Vienna’s Quick Start Rules Summary, one in English and the second in Spanish.
This will be included IN ADDITION to the game’s full Rulebook. Why? Here’s a relevant extract from the 12-page Quick Start Rules Summary booklet’s Introduction:
The main rulebook is 56 pages. Before blanching in despair… not to worry, a reason for this length is the lavish use of examples of play to reinforce key rule explanations and concepts as well as pictures of the game’s various components, an Index, table extracts, along with quite a few period illustrations to help set gamers’ moods in immersing themselves in Congress of Vienna’s fascinating historical period.
To best appreciate the provided Quick Start Rules, below is an image of Congress of Vienna’s Production Gameboard:
As to the game’s other components, particularly its gorgeous Terry Leeds created game cards, readers are again referenced to GMT’s Congress of Vienna site. A four-part InsideGMT series conveys what is in effect a Compendium of all the game’s cards. For ease of reference, here’s the link to its Part 1 of 4 for the “British Contingent”: Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The British Contingent, 2024 Edition (Part 1 of 4) | Inside GMT blog
Hopefully, this introduction encourages readers to peruse the attached Quick Start Rules Summary and other available Congress of Vienna material. To those who P-500 ordered the game to patiently join its journey to publication…. our heartfelt gratitude is yours (or as Frank might say: “¡Gracias por ayudarme a cumplir mi sueño de diseñar un juego y compartir el placer de jugarlo!”*).
* Translation: “Thank you for helping me fulfill my game designer dream and sharing its enjoyment.”
Quick Start Rules Summary – English Language
Quick Start Rules Summary – Spanish Language
Previous Congress of Vienna InsideGMT Articles
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