Frederick the Great Debuts in The Valley of the Sun: The First Arizona Playtest of The Seven Years War: Frederick’s Gamble

Introduction:  A new career opportunity has returned me to the Phoenix area from back east.  This provided an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the wonderful and friendly community of gamers here in “The Valley of the Sun”.  This article is a high level After Action Report of our first experience playing The Seven Years War: Frederick’s Gamble (7YW:FG).

Please reference 7YW:FG material within GMT’s site, as well as within the InsideGMT BLOG, to gain a better context, understanding, and appreciation of this fine Greg Ticer design.  Referencing this background will complement this article’s descriptions.  


The Shot Heard Round Charleston Harbor…Fort Sumter Design Notes and AAR (Part 4)

We now continue with Round 3 of Mark’s AAR of Fort Sumter. If you missed the first three articles in this series, click on the following links to read them first: Part 1  Part 2  Part 3.

Domestic Tranquility (or not!) in Mr. President


I’ve had several requests of late for more information about the domestic side of Mr. President. In the recent replay articles I’ve shared, we downplayed the domestic choices and events because, frankly, that piece of the redesign wasn’t quite finished yet. Now I have all the main domestic redesign pieces in place, so I wanted to give you guys a look at what they are and how they work together. I hope this peek under the hood gives you a sense of the domestic opportunities and challenges you’ll find in the game, and introduces you to some of the tools you’ll have at your disposal to become an amazing President – loved by at least 51% of the people! I hope you enjoy the article! – Gene

The Shot Heard Round Charleston Harbor…Fort Sumter Design Notes and AAR (Part 3)

We now continue with Round 2 of Mark’s AAR of Fort Sumter. If you missed the first two articles in this series, click on the following links to read them first: Part 1  Part 2.

Round 2: Lame Duck Buchanan

Round2 Unionist hand and objectives. They choose Washington as the Objective.

Because the score is still tied, the Unionist will still go first. We now see for the first time a 3 card whose event is available to both sides (Seizing Federal Armories). The Unionist decides to choose the Objective card Washington, where they already have one token.

Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea – July Development Update

Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea’s development is moving ahead very rapidly.  This is a rare game that can be played either as a wargame or a non-militaristic competitive game of civilization building, or a combination of both, it’s really up to the players.

The Shot Heard Round Charleston Harbor…Fort Sumter Design Notes and AAR (Part 2)

As promised in Part 1 of this article last week, what follows next is my Twitter game of July 1st, with accompanying photos and my original text. The only edits were to take the necessary abbreviations that Twitter’s 140 characters impose and write them out in full. This is an instructional game, so the strategy is solid, but there might have been superior moves at times. I will supplement each photo and tweet with a short dialog on what is going on so you can follow the action while learning the game.

Caveat: I exceeded my multitasking abilities, as this experiment occurred prior to a family BBQ. One of my nephews hit the map, a neighbor’s cat decided to see what was going on, and my wife appropriately insisted that anything she wanted me to do had immediate priority. As a consequence, errors were made when reconstructing the situation and are indicated where appropriate in the text. Everyone participating in this experiment was a professional; do not try this at home.

At Any Cost: Metz 1870 After Action Report – Battle of Mars-la-Tour (The Finale)

Tom Thornsen (Prussia) and Bob Demaio (French) re-enact the Battle of Mars-la-Tour with the Full Battle Scenario “A Day of Battle”. To read Part 1 follow this link, and to read Part 2 follow this link.

The Shot Heard Round Charleston Harbor…Fort Sumter Design Notes and AAR (Part 1)

On July 1st, I did something that I have never done before. I sat outside and I played a solo game of Fort Sumter while taking a picture of each move, then tweeted it out to my approximately 1300+ followers. It got a very good response, so with the aid of a very technically savvy millennial (thank you Rachel B.), I am commenting on what occurred so that you can see and learn how to play Fort Sumter.

Three Presidents For the Price of One: Inside Mr. President (Pt 3)

In our last article, our Presidential Triumvirate walked you through our game’s 1st Activation Phase, representing about six weeks of real time. In this article, we will tackle the 2nd Activation Phase of our new administration.

At Any Cost: Metz 1870 After Action Report – Battle of Mars-la-Tour (Part 2)

Tom Thornsen (Prussia) and Bob Demaio (French) attempt to re-enact the Battle of Mars-la-Tour with the Full Battle Scenario “A Day of Battle”. To read Part 1, follow this link.