Below you will find an article from co-designers D. B. Dockter and Mark Herman on the design of their upcoming game titled Defiance: 2nd Russo-Ukrainian War 2022-?, which is available for P500 preorder from GMT as of this December. This article was originally published on Conflicts of Interest Online in April 2023, and you can find the link to their version of the article here. Onward! -Rachel
Hi everyone! It’s always exciting for us to see our games played in so many different places, so for those interested we’d like to share some photos (and one video) from some of the conventions we’ve seen GMT titles played at recently. Enjoy!
(Convention Report by The Players’ Aid. If you’d like to read the full convention debrief, you can find that on their blog here.)
Just wanted to report back on our adventures at Buckeye Game Fest this past week. We displayed the advance copy of The British Way provided by GMT and ended up engaging with about 10 people about the game, how it compares to the rest of the COIN Series, and its accessibility.
We also ran 4 total COIN Series Teach & Play events, 2 on Friday and 2 on Saturday with a total of 14 players. Grant ran Cuba Libre, and Alexander ran Andean Abyss. Everyone had a great time, and we gave away the games you provided as prizes.
Some time ago, a new game named Order & Opportunity: Making of the Post-Cold War World Order entered GMT Games’ P500 list. This is the fifth in a series of articles talking about different aspects of the game.
In this installment, we turn our attention from the thematic aspects of the game that have preoccupied us in the previous articles and consider now the game’s mechanics. We will review the various types of event cards in the game.
Recently, a number of short playthrough videos were posted on YouTube that can be a helpful companion to the present article at hand.
19 November 2022
Good afternoon, everyone.
Ed Ostermeyer here.
Several readers have requested information on the works I’ve used in the design of “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare.
Herewith is my bibliography (current as of 19 November 2022) for the game, alphabetized and annotated for your use.
Comments and remarks are my own opinions on the indicated text’s usefulness, ease of same, and value as a source.
So, here you go:
News of the CSS “Squib” torpedo boat’s semi-success in its attack on the Union Navy’s Squadron anchored at Hampton Roads, Virginia met with enthusiastic response from the Confederate Secretary of the Navy, Stephen Mallory.
The years 1863 and 1864 were a busy time for Southern inventors interested in creating a weapon that would give the Confederacy parity of a sort with the much larger and more numerous naval vessels of the United States Navy.
Undoubtedly, when inventors such as Charleston’s Dr. St. Julien Ravenel and Theodore Stoney created their CSS “David” torpedo boat, it was thoughts in equal part of both profit and patriotism that guided their minds and hands.
In my ongoing research for “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare,” I have made the acquaintance of a number of very interesting people, not only in my current era, but also from the American Civil War period.
The mid-19th Century is one of the most interesting periods of human endeavor.
The Industrial Revolution, filled with promise and with might, was still underway.
During this period, you would occasionally get one spark of intellect and genius that would shine brighter than its neighbors.
Of course like the proverb says, “The spark that burns twice as bright burns half as long.”
Such a spark was a man with the name of William G. Cheeney.
Ever since the Union navy had retaken Norfolk, Virginia, Union gunboats had been prowling the James River to within seven miles of the Confederacy’s capital city of Richmond.
I propose to you a new arm of war, as formidable as it is economical.
Submarine navigation, which has been sometimes attempted, but as all know without results, owing to want of suitable opportunities, is now a problematical thing no more.”
(French nautical designer Brutus de Villeroi, in a letter to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.)
Though the “H.L. Hunley” is widely known as the first submarine to sink an enemy warship in combat, it was by no means the only submarine to come out of the American Civil War. The construction team headed by James McClintock and Baxter Watson who built the “Hunley” had already completed and tested two other designs for underwater vessels. Though there were other designs created and built south of the Mason-Line, they were by no means the only submersibles being built in North America in the 1860’s.
Below you will find a The Plum Island Horror short story written by David Spangler. Please note that this is a work of fiction and not an example of gameplay. Enjoy! -Rachel
