Inside GMT One: Behind the Design of Tru’ng
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Search Results for: people power
What is the ‘Irregular Conflicts Series’?
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As COIN Series Developer, I see a lot of cool prototypes. One of the hard things about my job is determining which prototypes will work well as COIN games, and which prototypes belong in a different series. There are lots of reasons that a game may not be perfect as a COIN Series game, but often it’s as simple as a game not adhering to a well-established and specific COIN conflict model. What is the COIN model, and why is it so important that a COIN game fits into the model advanced by Volko back in Andean Abyss? If COIN can portray the Gallic Revolt against Caesar or the American Revolution, why can’t it work for conventional warfare or purely political conflict? There are many great games that aren’t COIN games, and it is hard to determine how best to organize them!
Article Archive by Game
1914, Offensive à outrance
- Advanced Railroad Engineering Rules for 1914 Offensive à outrance: The Initial Campaigns on the Western Front in WWI, by Michel Resch
1918/1919: Storm in the West
- 1918/1919: Storm in the West: A Designer Looks Back, by Ted Raicer
1960: The Making of the President
- 1960: The Making of the President Strategy Tips from ElusiveMeeple, by Robert Crowter-Jones
- Strategy for 1960: The Making of the President – Part 1: The Early Turns, by David Wiley
- Strategy for 1960: The Making of the President – Part 2: The Debates, by David Wiley
- Strategy for 1960: The Making of the President – Part 3: Post-Debate through Election, by David Wiley
The Medical Breakthroughs of the Armée d’Orient in Egypt (Part 1)
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During a game of Napoleon in Egypt, the French Player has the opportunity, through scientific research, to build a “military hospital”. This precious asset will greatly increase the durability of the French troops. In this article, we’ll look at the historical aspect of this element, before considering the game mechanics around it in a follow-up article.
Desgenettes and Larrey were two French military physicians who followed Bonaparte from the Italian campaign (1796) to Waterloo (1815). The medical breakthroughs of the Egyptian expedition are largely thanks to these two dominating figures. René-Nicolas Dufriche Desgenettes was chief physician, and Dominique-Jean Larrey was chief surgeon. Both displayed remarkable skills in organizing the Medical Corps in Egypt. In a difficult geographical, climatic and epidemiological context, they were crucial in the emergence of modern military medicine and played a full part in the expedition’s scientific achievements.
Enemy of My Enemy: Japanese Occupation
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In the first article on the Enemy of My Enemy expansion, I covered the new Arab Revolt game that uses the Palestine map. In this article, I’ll pivot to the other new game included in the expansion, The British Way: Japanese Occupation. In a first for The British Way, the British faction, Force 136, acts as the insurgent player and their Japanese opponents the counterinsurgent. After the fall of Malaya and Singapore in early 1942, the entire Malayan peninsula was under Japanese occupation with only a fledgling resistance led by stay-behind British officers, such as Spencer Chapman of the famous book The Jungle is Neutral, and members of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP). The British officers and MCP worked together to organize armed resistance against Japan. As the name of the expansion itself already suggests, the two opposing factions from The British Way: Malaya are now roughly on the same side in the prequel game. However, as I’ll expand upon below, to capture the uneasy alliance between the British and MCP and the lack of complete British control over the MCP’s units, the MCP operates in the game as a simplified non-player actor who may even win the game!
Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The Russian Contingent, 2024 Edition (Part 3 of 4) with their Prussian and Swedish Allies
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Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago created with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, which is now a GMT P-500 offering; InsideGMT presented articles of “Designer’s Notes” and a “Game as History” series entitled “A Historical Introduction to the Congress of Vienna Period (CoV).” Use this link to access copies of these articles and much more: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx.
Since this is the fifth game of GMT’s “Great Statesmen” series, it seems appropriate to focus on those very Statesmen who make the Napoleonic Wars historical period so captivating and compelling to our hobby from the perspective of the game Frank designed.
Consequently, following Part One’s “British Contingent” and Part Two’s “Austrian Contingent” (with its bonus of CoV’s Bibliography), here’s part three of a four part series: “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The Russian Contingent, with their Prussian and Swedish Allies.” For the Russian CoV player controls cards and military forces representing Prussian and Swedish game Characters and together what a fascinating group they comprise!
The next and final increment of this series will address the French with their USA Allies for the War of 1812 and other non-aligned personages. It should be noted this piece was originally InsideGMT published during early 2020. This is the 2024 edition…which is an update including Terry Leeds’ gorgeous graphics of Congress of Vienna’s cards.
In italics we include a brief description of the cards with their CoV opportunities and weaknesses. However, before commencing this article’s main text, below is an aside regarding Leader Cards, a type of distinct card unique for each Major Power. Here’s the relevant Rulebook extract with an associated illustration:
I enjoyed learning more of the Historical Personages behind the game’s cards and hope you do as well. Now to meet the Great Statesmen (and military leaders) of Congress of Vienna’s Russian player…
1867 Big Wyoming: Pressure Points
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I knew from the outset that I wanted people playing 1867 Big Wyoming to feel pressure. I didn’t want players to get comfortable, to bask too long in their short-term successes, to feel like the responsibility of changing the game state was on somebody else—I wanted players to feel like they were running a race, like slowing down was not an option, like there was always some ill-intentioned force waiting for the right moment to strike. In short, I wanted the game to put pressure on players in addition to what pressure naturally comes from their opponents. Some 18xx games are content to let players dictate the pace of a game and drive the game’s action; in fact, in many 18xx games, it’s theoretically possible that, if players behave in certain ways, the game will never end. While I very much appreciate many such games, that’s not what I wanted for 1867 Big Wyoming. There are several reasons for this.
Factions of The Weimar Republic: Democratic Coalition
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This overview provides historical perspectives on the Democratic Coalition playable faction in The Weimar Republic, as well as some insight as to how the faction functions in gameplay terms. For overviews on the NSDAP, KPD, and Radical Conservatives factions, be sure to check out my earlier posts on Inside GMT.
Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The British Contingent, 2024 Edition (Part 1 of 4)
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Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Assistant Designer & Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago created with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering; InsideGMT presented articles of “Designer’s Notes”and a “Game as History” series entitled “An Historical Introduction to the Congress of Vienna Period (CoV)”. Use this link to access copies of these articles and more: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx .
Since this game is a proud member of GMT’s “Great Statesmen” series, it seems appropriate to now focus on those Statesmen who made this Napoleonic Wars historical period so fascinating and compelling to our hobby from perspective of the game Frank designed.
Consequently, here’s part one of a four-part series: “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The British Contingent”. The next article increments will address the Austrians, Russians, and finally the French. It should be noted this piece was originally InsideGMT published during early 2020. This is the 2024 edition… which is an update including Terry Leeds’ gorgeous graphics of Congress of Vienna’s cards.
I enjoyed learning more of the personages behind the game’s cards and hope you do as well. Now to meet the Great British Statesmen (and military leaders) of Congress of Vienna…
Factions of The Weimar Republic: Radical Conservatives
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This overview provides historical perspectives on the Radical Conservatives playable faction in The Weimar Republic, as well as some insight as to how the faction functions in gameplay terms. For an overview on the NSDAP and KPD factions, be sure to check out my earlier posts on Inside GMT.