This is the third article in a series I will present each of the five powers of Baltic Empires in turn. This time I will cover Prussia, the clear underdog among the powers during this period (1558-1721), and certainly not the Prussia from later eras that wargamers may be more familiar with.
This AAR is from round 16 of the Last Hundred Yards Ladder playoff by Marc Rivet. The Americans were played by Marc Rivet and the Germans by Jason Martin.
A good day to you once more, young Inventor.
In our last look into the Inventor’s Vade Mecum, we learned how to recruit and retain your project’s Mechanics.
In today’s lesson, the Inventor’s Vade Mecum will provide you guidance in choosing and caring for a surprisingly necessary crewmember for your Wonder of the Age, the Journeyman.
In his 2018 release Fort Sumter, Mark Herman laid the foundations for what has now come to be known informally as the Final Crisis ‘system’ (although there is as-yet no official Final Crisis series). At the heart of the system is a mechanical and thematic emphasis on the escalation and build-up to a historic conflict, rather than the conventional resolution of a conflict that is the usual focus of wargames. The core ingredients of this two-player system include:
The combination of the limited token pool and penalties for escalation does a great job of invoking the feeling of a mounting crisis, forcing both players into a game of brinkmanship as they seek to place exactly as many cubes as they think they need to, but no more than are necessary, as if you place too many cubes in one space you risk overcommitting and weakening your flexibility to respond elsewhere. Fort Sumter features only one additional special rule, a ‘Peace Commissioner’ that is typically placed by the player who has contributed less to escalating the crisis (or by event), and prevents either player from adding or removing cubes in one space. The game is otherwise extremely streamlined, taking less than half an hour to play, the ideal length for a ‘lunchtime’ session.
Production art for Inferno is well underway from artist Robert Altbauer. Volko takes us on a gallery walk, along with a little introduction to the historical setting and how Levy & Campaign brings it to life.
Two warring parties divide 13th-Century Tuscany. One favors the Pope, the other, the Empire. Inferno players muster up to six armies for each. Here, Levy & Campaign imbedded artist Robert Altbauer displays heraldry on the inside panels of the screens that hide Lord mats—Guelphs along the top, Ghibellines below.
The following article is the second in the two part series from Ed recounting his experience visiting the “H.L. Hunley” at Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, SC. You can read the first article in the series here. In this second article, we will see how the Lasch Center is carefully piecing together the answer to the Hunley’s mysterious demise, as well as the experience of the eight crewmen who perished within her iron hull.
The story told by the exhibits becomes a time machine for any museum attendee, taking them back to the America of the mid-19th century where the knowledge and skills garnered from the first hundred years of the Industrial Revolution were being bent towards what would soon be called the science of warfare. Machine shops peopled by engineers and mechanics familiar with the scientific principles and methods learned from the Industrial Revolution were adding this insight to their mechanical skills and engineering expertise, giving form to the dream of underwater travel and warfare. The museum then moves forward to the present, detailing the “Hunley’s” recovery, restoration and preservation.
While the cleaning and preservation of the “Hunley” itself was proceeding, artifacts from within the submarine were being uncovered, each being assigned a coordinate as to its location within or on the hull or the concretion covering its surfaces inside and out. A major part of the recovery effort was the location of the remains of the eight crewmen of the “Hunley” who perished in mysterious circumstances on that fateful night of February 17, 1864.
There was the gold coin of “Hunley” commander George Dixon, found resting near his left thighbone within the hull.
A brass oilcan, found covered with concretions and the leaching of rusty iron, restored to near-original condition (it even had some of its original oil inside.)
The “Hunley’s” rudder, recovered encased with concretions and sea life, and restored to its proper appearance.
Crewman James Wicks’ silk bandana required the skills of Mary Ballard, Senior Textile Conservator for the Smithsonian Institute for a most painstaking of conservation effort.
Most remarkable are the Lasch Center’s efforts to put faces with the names of the “Hunley’s” eight crewmen. Using the latest skills and techniques of forensic science, the Lasch Museum’s conservators have been able to reconstruct a face from a casting of each crewman’s skull. All eight of the reconstructions are currently on display at the museum, putting a human face upon history.
There is much more of the “Hunley” to be seen at the Lasch Conservation Center; the best way to do so is by taking a tour.
The facility is open to the public Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost is $18 for adults and $10 for youth, 6 to 12 years of age.
Membership in Friends of the Hunley will lower the adult fee to $12.
The discount for seniors and military is $15 and children 5 and under are admitted free of charge.
Oh, and they have a very good gift shop on site.
Next time: the sixth entry from the Inventor’s Vade Mecum handbook counsels the Young Inventor on the Choosing and Keeping of Journeymen for his Project Team.
(Note: All graphic images of Infernal Machine game materials used in this series of articles are subjective and may change and appear different in their final form. All images show sourcing unless otherwise noted.)
Previous Articles:
Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare — Setting the Stage
Infernal Machine: The Inventor’s Vade Mecum (Nautica ed.) – Part 1: Where Do I Start?
Infernal Machine: The Inventor’s Vade Mecum (Nautica ed.) Part 4 — Installing Dread and Destruction
The Sovereign of Discord expansion for Fire in the Lake allows players to explore an earlier period of the Vietnam War rarely covered in wargaming, the closing years of Ngo Dinh Diem regime (1961-1963). Although there are a few tactical games and scenarios on the battle of Ap Bac in 1963, I struggled to find a single game at the strategic level that covers the years prior to major intervention by the United States and North Vietnam in 1964-1965. Sovereign of Discord allows wargamers to add this crucial period of the war to their collections. This article is the first in a series of InsideGMT articles highlighting different aspects of the new content in Sovereign of Discord. Today we will focus on Ngo Dinh Diem and the unique strengths and weaknesses of his regime.
This is the second article in a series where I will present each of the five powers of Baltic Empires in turn. This time I will cover Russia, the historical winner of the game that emerged from the period (1558-1721) as a major power in European affairs.
GMT has long been a supporter of Stuka Joe’s CDG Solo system, which we highlighted in an insideGMT article way back in 2016. So, making an official GMT version that supports our CDGs and CDG players just made sense. When GMT One head Jason Carr reached out to Stuka Joe to see if he would like to see an official version made for GMT, it was immediately obvious that it was a great idea. While our main goal in developing this official set of rules and playsheets was to make the system more accessible and available to a wider audience, it we also wanted to give the system back to the community. So, we are proud and excited to reveal our Print and Play kit for the GMT CDG Solo System, but more on that in a minute.
To make the board game “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare” as historically rich and fact-accurate as possible, I had to reach beyond the confines of my library, beyond that of my local university and even beyond the Internet.
No, the facts and information I was looking for could only be found as close to the source as possible.
The submarine “H.L. Hunley” rests in Charleston, South Carolina, specifically at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center. Its rusted hulk lies in the care of a dedicated team of historians, archaeologists, chemists and administrators seconded from Clemson University and elsewhere, who perform the slow and painstaking task of cleaning, cataloguing and restoring a very real piece of American history.
