As additional background information for those of you interested in Harold Buchanan’s upcoming Flashpoint: South China Sea, today we present this graphical timeline created by project artist Terry Leeds. We hope you find this interesting and educational. Stay tuned for more Flashpoint: South China Sea content as the game heads to the printer in November.
Previous Articles:
The State of Crisis: Setting the Stage for Flashpoint: South China Sea
Flashpoint: South China Sea ― Key Mechanics
Below you will find the third in a four part article series from Elihu Feustel featuring a Labyrinth: The Awakening turn-by-turn playthrough. If you would like to read the first two parts in the series, those can be found here. Enjoy!
Asymmetric game design often lives and dies on the way players relate to their positions, frequently expressed through factions. In historical simulations, the faction design provides a framework through which players can execute their strategies. When done well the strategic choices presented to them create a decision space which mirrors the history, or at least the history as presented in the game. This is an important distinction, because any historical game is still the biased presentation of that history from the perspective of the designer. So before getting into the ways in which I have positioned players in Cross Bronx Expressway, it’s probably worth noting what my position is as the designer.
In this article, we will conclude our coverage of the games in The British Way by overviewing the British emergency in Cyprus from 1955 to 1959. Cyprus is probably the easiest game in the pack to learn for those new to the COIN series, but will offer a drastically different experience for COIN veterans due to the new counter-terrorism systems already briefly outlined in our article on The British Way: Palestine. In Cyprus, the British faced a small but flexible clandestine terrorist organization known as EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston, or the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), led by Georgios Grivas. In sharp contrast to the previous campaign covered in Kenya, the British in Cyprus were under intense international scrutiny due to efforts by the Greek government to keep the issue raised at the United Nations and the work of local activists who raised complaints about British repression to the newly formed European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Introduction by Hitler’s Reich Co-Designer Fred Schachter: An admonition of my fellow Hitler’s Reich design partner Mark McLaughlin and myself, for every GMT game we’ve worked or are working on, is to encourage players to feel free to modify a game if it enhances their enjoyment of it. Our refrain of “Hey, it’s your game!” has been consistent over the years.
When Hitler’s Reich fan Robert Baynosa introduced himself to me with his suggestion to modify Vez Arponin’s solitaire version of Hitler’s Reich; his ideas to modify Vez’s creation, which so many have enjoyed puzzling out and being entertained by, seemed too good to keep just to ourselves. Hence, it is here shared with InsideGMT’s audience. Give it a whirl if you’re so inclined!
Incidentally, some knowledge of how the Hitler’s Reich game system works, as background for fully appreciating Robert’s presentation, is available at: GMT Games – Hitler’s Reich .
Below you will find the fourth in a series of After Action Report articles written by players participating in The Last Hundred Yards ladder play on BGG. You can find the first three articles in this series here. If you would like to participate in the LHY ladder play, please contact Mark Buetow through the LHY Facebook page or on BGG. Enjoy!
Below you will find another fantastic article from Clio’s Board Games, this time discussing Winston Churchill through the lens of GMT’s Churchill. You can also find this article on Clio’s blog. Enjoy! -Rachel
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
Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor – Fred Schachter:This article is appearing after conclusion of an InsideGMT article series, a Standard Game After-Action-Report (AAR) of one of Congress of Vienna’s Scenarios, “The Clash of Armies”, which starts in August 1813 and runs through the end of that fateful year which encompasses many of the epic battles of a truly epic era. For those four episodes, see: GMT Games – Congress of Vienna
One of the Design/Development conundrums the CoV Team confronted during its fun and intriguing journey is how to characterize this wonderful creation of designer Frank Esparrago. Is it a wargame? The hardcore grognard wargamers, of which I number myself, certainly believe so, particularly when playing with all the “Wargamer Flavor Rules (WFR)”… which, as explained below, will be retitled “Optional Historical Rules (OHR)” going forward. That term seems better suited to those rules’ intent, eh?
Then there are the CoV Team’s Eurogamers, who proclaim that Congress of Vienna’s Standard Game is representative of the more involved kind of Eurogames they so enjoy. It’s almost like Designer Frank had two angels perched on his shoulders as he labored on his game creation… one a “Wargamer Angel” and the other a “Eurogamer Angel” each whispering their imprecations into his ears. Whom did he heed? Well, from the reception Congress of Vienna has received to date… it seems to be offering something to gamers of all flavors!
In this article Frank shares some of the design considerations he’s confronted in bringing Congress of Vienna from concept into a GMT P-500 offering. For those interested in learning more of CoV’s genesis, see: Congress of Vienna Designer’s Notes (Part 1 of 2) – Inside GMT blog If you enjoy reading of how a designer deals with complex game elements… this article should strike a chord of interest! With that, take it away Frank!
Below you will find the third in a series of After Action Report articles written by players participating in The Last Hundred Yards ladder play on BGG. You can find the first two articles in this series here and here. If you would like to participate in the LHY ladder play, please contact Mark Buetow through the LHY Facebook page or on BGG. Enjoy!
