Search Results for: people power

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Borikén Game Three: Post-1529

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Borikén: The Taíno Resistance includes three separate games, each covering a distinct period of the history of the Taíno people of Borikén (modern day Puerto Rico). Each game uses the same map and the same basic system, but with different additional rules and objectives to model the particularities of its era. In my previous articles I played through the first game, covering the fifteen centuries prior to 1492, and the second game, covering the initial arrival of the conquistadors from 1493-1528. I was able to complete my objectives and resist the conquistadors for a time, but unfortunately their numbers and technology are too great, and now in the third game I am tasked with ensuring the survival of the Taíno people by escaping from Borikén. Like the second game, the third game can be played cooperatively, but I will again be playing solitaire as I explain some of the rules and history.

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Napoleon in Egypt: Dramatis Personae, Part 1

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Article written by Pascal Toupy and Tom Toupy-Durant

The French campaign in Egypt and Syria is probably the most misunderstood of Napoleon’s military epics. And yet it is the foundation of the Napoleonic legend. Indeed, Bonaparte’s seclusion on Egyptian soil gave him the opportunity to test his ability to manage and lead a conquered territory and experiment with a number of military, administrative and social reforms. Of course, the Corsican general was not alone and he had the support of exceptional men, most of whom would follow him throughout his epic journey.

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Order & Opportunity: Cards and Card Play Part #2

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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 sixth in a series of articles talking about different aspects of the game.

Following the previous insideGMT article on the cards and card play in Order & Opportunity, in this article we look at some further types of cards included in the game.

Recently, a number of short playthrough videos were posted on YouTube that can be a helpful companion to the present article.

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Order & Opportunity: Democracy and Authoritarianism

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Recently, a new game named Order & Opportunity: Making of the Post-Cold War World Order entered GMT Games’ P500 list. This is the fourth in a series of articles talking about different aspects of the game.

In this installment, we focus on the dimensions of the post-Cold War contest between Authoritarianism and Democracy.

From the profile page: Order & Opportunity is a 2 to 4 player game with a dedicated solitaire system about the making of the post-Cold War world order covering the first decades of the 21st century. In the game, the United States, Russia, China, and the European Union compete over the control of the agenda and ultimately over victory points in the dimensions of economic, political, cultural, and security power projection. Order & Opportunity combines card-driven, asymmetric game play to produce a topical and thematic historical game on a global scale. The game offers a distinctive and captivating play experience at every one of its player counts.

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Order & Opportunity: From Post-Ideological to Ideological Again

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Recently, a new game named Order & Opportunity: Making of the Post-Cold War World Order entered GMT Games’ P500 list. This is the third in a series of articles about the game.

In this third article we’ll look at how to turn the post-ideological control of the media and other agendas, or Agenda Points, into a lasting legacy of Victory Points.

From the profile page: Order & Opportunity is a 2 to 4 player game with a dedicated solitaire system about the making of the post-Cold War world order covering the first decades of the 21st century. In the game, the United States, Russia, China, and the European Union compete over the control of the agenda and ultimately over victory points in the dimensions of economic, political, cultural, and security power projection. Order & Opportunity combines card-driven, asymmetric game play to produce a topical and thematic historical game on a global scale. The game offers a distinctive and captivating play experience at every one of its player counts.

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How Combat is Resolved in Iron Storm

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The development of Iron Storm has been going smoothly over the past few months, and the game’s core systems are now close to finalised, with only small tweaks being made as our dedicated playtesters continue to push it to its limits. In this article I will give an overview of the game’s combat system, which is something that a few people have been asking about and we don’t expect to change significantly before publication.

Iron Storm is a relatively simple game that uses straightforward mechanics to capture the core aspects of WWI in Europe, and combat is no different. At the beginning of the action round the active player can initiate Offensives in any contested space, usually by playing an Army card that matches one of their armies in the space (there are also some special cards, such as High Command Orders, that can be used to initiate an Offensive in any space).

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Across The Bosporus: Bringing Levy & Campaign to Asia Minor

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The medieval era: a clash of swords and armor, archers winning the day against charging knights, the dust and roar of melee, lords’ banners snapping crisply in the breeze, high castle parapets withstanding mighty sieges. These are the familiar images that likely come to mind and captivate the imagination when played out on the table in the brilliant Levy & Campaign series.

My name is Justin Fassino and I am currently designing the next series entry entitled SELJUK: Byzantium Besieged 1068-1071, a game about the maneuvering between the Seljuk Turks and Eastern Roman Empire leading up to the pivotal Battle of Manzikert in August 1071. These military matters would ultimately be the first tremors of a multi-century tectonic shift that would see permanent settlement of Anatolia by central Asian steppe tribes, the First Crusade, the creation of the Ottoman Empire, and the end of Rome as a political identity.

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Private Companies in 18EUS

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In last week’s blog post, I discussed the Bank of New York and the strategic flexibility is adds to 18EUS. In this final blog post, let’s talk about one of my favorite parts, the private companies. I had so much fun with the design of the private companies of 18EUS.  The auction mechanism draws from 1822, as does the generality that the private companies hold no intrinsic value, mostly pay a modest income when held by the player, and confer upon the owning company special abilities.  18EUS private companies diverge from there.

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Harry S. Truman Through the Lens of Twilight Struggle

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Below you will find another fantastic article from Clio’s Board Games, this time discussing Harry S. Truman through the lens of GMT’s Twilight Struggle. You can also find this article on Clio’s blog. Enjoy! -Rachel

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Interview with Jim Krohn, Designer of Space Empires: All Good Things

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A couple of months ago, I sat down to a web call with Space Empires designer Jim Krohn to talk about his game series and the final expansion for it that is currently on the P500, All Good Things. Despite a name that might indicate a touch of bittersweet, Jim is not sorry to bring this game arc to a close; he’s more excited about “completing the system” and finishing up a project that started in the ‘90s. He acknowledges that some fans may be a little more sorry to see the content well dry up, but says “this will have all of the rest of my best material. I have more material that I could use, but honestly, it’s just not as good.” Before getting to the specifics of that “best material”, here’s a quick recap of the Space Empires: 4X system. It is a hex ‘n counter space wargame, featuring space exploration, empire expansion, resource exploitation, and, of course, extermination of your opponent. These are the four “X’s” from the title. The base game comes with the map, tons of ship counters, a massive tech tree, and lots of fun things to discover. The Close Ecounters expansion packs in more counters and variable player powers, among other things, while Replicators added a new type of playable empire that can also be used as a foe in solo and cooperative games.