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Inside the History of Twilight Struggle: Red Sea — Conflict in the Horn of Africa (Part 2)

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The Context in the Middle East

Part two of a three part series: The Middle East in the 1970s.

With the support of Twilight Struggle fans around the world, Twilight Struggle: Red Sea moved to “made the cut” status after just a few days on the P500. TS: Red Sea is a free-standing, two player card-driven game that builds on the Twilight Struggle system. The game covers the period between the mid-1970s to the conclusion of the Cold War. It emphasizes the many proxy wars and revolutions in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa during this portion of the Cold War.

With a more limited scope and much shorter playtime, TS Red Sea is the perfect way to introduce new players to Twilight Struggle. Yet this new game maintains all the tension, decision making, and theme of the original classic.

This is the second of a three article series, introducing players to the history reflected in the game, and providing some example events that illustrate the ties between the history and game play.   

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SpaceCorp: Discovering the Game via the Solo Mode

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Below is another fantastic article from The Boardgames Chronicle, this time discussing his experience with the solo mode for SpaceCorp. If you would like to read this article on his blog, you can find that here. Enjoy! -Rachel

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Bayonets & Tomahawks Warpath Chronicles #9: Game Year Example Part One

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There’s been a long hiatus of the B&T Warpath Chronicles. It was caused by the shift of all efforts to the game itself. As all the graphic files are now completed, I can share again some of the game’s content. This is the Game Year example as it appears in the playbook, except for a few additions to facilitate understanding without a copy of the game. Rules reference numbers remain in the text to avoid editing. A glossary of the acronyms used in the article has been added at its end. Enjoy!

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The Last Hundred Yards Mission 24.0: All That for a Piece of Dirt

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Today, we have a surprise for you players of The Last Hundred Yards! Designer Mike Denson has graciously created a new FREE downloadable scenario for the The Last Hundred Yards! Feel free to check it out here in InsideGMT. When you’re ready to download and print the PDF file, just click the link at the bottom of the article. We hope you enjoy this new scenario for The Last Hundred Yards. Thanks Mike!

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The Taifa Geography of Almoravid

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Our Almoravid research and design team take us on a guided tour of 11th-Century Muslim Spain—a patchwork of middling to tiny “taifa” emirates. Al‑Andalus in the Levy & Campaign Series’ second volume presents players a far different political geography to exploit and maneuver across than that of Nevsky. Here we visit each 1085 taifa state and its ruler in turn, with a quick word on their likely roles in the game. All game art in this article is playtest only; all game details are provisional not authoritative.

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Next War: Vietnam – What to Expect

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Next War: Vietnam isn’t offering anything ground-breaking in terms of the overall series, but, as in all the games, I hope to provide a new and engaging situation that seems fresh and different even through it’s using the same rules as all the games in the series.

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Mío Cid: Almoravid Testers’ Replay – Part III

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Saludos, damas y caballeros—We arrive at our final installment of Phil Dreher’s full-length scenario replay of Levy & Campaign Series Volume II, Almoravid. In this final chapter, Phil’s opponent on the Christian side John Campbell joins him for their wrap-up reflections on Volume II, their campaigning, and strategy lessons. As before, all art here is playtest only and all game details described provisional rather than authoritative.

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Here I Stand: Full 6-Player Game After Action Report

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I would like today to come back to one of the most epic boardgame sessions I have possibility to experience. This was a full, six-player play of Here I Stand (HIS). Yes, we decided to re-enact struggle in the Europe during the time of Reformation.

This was our second play of HIS – I need to report the first encounter still, but as this was a training play, that was much less exciting than what follows below. I and two of my colleagues for whom it was our 2nd session took lead of more difficult nationalities – I was in command of the Hapsburg Empire and Kuba managed France while Konrad struggled with the Papacy. At the same time, three new players were assigned less demanding factions: the Ottomans to Jarek, England to Jacek, and the Protestants to Lukasz. We managed to play 3 turns before we ran out of time. However, we were pretty close to the final…

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The Battle of Leipzig in Congress of Vienna (CoV)

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter: “ To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago accomplished with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “Made the Cut” (thank you patrons, thank you so very much!); previous InsideGMT articles presented “Designer’s Notes”, “Game as History: An Historical Introduction to the Congress of Vienna Period (CoV)”, “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna”, “Congress of Vienna Goes Electric with VASSAL”, and “Congress of Vienna Detailed Sequence of Play” which explained how players approached the game (their thoughts and reactions) as well as how the rules and game components come together to facilitate an enjoyable time for all. Parts 4 & 5 of this series, concerning the War Phase, are of particular relevance to best appreciate this Battle of Leipzig piece. Use this link to access copies of the preceding-referenced articles: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx . As I was drawn into this fascinating game, there was something I wondered about: how can Congress of Vienna, which is a high level strategy game appealing to both Eurogamers and traditional wargame “grognards” such as myself (and many of our play testers) translate its game terms to explain an historical epic such as the massive and crucial 1813 Battle of Leipzig (and by doing so, demonstrate its simulation mettle)? Well that was a challenge designer Frank Esparrago could not resist! Consequently, here’s his exposition of CoV and the historical Battle of Leipzig. We have indicated in italics some rulebook excerpts and combat cards bullets; other rules will unfortunately need to remain implicit: a restriction an article format such as this compels which readers will hopefully appreciate. That said, take it away Frank! Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.
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Mío Cid: Almoravid Testers’ Replay – Part II

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Welcome back—we return to the pageantry of medieval Spain! In this second of three parts drawn from a live Levy & Campaign playtest, Phil Dreher reports on his Muslims’ climactic year against John Campbell’s Christians in the 1085-1086

scenario of Almoravid, via Vassal magic by Miguel Ángel Sánchez Galán and Peter Wagner.

Who will break the stalemate of the Zaragoza border war? Is Rodrigo El Cid Campeador—back in King Alfonso’s grace—bound for great deeds or merely the menace of Muslim shepherds? Will León, Castilla, and Aragón develop the military pressure to extract tribute gold in Parias dinars? Or will the emirs bow to call in to the Almoravids of Africa? And then what great clash of arms might smash or reset the Taifa mosaic of al-Andalus?

Phil’s thoughts mainly relevant to playtest rather than narrative appear in italics. [Volko adds explanatory and design-related comments in brackets.] All art is playtest only and all game details provisional not authoritative. In Part III to come, we will sample the testers’ observations and reactions to the gameplay.