1918: Storm in the West was my first published design for the late lamented Command Magazine. Plan 1919 was a follow-up addition that covered a What-If? Scenario using additional rules and counters. GMT is publishing a new boxed edition combining the two, so I’m going to take this opportunity to revisit the early days of my career as a war game designer.
Introduction: Designer Mark McLaughlin and I, unlike years past, no longer reside in the same area of the USA (a great disappointment to us both). I’ve lived about the country during my business career and now retired to a home in Charlotte, NC. Consequently, we try to get-together in-person at least annually and I recently journeyed to Mark’s place in New Hampshire to review gaming matters and Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) in particular.
Mark and I played several ACME games during this visit: one-on-one, then the two of us versus NPC (which uses the game’s Solitaire System to control an AI civilization – the NPC almost defeated us both until we combined against it), and the topic of this article, an exciting and entertaining 4 player contest.
According to tradition and the Irish Annals, Patrick brought three men with him when he began his mission in Ireland, including Auxilius. Then again, some say that Auxilius and Iserninus arrived in Ireland six years later, sent by Germanus to help. According to some sources, Auxilius was Patrick’s nephew, the son of his sister. There is one reference to Auxilius saying that Secundinus was his brother, but this might mean “brother” in the religious sense rather than the family sense. There is little written about his early life, but apparently he was Celtic and born in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany. This would mean that he grew up speaking a Celtic language, which is in the same family of languages that includes Irish.
August 27, 1944: It was 7:40 AM and Captain Cole’s L Company of the 3rd Battalion found themselves on the outskirts of the small village of Allan in Southern France. The rest of the 3rd Battalion was still 5 miles back and just now passing through Bois des Mattes. L Company was all alone. Not having seen any sign of enemy activity, Captain Coles ordered a recon in force. As soon as they stepped off, they began receiving enemy small arms and mortar fire. A pit immediately formed in Cole’s stomach as he realized that L Company might have bitten off more than it could chew.
Mission Objective: Mission ends if at the end of any game turn the Americans control 10 Building Points [see MSR 1.0, Building Points] out of the possible 12 in Sector 11, or when either side exceeds its Casualty Differential Limit, or when the Final Score is ≥ 51.
Below is the third in a series of articles from The Boardgames Chronicle playing through the Belisarius campaign in Commands & Colors: Medieval. You can find the first two articles in the series here. Enjoy! -Rachel
As noted on page 55 of the Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Playbook, players can choose the length of their game. Players need not play all four Epochs nor commence play with Epoch I (to enable experiencing Epoch IV’s “Imperial Rome”). Any game of any length is a “complete” game.
Black and white picture. Murky and faded. In the background, a Pz VI Tiger tips precariously backwards into a flooded ditch. Its 88m canon points ineffectively skyward while troops of a Panzer grenadier unit either wade in water with chunks of floating ice or simply mill about, stalled, exposed, some at rest. Gaunt faces stare from beneath hoods into the camera as a tanker, directly in the foreground, turns away in the instant a fellow crewman takes the photo of their sinking leviathan during Operation Spring Awakening.
Many people already know the story of Patrick. Perhaps this is because his autobiography is the oldest Irish literature that survives to this day. He tells us that he was born in Roman Britain, the son of a deacon and grandson of a priest. He was kidnapped as a teen, and sent into slavery in Ireland. While there, his religious convictions were rekindled, and after escaping and returning home, he studied to become a priest.
A realistic portrayal of the Norwegian campaign includes a number of facets that were not needed in the original PQ-17 design. The German invasion and the Allied landings in response are obvious instances, and there are a number of others worth mentioning. In this installment I’ll describe major additions and changes that apply in the Operational scenarios, leaving description of the Campaign scenario and its unique rules for another time.
Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS) received an overall warm welcome from the gaming public. For many of our fellow hobbyists the game hits a sweet spot with its epic theme served in the frame of quick and simple gameplay. A second game in the series, Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East, was recently announced on GMT‘s P500 list: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-836-ancient-civilizations-of-the-middle-east.aspx .
During the game’s development, I had the pleasure of assisting designers Mark and Chris, as well as developer Fred, by crafting a functional VASSAL Module for internal team use during playtesting. After the game’s publication, the opportunity arose to polish the Module for a public release. That release was accomplished 9/21/19.
