During a WBC Convention, Gene Billingsley of GMT, acted as a kind of matchmaker (to those of you familiar with “Fiddler on the Roof” feel free to hum that tune which starts “Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match…”). He arranged introducing renown Designer Mark McLaughlin of The Napoleonic Wars, Wellington, Kutuzov, as well as many other titles, and myself, his erstwhile Game Developer for said publications, to Greg Ticer, a budding Game Designer.

Greg, inspired by intense interest in The Seven Years War and The Napoleonic Wars had designed a game using that system which made quite the favorable impression during that Spring’s GMT West “Weekend at the Warehouse” in Hanford, California.  With introductions made, Mark and myself sat with Greg at a WBC table near where we were holding a Rebel Raiders on the High Seas Event.  Mark and I marveled at the fine work Greg had done in conceiving a Seven Years War game, with rather striking play test map graphics and some really cool event cards capturing many of the period’s key historical events (with appropriate illustrations), using Mark’s game system which encompassed not only the war in Europe, but the struggles in the North America and India Colonies as well including an abstracted naval war.

We really liked what we saw and considered an official title for Greg’s game and quickly arrived at one which captured the essence of this epic military conflagration: The Seven Years War: Frederick’s Gamble.  For King Frederick II of Prussia had indeed gambled that his seizure of strategically placed Saxony would go unmolested by his European rivals. Furthermore, the three of us personally hit it off with good chemistry and thus was born my game development partnership with Greg accompanied by Mark’s blessing of the game’s foundational use of his The Napoleonic Wars system.

Play testing ensued with the map, cards, units, and rules being developed through the good efforts of play testers in Southern California, Seattle, Wa., Redditch, U.K., Charlotte, N.C., and Landisville, Pa. to the point that The Seven Years War: Frederick’s Gamble, henceforth referred to as 7YW:FG, became GMT P-500 listed.

All who tried the game at various club meetings and conventions had a blast playing it.   Mark’s “Buckets of Dice” battle resolution system under this CDG, which admittedly contains its share of luck with the dice and luck with cards, is fun and exciting: Wellington being a particularly marked example of this… a rollicking roller coaster ride of a game greatly enjoyed by those who appreciate such a design.  7YW:FG was certainly fun and exciting to play.  However, as months of play testing wore on and After Action Reports were reviewed, Greg and I, by late 2015, began having mounting concerns with 7YW:FG as a simulation.

Here’s the gist of those concerns: 1) It was possible with the Nappy System siege rules to, with admittedly a bit of luck, have a single powerful Army overrun multiple Fortresses during a single Impulse.  2) Field Battles were far too bloody for the historical period due to the SP (strength point) Kill with a die roll of “6” / disrupt with a die roll of “5” and change all “5’s” to “6’s” if the battle was a Rout.  Two small Armies could engage in battle and mutually eliminate one another with a spate of 6 dice rolls.  A player who saw his ability to defend his nation ripped away by a particularly nasty dice roll by his opponent annihilating all before him would often not care to give the game another try; despite the novel strategic setting as the world’s first global war.

That stuff just did not happen with frequency during the historical Seven Years War and these outcomes were occurring with all too much regularity in our 7YW:FG play test games… particularly where “shark” highly competitive players familiar with the system and rules were engaged (and that’s not a complaint: “Sharks” are among a game developer’s best play testers in my experience).

The core of the game itself, based on 2008’s The Napoleonic Wars Rule Book, was fine save for the screaming need to change the Field Battle and Siege Systems.   The problem was this… Nappy War’s 19^th Century Battle/Siege systems did not generate believably acceptable results for 18^th Century warfare.   This was causing the design to fail as a simulation.

Greg and I could not simply announce a profound design problem without offering a solution.  So, as readers of InsideGMT may have noticed, a period of “radio silence” ensued while we labored to design, develop, and play test to satisfaction alternate 7YW:FG field battle and siege rules which simulate 18^th Century warfare… and I must say Greg outdid himself in that regard.

When we revealed the results of these efforts to the play testers, it was communicated via email with attachments of the new rules and selected revised event cards.  Here’s an extract from my related email to the 7YW:FG play test teams:

“Here are new field battle and siege rules for 7YW:FG along with associated card file updates.  Not to worry, all the effort and play-testing you’ve contributed remains intact. The 7YW:FG Rule Book remains the same EXCEPT for introducing new rules to resolve Battles, now referenced as “Field Battles” and Sieges. To ease the learning curve, Greg based the new Field Battle system on a modified version of Sword of Rome’s battle rules: that’s a popular GMT game which many gamers are familiar with. Hopefully, those of you experienced with this Sword of Rome system will quickly and easily appreciate how this approach is applied to 7YW:FG.

As to the new Siege rules, a siege may only be resolved at the beginning of an Impulse and, most importantly, the game now allows pieces to be either inside or outside a Fortress (yes, a garrison sortie to trigger a field battle is possible). The new rules and their “ripple effect” on 7YW:FG’s game components are within this email’s attachments.”

Testing to date under these new rules has gone very well with many players observing the new field battle and siege rules are not only of superior simulation value; but intuitively easy to learn and a heck of a lot more fun to play than the former “Buckets of Dice” approach.

In fairness to those who P-500 ordered 7YW:FG with expectations of it including The Napoleonic Wars battle/siege systems; Greg and I offer our apologies and, along with GMT, would regretfully understand if you withdraw your P-500 support for the game.  We sincerely hope you don’t do so, for the essence of this classic CDG game is still there and along with others who’ve given the new field battle and siege systems a try, we believe you’ll find the game great fun entertainment which also provides excellent insights into The Seven Years War as the world’s first global war.  Furthermore, at some point after the game is published, there is certainly the possibility of releasing the game’s original battle and siege rules for those who’d like to play 7YW:FG as initially designed, announced, and play tested.

To appreciate these new 7YW:FG systems, the following links are provided to associated material within GMT’s site for the game.  Please keep in mind this reflects the latest results of the team’s play testing and is subject to further development:

1. A ten page PowerPoint tutorial providing an overview of the game (a special thanks to ace Seattle 7YW:FG play tester Jeff Marksz for his contributions to this)
2. The rule book extract of 7YW:FG Field Battle rules
3. The rule book extract of 7YW:FG Siege & Siege Assault rules
4. An April 2016 After Action Report of a 7YW:FG game played by the Metro Seattle Gamers using these new field battle and siege rules.

We hope this article and its related material encourages your interest in the game and placing a P-500 order for it.  7YW:FG articles already within InsideGMT are as relevant to these updated rules as to the original, so give them a read and enjoy!

Additionally, I’ll be at the upcoming WBC 2016 convention with two (2) 7YW:FG demo/play-test sessions on the schedule.  It would be my pleasure to teach the game, which does not take long with veteran gamers (particularly those already familiar with The “Nappy” series or other CDG’s), so you can experience and appreciate the fun and excitement of this wonderful Greg Ticer design.

Author: Fred Schachter