Hollandazed: Thoughts, Ideas, and Miscellany — game design
DESIGNER'S NOTES: BLOOD IN THE FOG (by Tom Russell)
Excerpted from the rulebook. The first game I designed that ever made it to publication was Blood on the Alma (2012). It was a small, simple hex-and-counter game, with less than fifty units fighting over only a few hundred hexes. It was in some ways a flashy design, with a number of chrome rules and novelties that called attention to themselves. I had high hopes for it, as did the game's original publisher, Lock N Load, who asked me to design a sequel almost immediately upon accepting Alma. By the time Alma came out, I was ready with Blood in...
DEVELOPMENT: AN INFAMOUS TRAFFIC (by Cole Wehrle)
"Destroying Chinese War Junks", 1843, E. Duncan. The East India Company steamship Nemesis (right background) destroying Chinese war junks during the Second Battle of Chuenpi, 7 January 1841 When I was growing up, history was a list of wars. This was partly the fault of games. From an early age I played any game I could find and hunted for more. At yard sales I would rifle through stacks of Milton Bradley to dig up a tattered copy of Third Reich or Wooden Ships & Iron Men. These games shaped my understanding of history. At the school library I tended...
BUILDING THE HOUSE OF NORMANDY (by Tom Russell)
The second game in the Shields & Swords II series is House of Normandy, a “quad” containing four battles of the twelfth century. The first question a prospective purchaser would have is, why does this exist? Even among middle ages aficionados, there’s not a huge demand for games on this specific period. None of the battles are famous, nor really the commanders who took part; this is after William conquered, but before Richard became lion-hearted, a bit of history that bridges the gaps between two more interesting eras and as a result is often skimmed past. So, what gives? USS...
AN INFAMOUS TRAFFIC: DEVELOPMENT (by Cole Wehrle)
When I was growing up, history was a list of wars. This was partly the fault of games. From an early age I played any game I could find and hunted for more. At yard sales I would rifle through stacks of Milton Bradley to dig up a tattered copy of Third Reich or Wooden Ships & Iron Men. These games shaped my understanding of history. At the school library I tended to ignore the books that didn’t concern armed conflict. History was a list of battles and all the rest was window dressing. Of course, this was also partly...
DESIGNING THE AGRICOLA GAME, PART 1 of 2: IS THERE A GAME HERE? (by Tom Russell)
Some designs come together very quickly (my Irish Gauge or my Shields & Swords II series); some are basically sound right from the start, but need a lot more tweaking and finesse (Von Moltke’s Triumph was one of these); some you struggle with for years, convinced you have something but not entirely sure how to actually turn it into a playable game. Agricola, Master of Britain was one of those. I began working on it in 2011, as a two-player game. One player naturally controlled the Legions under Agricola, taking actions to suppress rebellion and build up civilization. Every action...