Hollandazed: Thoughts, Ideas, and Miscellany — Mark Herman
BRIEF THOUGHTS ON HERMAN'S GETTYSBURG (by Tom Russell)
![BRIEF THOUGHTS ON HERMAN'S GETTYSBURG (by Tom Russell)](http://hollandspiele.com/cdn/shop/articles/qsm_1024x1024.jpg?v=1545362092)
The most recent issue of C3i magazine contained two Table Battles scenarios that I designed at the request of Rodger MacGowan and Steve Carey. As a result, I got a comp copy of the magazine, including the two pack-in games. One of these is Gettysburg designed by Mark Herman, and I was pretty eager to get it on the table. I think I learned the thing, played it, then sat and thought about it, all in the space of an hour and a half or so. Small map, handful of units, short breezy rules. As the designer says, it's not...
THE JUMP, MOVE, AND BLOCK GAME (by Tom Russell)
![THE JUMP, MOVE, AND BLOCK GAME (by Tom Russell)](http://hollandspiele.com/cdn/shop/articles/q_pic_fe3c1e8d-3e76-4e48-b1b7-0101d313998b_1024x1024.jpg?v=1536034182)
One of the things that drew me to Mark Herman's Ribbit, and made Mary and I so eager to publish it, is that it oddly reminds me quite a bit of backgammon. Backgammon, as regular readers of these blog-things might recall, is my favorite classical abstract. On the surface, there perhaps doesn't appear to be a lot of similarity between the two. Backgammon is after all a game of both luck and skill, while Ribbit is a pure combinatorial abstract. And it isn't as if backgammon has the market cornered on moving, attacking, and blocking, features common to most abstract...