Firefight Friday #18: Scenario Design 11

Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week we got back onto talking about the scenarios with scenario #10, Panzer in the Pocket. This week we will be talking about the penultimate scenario “Best Laid Plans”. This one has has a small but interesting wrinkle to it that I will cover first, then a new unit type, and then we will get into the usual overview.

Illusions of Glory, Second Edition: A “Step” Too Far?

The second edition of Illusions of Glory: The Great War on the Eastern Front (“IoG”) is currently on the P-500 list.

Links to prototype unit counters, player aid cards, mapboard, rules, and playbook can be found on the IoG webpage. 

Gamers who examined these game components have commented, and I have answered their comments on forum sites.

Infernal Machine: The Inventor’s Vade Mecum (Nautica ed.) Part 11: What to Do When the Yankees Come A-Callin’

By Ed Ostermeyer (Master Engineer – Grade 2)

Again, I bid you a good day, my young prodigy.

Thank you for meeting me in this out-of-the-way location.

Our talk today requires restraint and privacy between colleagues.

We will speak of shifting loyalties.

As you may have gathered, the life of a Confederate Inventor and Entrepreneur is anything but a sedate one. 

Not only are you in need of both funds and employees on what seems to be almost a seasonal basis, but there’s that pesky business of the Civil War taking place elsewhere in the country, causing your best-laid plans to vanish like a hatful of fog.

Such as:

Martial Law Proclamation by Union General John C. Fremont – Saint Louis, Missouri, August 1861 {National Archives}

One of the biggest roadblocks in your journey towards engineering success and financial security is the possibility that the Union Army will not only conquer the city where you work, but then use the occasion to come knocking on your machine shop door. 

Firefight Friday #17: Scenario Design 10

Back to the Frontlines

Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week I took a bit of a breather to recover from GMT’s Weekend at the Warehouse. This week we are starting on the home stretch of scenarios going into the core box. We begin with “Panzer in the Pocket”, our Falaise Pocket scenario. This is our first scenario with infantry guns, so we will cover that first and then get on with the scenario work up. Let’s jump right in.

Infernal Machine: The Inventor’s Vade Mecum (Nautica ed.) Part 10: Current and Drift: Cause & Effect

By Ed Ostermeyer (Master Engineer – Grade 2)

Young Inventor! It is good to see you once again.

Have you been applying what the two of us discussed in our last conversation?

Well done. I am pleased with your diligence, both in study and application of what you are learning.

Today, our topic involves one of the forces of nature: water’s current. Though direct control of it is beyond the scope of your, umm, project, you can learn to anticipate, prepare for and deal with its effects upon said project.

Firefight Friday #16: A Weekend at the Warehouse

Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. This is going to be a very brief article this week, but I wanted to both give myself a moment to recuperate (ran a LOT of demos over the last week) and also talk about how Firefight Tactical was received at GMT this month.

Factions of The Weimar Republic: KPD

This overview provides historical perspectives on the KPD playable faction in The Weimar Republic, as well as some insight as to how the faction functions in gameplay terms. Future posts will highlight the other playable factions and the game’s general mechanics in a more detailed manner. For an overview on the NSDAP faction, be sure to check out my earlier post on that faction.

Firefight Friday #15: Scenario Design 9

Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week, in the fourteenth article, I talked about the eighth scenario, “Hedgerow Highway”. This scenario saw the first of a series of much larger battle grids and plenty of combined arms action. This week we are continuing that trend with our Mortain scenario, “To Hill with Them”. This scenario also makes heavy usage of the elevation rules that we covered last week. There aren’t any new rules to look at this week, so let’s jump right in.

A Hannibal’s Revenge “After Action Report”: Sea Battles and the End of a Sexenium

Introduction by Hannibal’s Revenge Co-Designer, Fred Schachter: While the GMT Team continues its efforts to make production-ready Hannibal’s Revenge, the next game of the Card Conquest System series, play testing progresses.

While this is underway, readers may find of interest this report of a Hannibal’s Revenge playtest game between Robert Baynosa and his buddy Marlon Ilagan. This is an “After Action Report” which focuses on particular aspects of the game.  It is Robert’s second InsideGMT Hannibal’s Revenge article.  For his first report see: A Play Session of Hannibal’s Revenge | Inside GMT blog.

To learn more about this currently P-500 listed game, see GMT Games – Hannibal’s Revenge.  With that, it’s time to let Robert once again take the narrative helm…

Congress of Vienna’s Optional Rule 15.6 for the Congress of Peace Issue

Introduction by Fred Schacher, CoV Assistant Designer & Editor: Within the Congress of Vienna InsideGMT article, A “Congress of Vienna” GMT Production Process Status Report | Inside GMT blog, it was shared that due to Playbook space limitations it would not be possible to include in the published game all Optional Rules, called OHR’s for “Optional Historical Rules”. 

That’s sadly understandable, but it’s like asking in game rule terms “Which of your children do you want to abandon?”  Fortunately, due to InsideGMT and the ability to post additional content such as Optional Rules in the GMT game site, where a host of material concerning CoV already resides: GMT Games – Congress of Vienna it doesn’t have to be!