Chestnut Lodge Wargames Group
Our pre-meeting gathering on 4 June 2022 included an organ recital: problems with double vision and teeth extractions (and that was just the presenters), and the drama of turning 60 and having your students realise you are old enough to be their grandad (not applicable to either of the presenters who are now well pass […]
by Deborah Southwell As part of a course on game design, I was asked to critique a game. I thought it may be of interest to other Military Muddlers. Urban Nightmare: State of Chaos (Game designer: Jim Wallman) is a megagame exploring how government and city authorities in the USA might respond to an emerging […]
In the beginning, there was Watch the Skies 1898. This was a new variant of Jim Wallman’s tried-and-true Watch the Skies series of games, but set at the dawn of the 20th century and featuring aliens. By design, it was very high-level and strategic – counters representing entire fleets and armies, abstract economic abstractions and […]
Modelling Idiocy in the ACW [preview] For many years now I have been fascinated with the difficulties of modelling in a fun, challenging manner some of the total losers of history, rather than the usual suspects on the (much shorter) genius list – you know, good old ‘Unfortunate Mack’ (1805), any Frenchman in 1940, English/Russian […]
In September I’d like to run a design session on mechanisms that lead to players making decisions on logistics and strategy. The more I read on the ‘Glorious Revolution‘ and the military aftermath, the more I realise that what lead to victory wasn’t the weapons or the tactics. It was logistics and strategy that determined […]
Aphorism: “a pithy observation which contains a general truth” I often hear CLWG members make very wise comments about game design. I thought it would be a good idea to write these aphorisms down. I will update this post as new ones are heard. Please send me any suggestions. Online Games Cannot be Winged The […]
Yet another play test. Yet more disappointments. And yet still the lure of temptation; there is a good game here, a good idea. It’s just a poor execution. But let’s concentrate on the good points first. Event Cards The Event Cards were a new feature, and I think worked very well. I wrote them to […]
Game Synopsis The game is intended to be a club-sized game for between 4 to 10 people. The game is about medieval farming, the struggle to survive, the conflict between the villagers, and the conflict between the villagers and the manorial Lord. I was inspired to design this game after being slightly dissatisfied by other […]
Synopsis This is a game that recreates the struggles of a medieval village to work together, to farm together, and to raise their families. It is a game about survival. Game Aims I wanted this game to achieve two things. The players had to have their own skin in the game. If they did not […]
Onside Report on the Megagame Design session at CLWG on Sunday 6 August 2017 – By Tom Parry First, we would like to thank CLWG for inviting us to discuss megagame design. We had a very enlightening discussion, and we now have a much firmer grasp on the philosophy behind most megagame design. There is […]