Been away too long

[Larry]

Hi Ernst
Thanks so much for you wishes for the new year. Back at you my man! Especially the “lucky” part.
I’m so happy to read your comments about 1914. I love this game for so many reason. This game had a slow start and interest level, but its becoming more and more appreciated by many.

I love the American Civil War theme. I’m personally very interested it. I started a Civil War game using the epic total war approach a la Axis & Allies. I found myself running into too many design problems, and was kind of forced to lay it aside for a while. The North was way too industrialized compared to the South. I’m sure I can find a way to get around or approach such a game that would work, but for the moment I’m deep into another project. I try to limit myself to one game design at time.

Where do you live in Germany?

[Chacmool]

My name is michael, ernst jünger (1895-1998) was a lieutenant and stosstruppführer from ww1. He served also in ww2. His most famous book was storm of steel which I highly recomand to you.
I live in munich bavaria. Last year I visited the states for the first time. Beautiful Country and great people! Personally I don't think that the balance of your civilwar game would be a problem since the whole conflict was very unbalanced. Maybe it could be handeld with diplomacy (alligned brits/french for the south) or better skilled soldiers in the south for combat.
Nevertheless I am curious to hear more from your upcoming projects..

[Larry]

Aaaa ... Hi Chacmool (Michael)…
Sorry for the name confusion… I should have been more attentive.

I understand what you mean by “the whole conflict was very unbalanced”
But there is no way I could bring myself, by way of the game rules, to suggest that one side had better-skilled soldiers than the other. Johnny Reb and Billy Yank were cuts of the same cloth. The same cannot be said of their initial Generals. When I think of Geroge McCellan (the early Union Commander) I want to pull my hair out. The North was however blessed with the ultimate leadership of Grant, Sherman and in no small way Abraham Lincoln himself. If an adjusting-balance-game-mechanic was to part of such a game it would have to be based on Generalship rather than one side having better-skilled soldiers than the other. Nonetheless, when one side produces its own cannons, and the other does not… Well, the outcome is just a matter of time.

Expanding the game to include British and French support of the South, that entire influence is negated by the Union naval blockade of the South. It would be too easy, and a mistake to overrate the impact of foreign assistance to the South.

My next project? There is indeed one in the works. I’ve been working on it for past three and half years now. It will be Kickstarted this coming Spring. I will be talking more about it as those dates draw closer. I will add that I’m very excited about the project and hope that the many Axis & Allies fans out there will also be. I hope I can enlist their support. It is exactly these fans that I have had in mind as I got up each morning to work on this upcoming game.

Thanks for the book referral

[Flashman]

Regarding the Civil War, while its true the South had no chance in terms of a long war of attrition, they did come close to forcing the North to sue for peace during Lee's invasion of the North. If Gettysburg had turned out differently the panic in the Northern States might have led to an armistice.

Its in some ways a similar problem to WWI in that the Central Powers had a window of opportunity in which a victory could be forced, after which sheer force of numbers led to an inevitable defeat.

I've suggested before a revised victory "curve" for the Central Powers during which they must occupy X victory cities at the end of turn Y to win, otherwise its assumed the Allies will become too strong.

[Larry]

Flashman,
Indeed had the battle of Gettysburg been lost by the North it may well have been a Confederate War win. Capture a certain number of cities in the North and a Southern Victory is had. I find this kind of victory condition somewhat anti-climatic. It does, however, offer some opportunities for a reasonable victory condition for some of those unbalanced war scenarios, especially in the case of the American Civil War.

I'm happy with my current 1914 victory conditions.

[Chacmool]

Larry, i suppose you won't tell us anything more about the new project not even the historical era? Is it gunpowder or ancient?
I for my self am working also on an ww1 game (not commercial) that has several elements of A&A1914. What do you think of card driven games? I thought about a mixture of A&A1914 and risk europe. In every round each power/player plays alternately several cards for actions (movement/mobilzation/collect income/strategic movement/assaults/research) so the downtime for each player is not that long as if every player does all the phases alone and you can directly react on you opponents moves.the entente is economical stronger than the cps but Germany with its better logistics for example would have more cards in hand than italy or russia for example. At the end of the round all battles were resolved.
when you say you like the victoryconditions of A&A1914 as they are do you mean OOB or the potential tournement rules?

[Larry]

Gunpowder.
Card driven games? I certainly think there are many good ways to use cards. My D-Day was certainly a card driven (or guiding) system. I think the use of cards that dictate what you can do and can’t do during a turn can have its share of problems, however. If not often, than certainly occasionally, such a system can be frustrating to the given player. Also… you certainly don’t want the whole game to simply be a disguised card game with a map and some dudes decorating it… Short downtime is always a good design objective – for sure. From reading your description of the use of the cards I’m lead to believe that more powerful you are the more cards received which may give you more choices and abilities. I think I’d probably prefer a game that gives you more choices and abilities as a result of your earlier ground work preparations and actions rather than the cards you’ve drawn.
I’m referring to the OOB - not sure I know about the potential tournament rules you are talking about.

[AC]

Welcome back Larry!!!!!

Very happy that you're working on a new game. It's been too long. I would have liked a Civil War game too but I understand it would be difficult. I think a Napoleonic game would work with the a&a rules.

You could make a game set in the distant future where a Russian dictator influences the US election and a reality TV personality gets elected. Far fetched but it would be a sci fi game.