Games as Historiography

One of the joys of working in the history simulation hobby is the history itself. Too often, good scholarship takes a back seat to gameplay and publishing concerns, but every once in a while, a truly impressive piece of historical synthesis may be found. Here are three quick examples:

War of the Suns (MMP)
(designer Leonard To)
In a front of WWII forgotten by most Westerners, the Chinese held off a Japanese incursion into Russia for nearly a decade. Especially with China emerging on the world stage as it is, understanding this conflict is critical - but even for those interested, the English-language sources are slim. Leonard's synthesis of the Chinese sources into this monster simulation make this game likely the best academic examination of that conflict available in the English language.

Here I Stand (GMT)
(designer Ed Beach)
Most students of the Reformation tend towards the religious struggle to the exclusion of the myriad forces in operation throughout sixteenth-century Europe. Ed's synthesis of each of six key powers' goals and strategic options is remarkable. Managing the complexities through brilliant use of a card-driven system, the game manages to elevate to, at the very least, a catalyst for better understanding of this important period.

Clash of Monarchs (GMT)
(designer Bob Kalinowski)
The detail and complexity of this simulation of the Seven Years' War speak to Bob's long study and toil to bring this to our tables. "Labor of love" has new meaning here, and again a synthesis of the source material into an overview of inestimable value for the historian. It is so easy to get lost in the arcana and esoterica of a subject...

At any rate, hope the Lepanto game I'm working on can come close to any of these in its usefulness...

An Elizabethan Cartogram

Having enjoyed Ed Beach's superb Here I Stand boardgame on the Wars of the Reformation, I leapt at the chance to work on a playtest map for his upcoming sequel covering the Golden Age of Elizabeth, entitled Virgin Queen. (An altogether fascinating period of history including the French Huguenot Wars of Religion, the battle of Lepanto, the Spanish Armada, and much more.)

Ed's original playtest map was a modification of the Here I Stand map, using 3 insets to add action in the New World, the Netherlands, & Indian/Pacific oceans. For example, we see in Here I Stand, the Netherlands warranted a mere 4 spaces; whereas in Virgin Queen that count expands to 21 spaces to contain the Dutch Revolt and Reformation:

Some brief discussion with Ed led me to suggest we employ a cartogram (a superb discussion of practical cartograms may be found here) for the map, to better reflect the relative importance of the areas during the period. What we needed was a map that would enlarge the Netherlands' surface area greatly (and to some degree, France & England's), as well as include The Indian and Pacific as far out as Australia. The resulting contortion is what Ed aptly describes as "The world inside Philip II's head:"


The content on the map is still in flux, so we'll save a look at that until things settle down a bit. Open PBEM playtesting is beginning soon, and if you're interested in helping you can email Ed to sign up.

Please note that this is in no way endorsed by GMT Games yet; for that matter as far as I know GMT has not technically contracted to publish the game at all.

Wars of the Roses

After thirty odd drafts, by far the longest project I've yet been involved in, you can now trash the English countryside underfoot, recreating the Wars of the Roses...

Portfolio Update

Added ten new maps to my portfolio today, as well as a link for the redux map for Twilight Struggle which (thanks to the good offices of GMT Games, Jason Matthews, Ananda Gupta, and Daniel McGinty) is now available for purchase...

Of dimension and projections...

So after an initial focus on antique map styles, then game map forms, then illustrative cartography, I've been moving in more technical directions the past few weeks - doing a lot of work with creating 3D terrain effects for maps, as well as reprojecting NASA's Blue Marble Next Generation (BMNG) RAW data to create hyper-accurate background maps.

The area surrounding Alesia, with 3d terrain and edge displacements...

NASA BMNG data of the Pacific, reprojected on an Albers equal-area cone...

Kind Words

Phil Fry had some kind words for me regarding the project we just finished, GMT's "1805:Sea of Glory." Timecode 3:44 here... thanks, Phil!

Ludography

[updated 3/16/09]
So here's a fun (chronological by history) list of games I have or am working on...
[R] indicates a personal redux project rather than published work

Rise of the Ancients

• The Civilization Project [R] 8000-300 BC
• The God Kings: Warfare at the Dawn of Civilization [R] 1500-1260 BC
• The Conquerors: Alexander the Great 336-323 BC
• Chandragupta: Great Battles of the Mauryan Empire 319-261 BC
  
• Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage [R] 218-201 BC
• Spartacus: Crisis in the Roman Republic 80-71 BC
• Alesia 52 BC
• Ides of March: The End of the Roman Republic 44–30BC

From Byzantium to Britain

• The Constantinople Trilogy 530-1460
• Kingdom of Heaven: The Crusader States 1097-1291
• Crusader Rex [R] 1189-92
• Samurai Lords: Wars of Feudal Japan 1100-1600
• Warriors of God: Wars of England & France 1135-1453
• Wars of the Roses 1455-87

The Calamitous Sixteenth Century

• Here I Stand: Wars of the Reformation [R] 1517-55
• Virgin Queen 1559-1599
  
• The Inmost Sea: The Battle of Lepanto 1571
• A Most Dangerous Time: Japan in Chaos 1570-84
• Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan 1600

From the New World to Nelson

• Conquistador: The Exploration and Exploitation of the New World 1495-1700
• King Philip's War 1675-76
• Blackbeard: The Golden Age of Piracy 1685-1725
• No Peace Without Spain: War of the Spanish Succession 1702-13
• Clash of Monarchs: The Seven Years’ War in Europe 1756-63
• Warriors of America 1755-83
• We the People [R] 1775-83
• 1805 Sea of Glory 1805

Brother Against Brother

• Lincoln’s War: The American Civil War 1861-64
• Barren Victory II: The Battle of Chickamauga 1863
• For the People [R] 1861-65
• Rebel Raiders on the High Seas 1861-65

A Century of Change

• Hoka Hey: The Sioux Indian Wars 1862-77
• Age of Bismarck: The Unifications of Germany & Italy 1859-71
• 1866: The Struggle for Supremacy in Germany 1866
  
• Zulu! The Engagement at Rorke's Drift 1879
  
• The Wild West: The Range Wars of 19th Century America c.1880
• North West Frontier: An Adventure Across Colonial India c.1900

The World at War

• The Proud Tower: World War I in Europe 1914-18
• War of the Suns: The Chinese War of Resistance 1937-45
• The War: The Struggle Against the Axis 1939-45
• Europe at War 1939-45
• Black Cross/Blue Sky: The Battle of Britain 1940
• Codeword Cromwell: The German Invasion of England 1940
  
• Blood & Sand: The Campaign for North Africa 1941-42
• Red Star Rising: The War in Russia 1941-44
• Frontline General: San Pietro Infine 1943
• A Blood Red Snow: The Battle for the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket 1944
• The Devil’s Cauldron: The Battles for Arnhem and Nijmegen 1944
• Frontline General: Italian Campaign 1943-45
• Mark Herman’s Pacific Campaign 1941-45

The Modern Era

• Twilight Struggle [R] 1945-89
• Where There Is Discord: War in the South Atlantic 1982
• For Greed or Glory 2000