Border Reivers is a game of strategy, warfare and chance for 2 to 4 players, aged 12 to adult. Games last 30 to 90 minutes.

Over a period of a couple of years I played the game loads of times, initially against myself, then introducing it to friends and family. To begin with, the rules changed frequently (sometimes even mid-game!), as I tried to establish a working balance. I was basing my design on a comment about computer games, the source of which I’ve long forgotten: “A good game can be broken down into a series of interesting decisions”. About two years ago I felt the game was “there”, I’d stopped tweaking the rules, and I was being encouraged by friends to produce a small run, several of them even signed up for a copy at that early stage. I also had chosen a theme: the Border Reivers, warring clans on the English/Scottish border during the middle ages. The theme fit the small-scale combat and empire building well, and also was a very good fit for the Ambush and Reiving Party strategy cards.

For the next two years, the game sat abandoned in a Tupperware box on my games shelf. I moved away from the area where I had developed the game, leaving my gaming friends behind.

Early last year I suddenly decided that I’d already invested two years of my spare time developing a working game—it was madness not to put in the last little push to make it a finished game. I’ve spent the last year designing all the artwork myself (with the exception of the box illustration—done by my Dad, an artist), and sourcing printers and suppliers. I wanted to make the game feel as professional as possible, despite its humble origins. I worked out that I could just afford to buy the pieces and pay for professional printing & lamination for a run of 100 games. To make it affordable to customers I’d need to do all the construction myself (make the boxes, stick the paper covers on them, glue and cut out the tiles, cut out the cards and bag everything up).

Each copy takes around 3 hours to assemble, but I’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the production values: “better than some established small publishers” said one of my customers.