Kris Hall: The 2nd Martin Wallace Interview

Waterloo, another Martin Wallace game, is making its appearance in next few weeks, and several other Martin Wallace games are on the horizon.  I thought I’d check in to see what Mr. Wallace has to say about some of the games he’s been cooking up in England.

Kris: You mention in your designer notes for Waterloo (being published now) that this is your first two-player wargame to be published. How does designing a wargame differ from designing a Euro-game? You have scheduled Gettysburg to be the last game of your current Treefrog subscription so gamers will be getting at least one more wargame from you in the future. Do you expect to continue to design wargames on a regular basis? Do you prefer tactical wargames to strategic wargames – at least when designing?

Martin: To be honest there is not a lot of difference in my approach. As much as possible I like to look at what actually happened and then come up with some mechanisms that can allows some of these things to occur in the game. It’s impossible to recreate all of the possible events that happened, especially if some general makes a really stupid decision on the day. Gamers tend not to make such elementary mistakes. Not sure if I have a preference between tactical and strategic games, depends more on whether the subject matter appeals to me. The next two-player game after Gettysburg will deal with the long-term struggle between Britain and France for the control of North America, which will obviously be more strategic. The Treefrog Line will run for at least five years, so there will be five two-player games produced in all.

Kris: Some of the folks who have tried your game Automobile at gaming conventions claim you are especially enthusiastic about this game.  What about Automobile are you especially proud of?

Martin: I do not usually make such claims about my designs but I have to admit I’m very happy with the way Automobile has turned out. When you set out to design a game, you have no real idea how it will come out. What might seem like a good game in your head can end up being a disappointment when down on paper. Automobile actually worked better on paper than in my head. What I like about the game is that it feels like you are running a real car company. You have to make your capital work for you, making sure as much of it is invested as possible. At the same time you have to gauge what the potential market will be and decide whether you want to hedge your bets by reducing your prices or developing a distribution network. New car factories quickly become old ones, racking up losses for you, which means you need to close them down at some point and open up new factories.

I’m also pleased with the way the six characters in the game work in the same way that they did historically. Ford helps you go into mass production, Sloan cuts your losses, and Howard helps sell extra cars. Each decision feels important and yet it’s still possible to finish a game in under two hours. This is the first Treefrog game to use artwork from somebody other than Peter Dennis. I managed to secure the services of Mike Atkinson, who used to work in the car industry producing advertising material. What I do know is that what I think of my own designs is not necessarily a way of predicting the public’s reaction. I was not sure how good a game Brass was and it ended up being much more successful than I imagined. I’ve probably got it the other way around with this game and most people will think it merely ‘okay’.

Kris: Your upcoming game Last Train to Wensleydale seems to be more of an operational-level train game as opposed to strategic. Is that because it is rooted in such a specific location? Were you inspired by a local setting?

Martin: This game is purely the result of having to visit the Wensleydale Creamery on a regular basis to pick up a particular type of cheese that my partner, Julia, really likes – mango and papaya Wensleydale for those who wish to know more. Fortunately it’s a pretty part of the world and there are also a few second-hand bookshops around. With each visit I would secretly pocket another train book. Eventually I decided to see if I could come up with a game, setting myself the challenge of designing a railway game set in an area where very few railways were actually built. There is still a pick-up and delivery mechanism but it works in a different way to my previous designs. The twist in the game is that after building a railway you want to make as much money from it as possible and then sell it on to one of the major companies. [Editor’s note: Since participating in this interview, Wallace has posted a long description of Last Train to Wensleydale on the Warfrog Games website.]

Kris: When can gamers expect to see your design Rise of Empires from Phalanx Games?

Martin: I know as much as the next person. When a company licenses a game, it’s up to them when they bring it out. I have no say in the matter. I hope that game will be out this summer.

Kris: I was playing Canal Mania the other night, and I was reminded of how much that game owes to games designed by you. Do you feel proud that you have developed the cube-shuttling game genre, or annoyed when people borrow mechanisms wholesale from games you developed?

Martin: I steal so many ideas from other designs that it would be hypocritical of me to complain about people doing it to me. Personally I’m happy if other designers wish to be influenced by my games.

Kris: Let me ask a question about process. It is evident that you do a lot of historical research for your games. Does theme always come first?  Or have you ever been inspired by a mechanism and designed a game around it?

Martin: Theme always comes first for me. I find it difficult to think of mechanisms in isolation. However, when I’m trying to reflect a little piece of history, all sorts of ideas spring up. An example would be the alliance system in Struggle of Empires. That came about purely because of my understanding of 18th century diplomacy.

Kris: How do you choose historical subject matter? I assume you might be inspired by a great history book to produce a game. But how do you choose which books to read? A train enthusiast will read train books, but how do you go from trains to ancient Sumer? Are you deliberately searching for historical subjects that haven’t been explored in games, or merely following your reading whims?

Martin: It’s pretty random really. I enjoy browsing through second-hand bookshops and will sometimes come across a book that suggests a game. At other times a friend may suggest an idea. Brass came about because one of my regular playtesters suggested going back to doing an economic game after a series of multi-player wargames. History provides an endless supply of game themes if you are willing to look at some of the more obscure ones. I’m also guilty of not being a specialist in any field, I like to flit from period to period.

Kris: Have you ever been tempted to design a science fiction or fantasy game in which you could invent any history you wanted to support any gaming mechanism you enjoyed? Or do the restraints of working with real historical settings set boundaries you find useful?

Martin: Many of my first designs used science fiction or fantasy themes. The only one that worked well enough to publish was Lords of Creation. In some respects it’s harder to design a good sci-fi game or fantasy one as you also have to create a compelling background. With a historical theme players will already have some idea of the back story and can fill bits in for you. Games like Battlestar Galatica work because there is already a very detailed ‘history’ that players are familiar with, the same with Lord of the Rings. Although I may end up working on something ‘non-historical’ I think it is unlikely to happen in the near future.

Kris: There are business reasons for designing games in a certain way that you must consider. (All other things being equal, a low-complexity game that plays in two hours will likely sell more copies than a high-complexity game that takes six hours.) But do you have personal preferences for size and complexity of games? Have you ever been tempted to a high-complexity, epic-sized game?

Martin: I like games that you can finish in an evening. It would actually be very difficult for me to develop something that took longer than three or four hours to play as most of my playtesting goes on in the evening. I suppose part of me would like to do something ‘epic’ but I’m not sure when I would ever find the time to design it.

Kris: Which of your own games is your favorite?

Martin: At the moment it would be Automobile. I’ve also got a soft spot for Struggle of Empires. Age of Steam used to be my favorite but after developing Steam I’m burned out on it for the moment.

Kris: You have a new subscription available for upcoming Treefrog Line games. Do you expect that your subscriptions will typically be three to four games published over the course of a year? Will games in the subscriptions always be Treefrog games or would we ever see a Warfrog game (which has different characteristics) thrown into the mix?

Martin: Each year Warfrog will produce four games in the Treefrog Line. At some point I will go back to doing something more like an old ‘Warfrog’ game but for the moment my energies are focused on Treefrog. It’s also the case that some designs that Warfrog might have produced in the past have been licensed to other companies.

Kris: Thanks for the interview.

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