Kris Hall: The Martin Wallace 2010 Preview Interview

Game designer Martin Wallace had a busy year last year.  As a fan, I was curious what Mr. Wallace had in store for gamers this year.  He was recently gracious enough to answer some questions.

Kris: I believe a lot of gamers feel that 2009 was a good year for you in terms of both the quality and quantity of the games that you designed.  You gave us Automobile, God’s Playground, Last Train to Wensleydale, Rise of Empires, Steam, Steam Barons and Waterloo.  Do you feel proud?  Exhausted?  Do you think you’ll be able to keep up that level of productivity in 2010?

Martin: If I had a day job then I’d be exhausted. Being able to work full time on designing games makes it possible for me to turn out a reasonable number of half-decent ones.  Not sure if I feel proud, but I do feel lucky.  Working at what you enjoy doing never feels like work.

Kris: Have you had time to play games by other designers in 2009?  What impressed you?

Martin: I don’t get to play as many commercial games as I would like. I have been impressed by Dominion.  It’s good to see a fresh new idea in a game, something different from the crowd.  Otherwise I still enjoy playing Snow Tails, Agricola, Imperial, and Power Grid. 

Kris: You now have an Empires trilogy: Empires of the Ancient World, Struggle of Empires and Rise of Empires.  Any chance that Empires of the Ancient World will be reprinted?

Martin: Never actually thought of them as a trilogy – purely accidental.  I went back to Empires of the Ancient World a few years ago to try to spruce it up a bit.  Failed miserably and so moved on to other things.  I would not like to see it reprinted in its original form as I think it has probably dated a bit.  I would love to be able to develop the game further but sometimes that’s not possible – some games are what they are.  I will have to see if I have a moment of inspiration that allows me to take the game one step further on.

Kris: The most memorable mechanism in Rise of Empires is the A turn/B turn mechanism in which the actions that players take in the A turn tend to be repeated in reverse order in the B turn.  How did this mechanism evolve?

Martin: Some mechanics just pop into your head.  I had been wrestling with the issue of how to restrict player actions for ages.  I tried many different approaches that did not quite deliver.  The A/B mechanic simply suggested itself after many failed alternatives.  That’s the way it is with game designs – sometimes it’s a case of a “lightbulb” moment.

Kris: I understand you had something to do with the development of the Stratamax game Tammany Hall.  How did that come about?

Martin: Max Michael is a good friend of mine and asked if I would help produce Tammany Hall.  I like to help where I can, so said yes. I had very little input into the development of the design; my responsibility was more on the production side.  I was very pleased to find an original print of New York that fitted the game – saved a fortune in artwork fees and also helped give the map the right feel.  I suspect the game has flown under a number of peoples’ radars, which is a shame as it’s a neat election game with some novel twists.

Kris: I just discovered that you have designed a game called Moongha Invaders: Mad Scientists and Atomic Monsters Attack the Earth! which is being produced for an Italian game festival.  How did this come about?  Any chance that non-Italian gamers will have an opportunity to acquire this game?

Martin: Very simple, Andrea “Liga” Ligabue asked me and I said yes.  I have to be careful that I do not get a reputation for being a pushover.  The print run will be around 600 copies, 350 of which will be for the PLAY convention.  That leaves around 250 copies which people will be able to order from Treefrog.  I will post more details on the website in good time.

Kris: The next game from Treefrog will be Gettysburg.  I have always thought that Gettysburg would be a hard game to simulate because so much of the battle depended on the whims of Robert E. Lee.  The South was strategically on the offensive, but some (like General Longstreet) thought that there was no need for the South to be tactically on the offensive.  It was Lee’s aggressive nature that drove the battle.  How do you create victory conditions to simulate that?  Do you require the South to destroy the Union army?  Or do you assign victory point values to points of terrain that were important in the battle, but strategically insignificant?  How have you approached victory conditions?

Martin: To get the Treefrog line up and running I had to select battles that would be easy to research, hence Waterloo and Gettysburg.  I fully agree that Gettysburg is a battle that Lee should not have fought – it simply does not make sense to attack when you have inferior numbers.  My primary concern with the design was to produce a balanced game rather than one that was historically accurate.  The order system works in the Confederates’ favour and the victory conditions require them to take two areas on Cemetery Ridge or just Little Round Top.  I’ve also decided to ignore casualty levels, so the Rebs can attack without having to worry about losing units.  As with every other game on the battle, the first day is the most interesting.  However, I have seen the Confederates come very close to winning on the third day.

Kris: “The order system works in the Confederate’s favor.” Can you tell us more about that?

Martin: The player pieces in Gettysburg are similar to those in Waterloo.  Units do not correspond exactly to brigades or divisions – would be too many of the former and not enough of the latter.  However, the proportion of forces is about the same as that of the battle. Each player has eight numbered order blocks, which range from two to five.  During the game players will place these blocks in areas. An order block allows a number of orders to be issued in that area.  Such orders can activate units in the same or adjacent areas.  Orders themselves are represented by discs. Once the number of order discs in an area matches the value of the order block then no more orders can be issued.  The player will have to remove the block and place a new one, which takes time.  This system forces players to take pauses, where one side may have the opportunity to hurt the enemy in some manner but cannot do so due to an inability to issue an order.  The Confederate player has a number of double actions which he can use, allowing him to move/attack quickly. In addition, the Union player has to be careful not to leave too many order discs on the board at the end of a period. (Each day consists of four periods.) If he does not have enough order discs for the following period, then he will be forced to pass for each disc he is short.  Poor play on the Union side can lead to all sorts of problems.

Kris: In your last interview, you mentioned that you were designing a game on the conflict between the French and the British in colonial-era North America.  What we Americans call the French and Indian War started in the Ohio Valley not far from where I live, so I know a little about the conflict.  I know that the English had an enormous advantage in population size in the New World.  How do you design a balanced game when one side so over-matched the other in population?

Martin: No idea yet – it’s the next project for me to work on.  My intention is to take the long view rather than focus on the final war.  That means I can take a few liberties and allow for the possibility that the French could convince more people to migrate to New France.  It is also the case that the armies on both sides were very small compared with European forces.  The British finally won at Quebec but it was not guaranteed; previous battles show that the side with the larger force does not always win.  What I want to do is somehow connect military operations with economic developments.  You will have to wait to see if I’m successful.

Kris: What else are you working on for 2010?  When will gamers be able to subscribe to Treefrog again?

Martin: Age of Industry will be our June release.  This is a streamlined version of Brass.  I’m pleased with the way the game has turned out.  You can now play something with the depth of Brass but in half the time.  The game will have a double-sided map, with Germany on one side and southern New England on the other.  Our Essen release will be London, which covers the history of the city from just after the Great Fire until 1900.  The game is still in development but is coming together nicely.

The Treefrog subscription window will be open from the beginning of March until the end of April.

Kris: What are players trying to accomplish in London?

Martin: As with a lot of games, London is about scoring the most VPs.  Players select action tiles and lay them out in a line.  At some point a player will choose to “run” his city. He moves from left to right along the row of action tiles he has selected.  These allow different actions to be performed to generate money and VPs.  Some tiles have an entry cost which must be paid before the action can be performed.  If the player cannot pay the entry cost then he does not perform any more actions.  It’s important to make sure that your action tiles are in an efficient order. Tiles are purchased with cubes, which come in three colors and represent different sections of the population.  Blue cubes represent business men and tend to be used to buy industry tiles.  Purple cubes represent members of the political class and tend to be used to buy tiles that operate in the political sphere.  Yellow cubes represent scientists and men of culture and are used to buy tiles linked to these areas. 

You have to be careful when you run your city as each cube you have in hand represents somebody who is not employed, which results in taking a poverty point.  There is also a map which you get to build on.  The number of tiles you can have in your line is limited at first. To be able to extend your line you need to buy land on the board.  Land also gives you VPs.  I’ve tried to pack as much history into the game as possible, so certain events are represented and there is a degree of progression with the tiles, so that later on poverty can be tackled with sewers and better housing.  I’ve even managed to get the underground railway in.

Kris: I look forward to playing London.  Thanks for the interview.

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