"A rising tide of games designed in Europe?" Topic

A thought has just occurred to me post stir-fry, so I've waddled back to my desk to share.

Are we seeing increasing numbers of wargames designed in mainland Europe [i.e. outside UK]? Is this a quietly rising tide?

Impetus [Italy] has been gaining, well, impetus for a couple of years now. Ganesha Games [Italy] publishing left right and centre. Napoleon at War [Spain] has been winning some converts, even amongst bitter, cynical veterans and of course now we have Tomahawk Studios [France] with Saga making an awful lot of noise and Muskets and Tomahawks hot on its tail.

So – which ones have I missed out, and what are the Euro-designed games on the horizon?

Do Euro-originating games have a different design ethos?

Are you talking board games or miniature rules? I have seen a slight increase in miniature rules.

They have always had a strong board game presence. I do not think the Europeans consider the wargame market as seperate from normal toy store games like you see in the USA. American toy-game companies who do have wargame rights, do not seem to do much with them.

Hopefully this development also leads to an increase of figure companies from Europe. There has been a few new ones, but there is ALWAYS room for more!

Damon.

I was referring specifically to wargames rather than boardgames – in which of course there is a very strong tradition, especially in Germany.

As an American in Germany who has been to many wargame shows that were small by our standards, i have seen the guys from Italy many times. They put on games and listen to feedback from the gamers. They are open to new ideas, concepts and periods to expand their rules into. They have gone out of their way to befriend all they meet, too. What I mean by this is that they socialize new ideas and freely give credit from where they came from. This results in articles in Daddi and Pimpo, WSS mags and comes off as uniting all historical miniature wargamers regardless where they are from.
We are one big brotherhood over here.

Boardgaming is really popular here! Perhaps it has something to do with replay value and high quality game pieces? Component quality is not spared. If it costs a bit more to keep the quality, it seems to sell better even at a higher price. Also, there is something to say about carrying around all you need to play a game in just one easy to carry box on a train or bus or backpack.

There are a LOT of awesome painters over here. Their game tables aeem to me mini dioramas when they play with little vignettes scattered amongst the table…maybe a goose chasing away a soldier; Some guy having a drink from a liberated vino bottle, etc. Anyway, cool ideas and atmosphere and friendly games. I have always felt welcome even though we don't always speak the same language.

One last thing. New rules. Everyone seems eagar to try the new and latest sets at least a few times before they move on to the next one. When talking about different rules sets, they always seem to willing to give an older set another go if you'd like to play a game of it. They play to have fun! For me, it was a nioe change of pace.
Tom

Tim I was talking about what happened to the Avalon Hill range when I think hasbro got the rights to them. All of the plans to re-release one game very six months from the AH range. One of the first on the list was 'Wooden Ships and Iron Men". I never saw it come out.

They sold out of their print run of battle Cry but never re-newed it. They gave it back to Richard Borg. Fortress America, Axis And Allies, Samurai and others from that series all sold through their print run but went dormaint for so long.

Britain is in Europe?

Good God, has anybody told the British? They are not going to be happy about this….

"Do Euro-originating games have a different design ethos?"

Actually I think what we're seeing is the effect of the internet upon the hobby. In the pre-internet era there was a significant and obvious difference in the styles of American-designed or British-designed games, that reflected the different environments in which they operated (the Americans having larger houses with more space, bigger tables, being less-likely to have a nearby shop or club, etc.)

Now we're seeing a sort of amalgamation of game design style. I even see the same terms being used over and over again for game concepts, regardless of the origin of the rules. Cheap color printing, the fact that many of these products are made in a different country than the one in which the designers live, and so on, all mean that there's a sort of international gaming style and lingua-franca emerging.

I DID say mainland Europe Sam.

Reading through Napoleon at War this evening I could see the Anglophone influence on style and structure. For Impetus and Saga, much less so. Can't speak for the Ganesha Games range as I don't think I've ever played one [possibly the F&I wars variant?].

Didn't Germany produce some sort of war game called Kriegspiel?

Yes, but not a very recent publication!

some sort of war game called Kriegspiel?

They haven't released a new codex since Verdy du Vernois' work was translated into English in 1884. Talk about not supporting a game system!

I think I will try to put Panama in the list of rules developers.

other continental European games not mentioned yet

Infinity
1:48
Mindstalker
Operation WW2
Operation Squad
Tutatis
Art de la Guerre
Wings of War

Quite right Iosart – Wings of War is a great little system, and I'm looking forward to the Nap ships AND the Star Wars variants.

Some of the others I didn't recognise/assume as being non-Anglic in origin – interesting.