Volko ha decidido pasarse, una vez más, por este blog.
Empecemos por el principio. ¿De dónde surgió la idea de crear la serie COIN? ¿Podemos considerar a Labyrinth como una precuela?miércoles, 23 de octubre de 2024
Charlando con Volko
Chatting with Volko
Today Volko, once again, stops by to talk to us about wargames.
Let's start from the beginning. Where did the idea of creating the COIN series come from? Can we consider Labyrinth as a prequel?With Andean Abyss, COIN Series Volume I, I wanted to focus in on national-level insurgency and, for greater historical fidelity, expand from 2 opposed roles to 4 factions—each with a different vision for the future of their country, in this case, 1990s-2000s Colombia.
We know that the series attracted so much attention that it decided to release its own games, many of which are published today. What is your role as the creator of the series? Do you have the task of judging which games make it to the market, which ones aren't suitable, etc.?
As long as those elements of the “contract” are met, I am happy with a new volume. Already by COIN Series Volumes V (Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection) and Volume VI (Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt against Caesar), we were using the system to explore how conflicts outside the guerrilla wars of the last 100 years might be functionally similar to or different than 1990s Colombia or 1960s Vietnam.
What can we expect from Irregular Conflicts' new label?
The developers at GMT think of the Irregular Conflicts Series as “COIN-adjacent” designs. As in Vijayanagara and Gest of Robin Hood, ICS intends to deliver COIN-Series-like dynamics of play and conflict simulation, but with streamlined rules, typically fewer players for faster play, and an even broader reach across historical situations.What do you think about the series being used in a sci-fi game? I think this introduction of the fantasy and sci-fi genre, both in COIN and ICS, could be a great idea to attract new players since the mechanics are relatively simple and the multiplayer games fit into any library.
As I write, GMT is delivering copies of Red Dust Rebellion, COIN Series Volume XII, to players. This design, set in a classic insurgency on Mars, 225 years in the future, enjoyed unparalleled preorder support—well over 3,000 orders in the P500 system. I’m proud to say that I was involved very early on in development. But design and development team has put deep labor into this project, so I am excitedly optimistic that it will not disappoint. The strong interest in the title suggests that it will draw many new players to the COIN Series – and from there perhaps to other historical boardgames as well!domingo, 22 de septiembre de 2024
Resuming the blog
As you may have noticed, the blog has had a few posts, interviews above all. This is because I have started the History and Heritage degree. The first year of the degree has taken up a lot of my time, this second year I have learned to manage my time better so that I can afford to write. Wargames and history go hand in hand and I think that they are not used as they should be. To get back to the blog I would like to start with a reflection on wargames and history and how this union can give us new perspectives.
One of the main reasons why we play these types of games is because we like to delve into the past, a window that allows us to see a very specific period and place. These games not only recreate battles and campaigns, but they allow us to immerse ourselves in a historical context, analyze the situations of the leaders and understand why they took them.
One of the points that we often overlook is historical recreation, they are very detailed and complex games, but they are for a reason. The designer of this type of game delves into the period like a researcher, he doesn't pull the game out of nowhere and this is reflected in the rules. This complexity, in some cases, represents the passion that the designer had about the period or about the battle in question. This research is supported by detailed maps, the topography of a conflict is very important and can give a unique touch to a game. The orders of battle reflect the strengths and weaknesses of each side and allow us to understand the importance of each unit.
An example of all of the above would be Andean Abyss, the COIN series is one of my favorites. The games in this series are abstract, but that has an explanation. We are dealing with an irregular conflict in Colombia, the fact that the representation of the insurgents' pieces is like this makes sense, we are never told what these pieces represent, we only know that it represents a cell, this fits very well with the mechanics of the insurgents. If we look at the terrain, we can see that, in a simple way, it represents very well what it means to operate in that type of terrain. I don't want to go into more depth, since I want to dedicate an article to each game in the COIN series.
And this brings us to the next thing: What am I going to publish? I want to increase the quality of the posts, the GMT interview section will remain more or less the same. Regarding the other articles, I want to focus on political violence, since that is what I want to investigate. I will try to publish a post every month.
Retomando el blog
Como habréis podido comprobar el blog ha tenido unas publicaciones bajas, entrevistas sobre todo. Esto se debe a que he iniciado el grado de Historia y Patrimonio. El primer año de carrera me ha comido mucho tiempo, este segundo año he aprendido a manejar mejor el tiempo para poder permitirme escribir. Los wargames y la historia van de la mano y creo que no se aprovecha como se debería. Para volver a retomar el blog me gustaría empezar con una reflexión sobre los wargames y la historia y como esta unión nos puede dar perspectivas nuevas.
Una de las principales razones por las que jugamos a este tipo de juegos es porque nos gusta adentrarnos en el pasado, una ventana que nos permite ver un periodo y un lugar muy concreto. Estos juegos no solo recrean batallas y campañas, sino que nos permiten sumergirnos en un contexto histórico, analizar las situaciones de los líderes y comprender por qué las tomaron.
Un ejemplo de todo lo anterior sería Andean Abyss, la serie COIN es una de mis favoritas. Los juegos de esta serie son abstractos, pero eso tiene una explicación. Estamos tratando con una conflicto irregular en Colombia, que la representación de las fichas de los insurgentes sea así tiene un sentido, nunca se nos indica que representan esas fichas, solo sabemos que representa una celula, esto encaja muy bien con las mecánicas de los insurgentes. Si nos metemos en el tema del terreno vemos como, de una forma simple, representa muy bien lo que significa operar en ese tipo de terrenos. No quiero seguir profundizando, ya que quiero dedicar un artículo a cada juego de la serie COIN.
Y esto nos lleva a lo siguiente ¿Qué voy a publicar? Quiero aumentar la calidad de los post, el apartado de entrevistas de GMT seguirá más o menos igual. Respecto a los otros artículos me quiero centrar en la violencia política, ya que es lo que quiero investigar. Intentaré sacar un post cada mes.
martes, 23 de julio de 2024
Purgatorio: Men of Iron Volume VI Entrevista: Ralph Shelton
Las batallas se libraron en toda Italia desde mediados del siglo XII hasta mediados del siglo XIII y ambos bandos terminaron en la cima en un momento u otro. Este sexto juego de Men of Iron cubre algunas de esas batallas: comenzando con Federico Barbarroja tratando de recuperar las provincias rebeldes en Italia a finales del siglo XII, dando un giro hasta el siglo XIII con algunas batallas que marcaron el fin del gobierno directo de los Hohenstaufen en Italia. , ¡y termina con una guerra que, según el mito, se libró por el robo de un cubo de una ciudad a otra!
Las reglas y las imágenes que se muestran aquí no son definitivas.
Lo puedes encontrar en P500
Purgatorio: Men of Iron Volume VI Interview: Ralph Shelton
lunes, 3 de junio de 2024
Founders of Reyvick Entrevista: Richard Garfield
Founders of Reyvick Interview: Richard Garfield
martes, 19 de marzo de 2024
Lenin's Legacy Entrevista: Mathias Cramer
Las reglas y las imágenes que se muestran aquí no son definitivas.
Lo puedes encontrar en P500
Lenin's Legacy Interview: Mathias Cramer
sábado, 16 de marzo de 2024
Coast Watchers Interview: Volko Ruhnke
Charlando con Volko
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