The Barracks Emperors Interview: Brad Johnson and Wray Ferrell

 

The Barracks Emperors is a strategy card game set against the backdrop of the Roman Crisis of the Third Century, during which at least 45 different men made a claim to the throne of the Roman Empire. In this game, 1-4 players represent prominent political factions attempting to gain control over the men who would be Emperors of Rome. Players deploy the influence available to them (represented by the cards in their hands) to claim imperial reigns (represented by the historical Emperor cards arrayed on the board.) But they must be very careful, because politics is a complex game, and sometimes attempting to exert your influence necessitates aiding someone else in their own plots. Play your cards cleverly to capture Emperors and score the most points to win.

The rules and images shown here are not final.

You can find it in P500

1-Who are you and you favourite wargame/s?

We are Brad Johnson(BJ) and Wray Ferrell(WF), and we’re the co-designers of GMT’s Time of Crisis and its expansion, The Age of Iron and Rust. We also worked together on GMT’s Sword of Rome, and now we’re collaborating again on The Barracks Emperors.

WF – My favorite wargame is probably Angola by Multi-Man Publishing. The order mechanic in the game is brilliant. No game proves the statement “no plan survives contact with the enemy” better than Angola.

BJ – It may not count as a “wargame” for everyone, but arguably my favorite game of all time is Dune. This design was far ahead of its time in 1979 and we are still playing it regularly today. Later, I really cultivated a great love of card-driven wargames with the initial publication of Mark Herman’s We The People. I found the innovative addition of the historically-themed event cards driving a simple action-point system to be very compelling, especially in combination with a relatively manageable piece count on the board. My favorite games in the genre, and one of my favorite games of all time, is Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage (excluding Sword of Rome, which I love, for obvious reasons.) I also enjoyed Successors, Here I Stand, and Twilight Struggle. In recent years, I find myself primarily drawn to hybrid games that blend snappy modern Euro-style mechanics and traditional wargame feel. Two of my current favorites are Cole Wehrle’s Root and Oath.

2-Why did you decide to do this game?

BJ - The Barracks Emperors came about as a bit of surprise. A number of years ago, I conceived of a mechanic that I felt would be an interesting way to abstractly represent political maneuvering where each player’s moves would inevitably help or hurt each other player’s causes as well. I made this mechanic into the central framework of a Roman-themed card game, with a working title of Forum.

WF – Brad showed me a prototype of the game and we played a few hands. I thought the interlocking trick mechanic was really interesting and made for an interesting puzzle to solve.

BJ – We worked on a few iterations of Forum and then Time of Crisis was published and became somewhat successful. We thought “with just a few tweaks, we could easily adapt the Crisis of the 3rd Century theme to Forum and give it a refined identity as a sort of Time of Crisis card game!” We believe we were actually able to significantly improve the base game design with these changes, while also making it a more interesting offering for GMT customers.

BJ – We’re aware that this type of game is certainly nowhere near being a traditional wargame, but we’re also aware that GMT’s Battleline is a best-seller, and I strongly believe that The Barracks Emperors is a similar sort of game. As a historical conflict-themed strategy card game that is fun, easy, and fast to play, we’ve seen many wargamers enjoy it.

3-Can you talk about the mechanics?

WF – As I mentioned, the game is a trick-taking game at its core, where players are trying to collect sets. What makes it unique is that all the tricks are in play at the same time. Thus, playing on one trick also plays on surrounding tricks for the other players. (Take a look at the example diagrams.)

BJ - The “influence” cards the players are playing into the grid are valued 1 to 8 in 3 different suits, which are adapted from the influence cards in Time of Crisis. The “reward” cards the players are vying to capture represent the historical imperial reigns from the Roman Crisis of the 3rd Century, and they come in 3 suits as well. Players win by collecting the most imperial reigns (including bonuses for sets.)

WF – Where do I play a high card knowing that it helps me on one trick, but also helps other players on the surrounding tricks? Or should I play a low card to ensure another player doesn’t win a trick that he needs to complete a set? Also, cards of equal value are ignored when determining who captures a trick, so maybe I should play a card matching the current high value, thus canceling it out and winning me the trick? It’s a constantly shifting puzzle that requires careful play of your cards.


BJ - On top of that, each card you play also gives you a special ability to use AND then it also dictates what options you have for drafting a replacement card into your hand.

 

The layout of the board. Emperor cards are randomly dealt into the spaces as shown, and players place Influence cards into the spaces indicated with dashed lines. 

An example of playing an Influence card. If I am seated facing the board as shown, I may play my Yellow 6 Influence card in the space shown, which is on “my” side of Emperor A. This will be “my” card for determining who captures Emperor A. However, this same card would also be the card for the player on my right when resolving Emperor B, and the card for the player across from me when resolving Emperor C. This may be a good for me because the Yellow 6 is trump for me on the Yellow Emperor, but it is not trump for my opponents on the Red Emperors

4-How the different factions work?

BJ – In The Barracks Emperors, there are currently no asymmetric factions (although that’s an interesting idea for a variant or a possible future expansion!) Players all have the same abilities to play cards and capture imperial reigns. Like a traditional card game, each player sits at one side of the table and plays cards one at a time. Unlike a traditional card game, every card played onto the board must be played on “your” side of an Emperor card in play. Once played, every Influence card can be “used” by any of the four players, depending on its position relative to the trick that is being resolved.

WF – As the game progresses and players start to capture tricks, the relative values of the remaining tricks for each player begins to diverge as players try to collect sets.

5-Scenarios and/or length of the game?

WF – A game can last one, two, or three rounds, depending on how long of a game players want, but it’s meant to be played for the full three rounds. Each round lasts roughly 20-30 minutes.

BJ – The game is ideally intended for 4 individual players, but we also include simple rules for playing with 2 or 3 players, as well a 4-player team variant. These variations all work quite well. Wray also designed a really nice solo game variant for 1 player.

WF – It has three difficulty levels, in which you try to fend off both the invading barbarians and an automated “rival claimant” to the Emperor’s throne. It captures the essence of the game for a solitaire player.

6-Do you have another game/project in mind?

BJ – Yes, we’ve been working on a multi-player game that captures the struggles of the Labor movement in the United States from about 1870 through 1935. From the beginning, we envisioned it as a COIN-like game, but we are developing all-new mechanics and systems for this game instead of adapting the COIN system.

WF – It is currently still in the concept stage, so we have quite a bit of work remaining to do on this design to turn it into a playable prototype.

BJ – Wray and I have also discussed many ideas for a second expansion for Time of Crisis – more cards and new mechanics. This is also currently just in the concept stage.