The 1565 Great Siege of Malta - A Shameless Shill for Pre-Orders

Started by LimeyYankGames, November 30, 2016, 04:38:02 AM

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LimeyYankGames

For my first (post-introduction - and thanks for the warm welcome) topic on Grogheads I'd like to tell you all about my current WIP game design - Waning Crescent, Shattered Cross (WCSC).

This covers, as per the topic title, the 1565 Great Siege of Malta.

The promotional blurb pretty well sums it up:

Following the fall of Rhodes, the Knights of St John rewarded Suleiman's magnanimity by harassing Turkish shipping and commerce from their new home in Malta. In 1565, Suleiman sent his generals to finish the task he had left incomplete more than 40 years previously. The Turks laid siege with a force that reached 60,000 in number. They would exterminate the 500 Knights of St John defending the island and wipe the Order from the face of the earth – or so they thought.  If ever there was an 'against the odds' situation then this was surely it.

WCSC is a two player game recreating the incredible events that occurred on this small Mediterranean island and changed the course of European history. Using cards to drive events, WCSC is a relatively quick playing, moderate complexity simulation. Players must decide whether to try to build their hands to a size that might deliver a decisive blow or to use their cards to gradually wear down their opponent. And the play of cards complements the management of resource including supply, artillery, men and even honour. Acts of treachery, torture and atrocities will contrast starkly with acts of heroism, rousing speeches and even the celebration of Saints Days in the midst of horror and terror.


The game took a couple of years to design and has been in development for the last 6-months. We're currently undertaking designer-led playtesting and are anticipating moving to blind-playtesting early next year - with hope of a publication towards the back end of 2017.

I've been doing some promoting of the game on CSW and BGG and that has got us to 182 of the required 250 pre-orders in the 6 months since Legion started taking them. Whilst I'm pleased with that they have now reached something of a plateau - as games will after the initial flush. And I'm hoping Grogheads will allow me to tap a new vein of interest and get them moving again.

Legion do not charge for pre-orders before they are ready to ship - and then they request payment (you don't have to commit card details when pre-ordering) so there's no risk involved and no need to stump up cash now. And if you found circumstances prevent you completing the purchase when the game is ready - then so be it.

If you would like to add your support you can pre-order here: http://www.legionwargames.com/legion_WCR.html

And, of course, I'd be delighted to field any questions you may have in this Grogheads topic.

Thanks for your time, interest and (hopefully) support.

Andy

LimeyYankGames

#1
And i  would appreciate it if someone would be kind enough to advise what I need to put between the IMG tags to display an image I'd be delighted to share some images of the box and map - and some of in progress playtest games.

Thanks

Andy

Edited into English  :-[

bob48

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

'Clip those corners'

Recombobulate the discombobulators!

Staggerwing

Quote from: LimeyYankGames on November 30, 2016, 04:40:05 AM
And i  someone would be king enough to advise what I need to put between the IMG tags to display an image I'd be delighted to share some images of the box and map - and some of in progress playtest games.

Thanks

Andy

Andy,
All you need to show an image is the URL of the image itself between the tags. If your images are local to your computer you can either upload them to an image host such as Photobucket or Imageshack, or you can attach them to the end of your post using the file attachment option in the post composition window. If you are hosting them online and they are large files you might want to specify an image display size by adding 'width=xxx' one space after the 'img' in the first tag, where xxx is some number of pixels such as 600. This will allow folks with lower resolution settings to see the whole image w/out having to scroll all over the place. Readers can still click on the image an it will expand to it's full glory.
Swap [ and ] for < and > in these examples:

<img>www.my_really_groovy_WIP_pix.com</img> (shows full size)

<img width=600>www.my_really_groovy_WIP_pix.com</img>.  (Shows clickable smaller version)
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LimeyYankGames

Now I know how,

Here's the current box cover (may well change prior to publication):



And the map (almost current PLAYTEST version):



And here's the situation in the current playtest game that has advanced furthest (slightly earlier version of the map). The Ottomans have taken St Elmo and are now turning their attention to Senglea - having just relocated their guns, with the basilisk on the Heights, overlooking the town.


Bison


LimeyYankGames

We're playtesting over Cyberboard at present but the intention is to have a Vassal mod available for the blind-playtesting.

bayonetbrant

Quote from: LimeyYankGames on November 30, 2016, 04:40:05 AM
And i  would appreciate it if someone would be kind enough to advise what I need to put between the IMG tags to display an image I'd be delighted to share some images of the box and map - and some of in progress playtest games.

Thanks

Andy

Edited into English  :-[

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?board=83.0

O0
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panzerde

Andy, I'm really interested in the subject of this game. I never thought to find a game covering the siege, and so I was really excited to hear about it when Bob mentioned it. And then I read the two fatal words:


Card driven


I really, really dislike card driven games. Card assisted I can get into, but not card driven. So, can you describe a bit the card mechanic and how it's used in this game? I really want to pre-order this...

"This damned Bonaparte is going to get us all killed" - Jean Lannes, 1809

Castellan -  La Fraternite des Boutons Carres

bob48

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

'Clip those corners'

Recombobulate the discombobulators!

panzerde

Quote from: bob48 on December 02, 2016, 06:10:49 PM
:nerd:


A book just arrived here: "The Anatomy of Victory: Battle Tactics 1689-1763." 500 pages on the minutiae of 18th century formations and tactics. So, yeah.


Now, it this a wargame or Bridge with a picture of a castle?  :tickedoff:
"This damned Bonaparte is going to get us all killed" - Jean Lannes, 1809

Castellan -  La Fraternite des Boutons Carres

besilarius

Panzerde, there was an issue game of the Siege of malta in 3W magazine, oh maybe 25 years ago.  It may be available thru BGG or Ebay.
Might even have a copy hidden away in a box.
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panzerde

Quote from: besilarius on December 02, 2016, 06:48:19 PM
Panzerde, there was an issue game of the Siege of malta in 3W magazine, oh maybe 25 years ago.  It may be available thru BGG or Ebay.
Might even have a copy hidden away in a box.


Oh, cool. Thanks, I didn't realize someone had done a game in the past. I'll see if I can find a copy on BGG.


That doesn't mean that I'm not still interested in this new one though!
"This damned Bonaparte is going to get us all killed" - Jean Lannes, 1809

Castellan -  La Fraternite des Boutons Carres

LimeyYankGames

Thanks for the question regarding the cards.I'll explain how they're used and then you can decide whether they meet your definition of Card Driven. But I'll aso explain why is seemed an obvious choice for this game.

There is a common deck of Action Cards used by both sides. Each can can be used for an action or for the event depicted (and described) on the card. The possible actions include:

•   Strategic Movement
•   Tactical Movement
•   Trench building
•   Cavalier Building
•   Ranged Combat
•   Melee initiation
•   Barrage
•   Breach repair

Unlike some card driven games, there are no Ops values associated with the cards - each has the same value relating to the above actions - they only differ in their Events. Some events can be initiated by either side and some are side specific.

The events cover the wide range of, err, events that occurred during the siege. These range form particularly effective assaults, barrages and defences, to religious festivals, rousing speeches, sleeping guards, atrocities, cavalry attacks on the Ottoman camp - and much in between.

If you've read accounts of the siege (and if you haven't I encourage you to do so - they read like Boy's Own adventure stories) you'll be aware of the incredible acts of derring do, the near miraculous events and the horrors committed by both sides. Cards struck me as the perfect vehicle for creating a similar narrative in the game play. In my humble opinion, a traditional wargame (such as 3W's Knight of Justice - which Iown) could simply not do the story justice. Funnily enough, I've thought in the past that to do a CDG you'd really have to know your history and I was never sure I'd have the detailed breadth of knowledge required to tackle such a design myself. Ironically I can't imagine how you could do a Great Siege of Malta game 'properly' without such a device.

I hope that helps - and hopefully you'll consider it worth a punt  :)

Andy