Comment

Comment by Richard Shay on July 24, 2008 at 7:00pm

Will you be attending WBC in Lancaster this year?

Comment by Bill on July 21, 2008 at 9:38pm

Hi Richard I was just asking you about the Japanese Balloon attack game on another site.I'm new to Consim World have been doing some playtesting and decided to check out this group.I'm familiar with your work going way back and have at least one of your titles in my wargame closet.

Comment by Richard Berg on April 12, 2008 at 11:28am

Been running two huge playtest groups . . . .over 20 testers for CHAINMAIL (for Wothington) and my 14 playtesters for ARCHON are ready to roll. Of course, I;m off to Europe next week . . .so I hope I can actually get email there (and on my riverboat).

In the meantime, BLACKBEARD should be out and shipping while I[m gone . . . and LocknLoad's FLINTLOCK is in production.

Comment by Richard Berg on March 24, 2008 at 8:15am

PLAYTESTERS WANTED

I am about to start initial playtesting for the upcoming Worthington battle game, CHAINMAIL, a description of which follows. I[m looking for players who play face-to-face (for now; we haven't done the solitaire rules yet) . . .and are aware that playtesting is work, for which we, as designers, are most thankful. Almost everything you need will be sent by email . . . and, at this point, none of it is visually interesting.

However, if volunteering to help interest you, and the game intrigues you, email me at BergBROG@Comcast.net . . . and we'll get started shortly.

Thanx

RHB


CHAINMAIL
The Men at Arms Series, Volume I

There are lots of battle games out now that use cards, but you’ve never seen one quite like Worthington’s new Battle system for the Medieval Era, “Neb at Arms” Series and its initial offering, CHAINMAIL. (Well, most of you haven’t seen the system.)

The “MaA” system is a card game that plays out using a map and units, not a battle game that is assisted by cards.

The game uses cards, one deck for each player (whose cards are somewhat different from those of the other player) to drive the game. Each player gets a certain number of cards each turn - often a different number for each player! - but never his full deck. The cards are used to determine movement, combat, and special items such as Missile Fire, Looting, Counter-Attack, Special Leaders, and Rapid Movement, among others. Players may play as many of their cards as they wish (up to 5) when it’s their turn, using each card for only one of the possible three purposes. Play passes back and forth between players, until both players have used all their cards … and the Turn is over.

CHAINMAIL is thus a game of card management, which unfolds on the historical battle map - it uses squares, rather than hexes. This is a game of position, feint, and sudden attack with what you hope are better odds (since you don’t know what cards your opponent will play, if any, and you never know what his final strength will be). No dice are used. And there are no CRT’s.

The game thus becomes a tense battle of card management. When do you play your cards? How many do you play? What do you do with them? Will you be caught short and be subject to a sudden attack by your opponent?

CHAINMAIL includes some of the major battles of the Medieval period: Legnano (1176), Arsouf (1197), Bouvines (1214), Lake Peipus (1242), Lewes (1264), Najera (1367)

Playing time for each battle is about 2 hours, sometimes less, and the rules are only 6 pages! Balance is excellent, and because of the use of cards and their random distribution each turn, no game is the same as any other.