Rindis.com

And now for my long-delayed post on what is possibly the biggest current player in board wargames. GMT has been around since the late ’80s and has a very healthy publishing schedule. Historically, I haven’t paid as much attention to them… and have felt guilty about the lack. So, there’s probably big backlog of games that I should discover from them, as well as a lot of tempting items on preorder.

Among other things, they are a leading proponent of the card-driven game, first introduced in the mid-90s. GMT has recently done several games with similar systems that have gotten a lot of positive comment: Wilderness War on the French and Indian War; For the People on the Civil War, and Paths of Glory on WWI. Currently on preorder is Pursuit of Glory, based on Paths and focused on WWI in the mid-east.

Recently, they’ve gotten into block games, most notably Commands & Colors: Ancients (now with three expansions, it’s been a big hit), the fourth appearance (first by GMT) of a fairly simple battle system. Mark has picked it up, and I’d like to try out his copy at some point.

Their biggest series is the Great Battles of History. Since I tend to prefer operational and above for my game scale, I haven’t paid much attention to it. But it is worth noting that the next one up on preorder is Chandragupta, which is to feature several battles from early Indian history—I don’t know of any other wargames covering this.

Also, they currently have reprints of two Avalon Hill games on preorder, Blackbeard and Successors. The former is (of course) a game of piracy in the Caribbean that I know I played and enjoyed, but don’t really remember. Successors is one of the original card-driven games, about the breakup of Alexander the Great’s empire. I always thought the subject was appealing, and regretted not having any money when it first came out, so I preordered it when it first came up at GMT.

The one GMT Game I do have is Onward Christian Soldiers. Watchers of this blog should be familiar with it, as I’ve reported a couple playings of it. It just recently went out of stock, so it’s probably still available in stores… for a little bit.

1914: Twilight in the East just recently went off of preorder. I couldn’t afford it on preorder, so I’m not going to afford it now, and I’d never find the time or place to play it anyway. But… it looks to be attempting a detailed look at supply and control and how ‘fresh’ troops are after marching around a while, at the level of detail where I’ve always wondered “just how does that work, anyway.” So, I keep staring at it.

Other titles that have caught my eye (ow!) are Unhappy King Charles and Conquest of Paradise.

They currently show 25 games that have gotten the minimum 500 orders that guarantee that they’ll finish development, and publish it… someday. Their average rate seems to be about two games a month, so that’s quite a backlog. They prioritize by what gets the most preorders, so some things that just barely make the 500 mark can sit for quite a while. And there’s another 27 titles that have not hit the 500 mark on the P500 list yet (including a reprint of Wilderness War).

In other wargaming news, ADB has just published Captain’s Log #36, putting me 3 behind again. They’re also getting ready to publish their next set of counters for future products, and it looks like both X1R (more X-ships) and Y2 (more Early Years) are going forward. MMP has announced that everything for Valor of the Guards is either printing or in final proofs, so that is finally going to come out.