Monthly Archives: April 2017
The Tuesday Interview – Didier Rouy
Part 1 of 2, as Cyrano starts asking more Napoleonic questions ~
Jim Owczarski, 11 April 2017
There aren’t too terribly many people who can claim to have designed games about warfare while at the same time being able to consult on a wound from a musket ball. Dr. Didier Rouy holds his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Paris – Diderot and his M.D. from the same institution, earning the former in 1992 and the latter in 1991. In 1989, though, he published the first of what would eventually be over a dozen different Napoleonic wargames. His Vive L’Empereur system has since produced eight volumes. Even dearer to my own heart, he is the creator of the three-volume Vol de L’Aigle, an operational Napoleonic Kriegsspiel, as well as Le Combat de L’Aigle, a tactical system that can be used to work out battles in the operational game.
Dr. Rouy took time recently to answer questions about how he got started, how the whole medicine thing figured into his wargaming, and what is his deal with oblong unit counters. His answers were so thoughtful — and so long — that this particular interview comes in two parts!
Gaming Nostalgia – Ral Partha Minis
#TBT at GrogHeads!
Ral Partha was the name in minis back in the ’80s.
click images to enlarge
Sound off below, or pop into our forums for a chat >>
The Tuesday Interview – Bloody Monday with Ventonuovo
Cyrano pulls up his Napoleonic britches for a chat about Borodino ~
Jim Owczarski, 4 April 2017
Vento Nuovo made no small statement when it blew into wargaming back in 2012 with Blocks in the East. A big, colorful map; hundreds of wooden blocks and other pieces; and an area-movement system that felt just friendly enough while at the same time satisfying wanna-be von Brauchitsch’s everywhere; marked it as a strong new-comer. Now seven games on, the Blocks in… system covers the whole of the ETO, it’s released Gortex game maps big enough to sleep under, and it even found time to release a game about the greatest battle of all time, Waterloo 200. (Author’s Note: Favorably reviewed here)
For his second run into the 19th Century, designer Emanuele Santandrea has chosen to have a go at Borodino, the climactic struggle between Napoleon and the Emperor of Russia that in many ways ended the First Empire. The game, Bloody Monday, Napoleon at the Gates of Moscow, has already hit its funding goal, so it was particularly nice of him to answer a few questions about his design philosophy, why Borodino, and the difference between Goretex and Magnatex.
The KickStarter, by the by, is here: Bloody Monday, Napoleon at the Gates of Moscow
Vento Nuovo has had quite a few recent successes on KickStarter and has become well known, certainly in wargame circles. Who, though, is on the team behind Bloody Monday?
Well, the list is so long I’m sure I will forget somebody. I can name Luca Preda, Jim O’Neill, Flip Labarque, Paul Comben, and Kevin Duke. But that’s just a part.