Naploeonic 20 Series Dispatch 2 (continued)

The first step in the production process is artwork. If the game doesn’t incorporate anything radically new, this stage can go relatively quickly, but if there are new counter images to create for a nationality or unit type which hasn’t been included in one of the previous games in the series, or the map requires a different background to provide the proper ambiance for the battle, it can take quite a long time. This is one reason why it took so long for the artwork on Kim Meints’ design of Austerlitz 20 to be completed – it’s the first game in the series to include Austrian units and it needed an entirely new wintery snowscape background to give the game the right feel. John Cooper did an absolutely superb job in what will likely be his last work for the Napoleonic 20 series when he created these elements for Austerlitz 20 – if you haven't seen them yet, click on that game title link to check out its web page. A few folks were able to pick up early production versions of Austerlitz 20 at the CSW Expo this year, so if you know one of those lucky souls, go drool on their map – but first put a sheet of plastic over it!

After we’re done with artwork, Alan then distributes electronic versions of the files to the team for proof reading. By this point, because everyone’s eager to get the game into print and out to you fans, things get pretty rushed – unfortunately, this means errors occasionally sneak through. But considering that we’ve often been looking at multiple different versions of the same set of rules for months (which differ only by a single word or two), that’s kind of understandable. Overall, however, I think we do a good job in proofing and, to my recollection, nothing major has ever slipped through.

So, Where Will Napoleon 20 Strike Next?

We just started playtesting on Dresden 20. This is the first game in a sub-series of linkable battle games that cover Napoleon’s 1813 autumn campaign in Germany. When it’s done, Dresden 20 will be the largest game we’ve done so far, with 48 counters and an 11” x 25.5” inch map (most games in the series have only 40 counters and an 11” x 17” map). The idea for the Germany 20 sub-series is to allow players to fight through the various battles of the campaign in sequence, starting with Dresden, Grossbeeren and the Katzbach, followed by Kulm and Dennewitz, and culminating in the greatest battle of the era: Leipzig - the Battle of Nations.

I anticipate that Leipzig 20 will be the “mini-monster” game of this Germany 20 subseries. For one thing, it will include not just a stand-alone game on the battle, but also the rules for linking all the other games in the Germany 20 subseries together (including counters to account for units suffering losses in one battle before showing up to fight in the next). Additionally, because the battle of Leipzig was so wide in scope (really more akin to being three or four separate engagements being fought at the same time in near proximity to one another, than a single massive battle) we’ll be incorporating a set of optional Leader rules that permit multi-player team play.

In conjunction with the release of Leipzig 20, we also intended to put a small, freely downloadable, game up on the VPG website: Hannau 20. It was the final significant battle to the whole campaign (it’s really too small an engagement to warrant a stand-alone game, but it will make an excellent introductory game to the Napoleonic 20 series and a nice coda for the whole Germany 20 subseries.

After Germany 20, we have several of Kim Meints’ designs waiting in the hopper. Most likely, we’ll probably go back in time do his Wagram 20 and Aspern-Essling 20 designs (part of the 1809 campaign). Other Meints’ Nappy 20 battles that are under consideration are LaRothierre (1814), Bautzen (1813), and Hohenlinden (1800). And we’re also hoping to be able to debut Steve Carey soon as one of our designers with a game on Salamanca (1812).

Previous Next