Empires in America Designer's Notes (continued)

Game Designers Fight on the Side of the Biggest Battalions (and Best Commanders)

I portrayed army strengths as a function of the commanders involved. The result was a much more mechanically clean game, as well as reflecting the nature of the armies of the era. There was no higher permanent echelon than the battalion or regiment (these were pretty much interchangeable, at least in North America). Battalions might be grouped into ad hoc brigade, columns and wings, but these usually had no permanent staff. Each commander in the game represents one major leader and the general number of battalions/regiments he commanded throughout his campaigns.

Additional forces are represented by Provincial cards, reflecting various militia and ad hoc forces. These give temporary additions to strength, but come and go with the vagaries of the war. The Provincial Forces cards also make for some critical decisions for the player. You may want to hold them in reserve to commit them for a decisive battle. Then again, you may lose them, owing to Event cards. Provincial forces do not usually take losses in combat, because they represent an ongoing levy of forces which would, under normal circumstances, be replaced from local manpower.

Unlike some of the other games in the States of Siege^TM series, the British army counters do not gave strengths per se. They are simply markers showing the furthest progress of an army along a particular avenue of approach. Given the randomness of the Commander assignment, there will not necessarily be an army advancing on all of the avenues. This represents the historical case. The probability of particular avenues of approach having Commanders assigned to them reflects the numbers of historical campaigns along each avenue.

The Commanders are somewhat personalized, especially on the French side. This is owing to the small size of the armies – individual leaders could make a major difference in gaining a great victory or leading their men into a debacle. The Reputation markers add some color by showing each Leader’s won/loss record. General Edward Braddock will forever be known for his “defeat,” while Wolfe goes down in the historic painting as the conqueror of Quebec, even in death.

All in the Cards

When you draw cards, you do so without knowing if you are going to find cards that assist you or the enemy. This reflects the uncertainty of the situation in North America. Both sides were at the mercy of home governments, who had varying degrees of interest in pursuing campaigns in distant colonial lands. When the Seven Years War begins to rage in Europe, things ramp up in this corner of the globe too, and more cards are picked each turn, for better or worse.

And the cards do a lot in the game. They tell the story, as game developer Alan Emrich so often puts it, and with Empires in America, there is so much story to be told: Braddock’s Defeat, Rogers’ Rangers, the Fort William Henry Massacre, the Battle on the Plains of Abraham, and the British winning a continental empire – much of which they would lose only a few decades later in the American Revolution.

Player Notes

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