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With Westphalia, Hollandspiele has released its fifty-first game in the span of three years and four months (not including the four holiday freebie games). I could tell you why each of them are cool & you should buy 'em, but instead here I'll tell you what they mean to me.
1. The Scheldt Campaign (Brian Train) was our first opportunity to work with Brian under our own label. We wanted to put our best foot forward & a Train design seemed the best way to do that. https://hollandspiele.com/products/the-scheldt-campaign
2. The Grunwald Swords (me) saw the resurrection of my Shields & Swords system, which the previous publisher had discontinued due to slow sales. So part of it was trying to prove to myself that it was viable. Grunwald is the most popular of that series. https://hollandspiele.com/products/the-grunwald-swords
3. Agricola, Master of Britain (me) was the first wargame of mine to get any kind of real attention, which was very gratifying. It was up to that time the most unusual/"innovative" of my games mechanically, which shoulda told me something. https://hollandspiele.com/products/agricola-master-of-britain
4. An Infamous Traffic (Cole Wehrle) - well, I've said my piece about this game at length previously. Suffice to say, it profoundly changed my life for the better, and now I have everything I've ever wanted. So, big fan of this one. https://hollandspiele.com/products/an-infamous-traffic
5. House of Normandy (me), 2nd game in S&S series. This was my attempt at a "quad" game - four very small battles. Too small maybe - a lot of my growth as a designer has been finding the right scope/scale & moving away from magazine-style designs. https://hollandspiele.com/products/house-of-normandy
6. Teutons! (Lou Coatney) - One of my favorite covers - every time I see it, it brings a smile to my face. https://hollandspiele.com/products/teutons-assaults-on-the-west-1870-1940
7. Plan 1919 (John Gorkowski) - The closest thing we have to a monster game (and even then, it's less than 500 counters). Many, many tall stacks of counters in close proximity - we learned some lessons here about usability and form factors. https://hollandspiele.com/products/plan-1919-fullers-plan-to-end-the-great-war
8. Blood in the Fog (me) - One of my earliest wargame designs. It was my first serious engagement w/ the idea of feedback loops as a game design tool. And I still remember the playtest where Mary's brave little picket held off much of the Russian army. https://hollandspiele.com/products/blood-in-the-fog
9. Ukrainian Crisis & The Little War (Brain Train) - two games by Mr. Train. When we did Scheldt (no. 1) we couldn't afford to use cards as originally planned. By the time we got to this one, that had changed, and we've used them often since. https://hollandspiele.com/products/ukrainian-crisis-the-little-war
10. Supply Lines etc etc (me) - this might be the first really "weird" or "uncommercial" of my designs to be published by Hollandspiele, and it was a big hit for us despite everyone (except Mary) thinking it was gonna be a flop based on the title alone. https://hollandspiele.com/products/supply-lines-of-the-american-revolution-the-northern-theater-1775-1777
11. Optimates et Populares (me) - probably the driest of my games. A lot of the ideas here got fuller expression in Table Battles and, of course, This Guilty Land. https://hollandspiele.com/products/optimates-et-populares
12. Horse & Musket (Sean Chick) - Perhaps our most ambitious undertaking - the first of six volumes, w/ 20 scenarios each. Much more labor intensive than some of our more "monogram" like games - we're always glad once we've gotten one of these done. https://hollandspiele.com/products/horse-musket-dawn-of-an-era
13. More Aggressive Attitudes (John Theissen) - first game from Mr. Theissen, which let me scratch an operational scale itch I didn't know I had. Many of the cat-and-mouse elements in my games come from playing John's. https://hollandspiele.com/products/more-aggressive-attitudes
14. Battles on the Ice (me) - third outing for S&S. Gorgeous map. Really, a big part of designing the game was so we could have Ania do an ice map. Two battles - still trying to find the right format for the series. https://hollandspiele.com/products/battles-on-the-ice
15. Operation Unthinkable (Ty Bomba) - Working with Mr. Bomba was a real treat. A consummate professional with clearly expressed ideas and documentations for every aspect of the game, including a hex-by-hex gazetteer for the artist's reference. https://hollandspiele.com/products/operation-unthinkable-churchills-world-war-iii
16. Dynasty (Richard Berg) - Mostly now when I think of this game I think of Richard. I only talked with him on the phone once. He was warm, generous. Told good stories. I wish there had been another phone call. https://hollandspiele.com/products/dynasty-the-era-of-the-five-dynasties
17. Seven Pines; or, Fair Oaks (me) - Launch of my Shot & Shell Battle Series. I had done a series of battle games years before on the Seven Days, so I was already pretty well-versed in the cast of characters. Kinda like revisiting old friends. https://hollandspiele.com/products/seven-pines-or-fair-oaks
18. Table Battles (me) - My best selling game for Hollandspiele, and something like a flagship title. I'm still amazed (& grateful) that my weird, abstract & somewhat abrasive little dice & sticks game is so wildly popular. https://hollandspiele.com/products/table-battles
19. Objective Shreveport! (John Theissen) - second game with J.T. which iterates on the previous one - each of them are better than the last. https://hollandspiele.com/products/objective-shreveport
20. For-Ex (me) - There's a wide gamut of emotions - some healthy, some not - tied up with the release of this weird and somewhat experimental game. Some days I don't even want to look at it or talk about it. Other times, I think of it fondly & excitedly. https://hollandspiele.com/products/for-ex
21. Bitskrieg (Scott Muldoon & Miles Muldoon) - Baby tanks! Last year at Origins I got to see kids playing this game and having a blast, laughing maniacally. It almost makes me tolerant of children. https://hollandspiele.com/products/bitskrieg
22. Charlemagne, Master of Europe (me) - Agricola feels in many ways like an ambitious magazine game (makes sense given my background) - this sequel I think takes those ideas and makes a much fuller experience of it. Very proud of this one. https://hollandspiele.com/products/charlemagne-master-of-europe
23. H&M II (Sean Chick) - H&M as a series was a risk that we wouldn't know if it paid off until the second one came out (since the profit margin on the base game was almost nonexistent). So it was a relief that this one did well. Our first expansion btw. https://hollandspiele.com/products/horse-musket-sport-of-kings
24. TB: Wars of the Roses (me) - our first game/expansion without a hex number. Here I started experimenting with cube splits and timing, to narrow the time from "mistake that loses me the game" to "me losing the game" dramatically. https://hollandspiele.com/products/table-battles-expansion-no-1-wars-of-the-roses
25 (hex 24). Boom & Zoom (Ty Bomba) - our first foray into abstract games. I don't think we ever got the traction we wanted with abstracts but we kinda knew that going in. Maybe the first game we went ahead & published just b/c we wanted to. https://hollandspiele.com/products/boom-zoom
26 (25). Hood's Last Gamble (John Theissen) - the last of John's operational ACW games convinced us that a formal series with a single ruleset was viable. That will be launching in 2020, using the fog of war system first used here. Also, a favorite cover. https://hollandspiele.com/products/hoods-last-gamble
27 (26). The Great Heathen Army (me) - fourth time was the charm, finding the ideal format for my S&S series: several battles together with an increase in pricepoint. These are also some of my favorite battles in the series. https://hollandspiele.com/products/the-great-heathen-army
28 (27). Wars of Marcus Aurelius (Robert DeLeskie) - maybe the only SoS-esque game that I like? Heck, I love this thing. I also think that cover is one of my very best - lightning in a bottle. https://hollandspiele.com/products/wars-of-marcus-aurelius
29 (28). Supply Lines etc Southern etc (me) - Influence of J. Theissen's operational games is quite evident here, resulting in a much more streamlined and cleaner and nastier contest than its Northern cousin. https://hollandspiele.com/products/supply-lines-of-the-american-revolution-the-souther-strategy
30. TB: Age of Alexander (me) - Probably my favorite of the TB expansions, with some of my strongest scenario designs (and, not coincidentally, some of the most brittle).
(going for a walk, more thoughts later) https://hollandspiele.com/products/table-battles-expansion-2-age-of-alexander
(going for a walk, more thoughts later) https://hollandspiele.com/products/table-battles-expansion-2-age-of-alexander
Never mind, it's raining. The adventure continues!
31 (29). The Big Push (Renaud Verlaque) - This was the first time we released a game at a convention before taking orders for it - and we sold out of all the con copies. The last went to Dana Lombardy, who once gave me some profound advice on game design. https://hollandspiele.com/products/the-big-push
32 (30). The Lost Provinces (John Gorkowski) - Our second time (as Hollandspiele, anyway) working with John Gorkowski, who is such a gracious and unpretentious designer that every time we work with him it's a real treat. This one did quite well, too! https://hollandspiele.com/products/the-lost-provinces
33 (31). Campaign of Nations (John Theissen) - Our first and so far only dipping of the toe into Napoleonic waters. There's a lot I love about this game but I'm especially fond of the dumpy & irritable Bonaparte I put on the leader counter. https://hollandspiele.com/products/campaign-of-nations
34 (32). Ribbit (Mark Herman) - We got to work with Mark Herman! Achievement unlocked! We also got to work for the second time with Wil Alambre - an old, old friend from my USENET days - and I could honestly look at this map for hours. Lotsa fun details. https://hollandspiele.com/products/ribbit
35 (33). Meltwater (Erin Lee Escobedo) - One of the most accomplished, thoughtful, and cohesive debut designs I've ever encountered: it hit me like lightning. So extremely proud we published this one, and of its well-deserved acclaim. https://hollandspiele.com/products/meltwater
36 (34). NATO Air Commander (Brad Smith) - Brad is one of the sweetest & kindest people on the face of the Earth. Working with him on this game was a pure joy, and I'm so glad the thing turned out to be a huge hit for him and for us. https://hollandspiele.com/products/nato-air-commander
37 (35). H&M III: Crucible of War (Sean Chick) - We thought that with each volume, doing these games would be less work, but that wasn't true. After this one we hired a developer.. Admitting we needed help was hard, but glad we did it. Personal growth. :) https://hollandspiele.com/products/horse-musket-iii-crucible-of-war
38 (36). This Guilty Land (me) - Best thing I've ever done. Certainly the most ambitious. The thing I'm proudest of. https://hollandspiele.com/products/this-guilty-land
39 (37). The Soo Line (me) - the weirdest of my train games, maybe even the most divisive (after North Pac, anyway). The one that proved that train games were viable for Hollandspiele. Mary tells me I have to do one every year from now on. https://hollandspiele.com/products/the-soo-line
40 (38). The Heights of Alma (me) - This is me redoing the first game I ever had published & applying what I'd learned in the years since. Not a weird game, or a flashy one, but something that for me was very personally fulfilling. https://hollandspiele.com/products/the-heights-of-alma
41 (39). Brave Little Belgium (Ryan Heilman & Dave Shaw) - great intro wargame. Lots to be proud of on this one - everyone involved bid a bang-up job - but I take personal pride in that stunning cover and the clean, appealing counters. https://hollandspiele.com/products/brave-little-belgium
42. TB: Gettysburg (me) - I thought I'd never do a Gettysburg game, but this seemed like a good fit for Table Battles. Perversely a lot of the scenarios are meant to be less decisive, more slugfests - an interesting subversion of my typical leanings. https://hollandspiele.com/products/table-battles-expansion-no-3-gettysburg
43 (40). Antony and Cleopatra (John Theissen) - A much bigger sandbox with more sweep, more chrome. We went with super-size hexes & are glad we did - it makes the whole thing feel epic. 1st time I did actual counter art myself, pleased with result. https://hollandspiele.com/products/antony-and-cleopatra
44. H&M Annual (Chick, et al) - Big part of Sean's conception of the series was to eventually have fan scenarios & to collect them. Success of this one encouraged me to do a book-only expansion to Great Heathen Army (coming out next year). https://hollandspiele.com/products/horse-musket-annual-1
45 (41). With It Or On It (me) - Launch of a new series (S&S Ancients), more idiosyncratic than my battle games usually are. Some of the best work I've ever done in a hex (or, y'know, square) and counter paradigm. Very happy with this one. https://hollandspiele.com/products/with-it-or-on-it
46 (42). Siege of Izmail (Ilya Kudriashov) - Ilya is an artist we've worked with at least two dozen times. Other than layout/rewording of rules & new cover, production work was minimal - very much it's a game by Ilya, a personal vision, auteurist. https://hollandspiele.com/products/siege-of-izmail
47. TB: English Civil War (me) - Some of my strongest work in the TB series. Helped that it was a period/topic I'm kinda obsessed with. Lots of little jokes & notes in this one - the TB version of chrome. https://hollandspiele.com/products/table-battles-expansion-no-4-english-civil-war
48 (43). District Commander Maracas (Brian Train) - It's a very intricate system that takes on a serious subject seriously. Had to do lots of art for the counters - as a result, growing more confident in my abilities. https://hollandspiele.com/products/district-commander-maracas
49 (44). Escape from Hades (Fred Manzo) - This has been in the works for a long time. Mostly we did it b/c we like Fred (& developer Hermann Luttmann) and b/c we love science fiction. Got to work with Wil again (knocked it out of the park). A pleasure. https://hollandspiele.com/products/escape-from-hades
50 (45). Horse & Matchlock (Johan Brattstrom & Sean Chick) - prequel expansion initiated/designed by a fan. A very handsome production I think - bigger map, wood bits, two books, 22 battles. Working with developer Doug Miller made it much more painless. https://hollandspiele.com/products/horse-matchlock
Finally -- 51 (46). Westphalia (me) - Well, just released this one like yesterday. Have no idea how it's going to be received. Publishing a game for exactly six players is either a stroke of genius or incredible folly - excited to see which it is. :-) https://hollandspiele.com/products/westphalia-1
