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  • Foreign Intervention in Baltic Empires: Part Two – InsideGMT


    The Ottoman Empire

    The period covered by Baltic Empires saw the Ottoman Empire at the absolute height of its power. The steppes of southern Ukraine and Russia were controlled by the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, who were vassals of the Ottoman Empire, while the southern border of the Poland-Lithuania was inhabited by semi-independent Cossacks federations. Tartar raids to capture loot and slaves were a common problem along this border. Most of the time the Tatars served as a buffer between the Ottoman Empire and Poland-Lithuania. The Ottomans generally had no direct interest in this region, as their attention was primarily focused on the Habsburg and Polish lands to the south and west of the Baltic Empires map, but Polish and Russian reactions to Tatar raids at times forced the Ottomans to come to the aid of their vassals which resulted in large scale wars between Ottoman and Russian or Polish forces in the region.

    Sultan Mehmed IV (1642-1693)

    Mehmed came to the throne of the Ottoman Empire at the age of only 6 after his father was overthrown in a coup. He would become the longest reigning sultan in Ottoman history after Suleiman the Magnificent and was known by contemporaries to be a particularly pious ruler. In a Baltic context he is mostly known for his wars against Poland and Russia in the 1670s. The greatest of these was the War of the Holy League or Great Turkish War of 1683-99, which saw the legendary siege of Vienna in 1683 and the equally legendary relief of the city by allied forces led by the Polish king Sobieski with his winged hussars. Mehmed would be overthrown in 1687 by soldiers disenchanted with the course of that war.

    Getting the Mehmed IV card into your court in Baltic Empires represent your Power securing an alliance with the Tatars and/or the Ottoman Empire. He thus represents not only himself but also the Ottoman Empire and other associated peoples more generally. By later discarding the card, you are calling on the Ottomans to intervene in the region with a major army. Placing three Independent units at once and allying with them all for one turn (as well as with any other units that might already be in the Ottoman & Tartar Lands) can be truly devastating for the unfortunate target. But once the blow has been struck the effect is over and the region might then be filled with Independent units that anyone can ally with, which can cause of lots of problems for both the Poles and the Russians. This card is obviously of major value for both the Russian and Polish players, but can be just as valuable for any power fighting against Russia and/or Poland as it allows them to devastate their enemies or at least force them to spend scarce resources to defend against Mehmed. Indeed historically the Swedes allied with the Tatars on several occasions and Charles XII even sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire after his disastrous defeat at Poltava in 1708.

    As the card is lost when used it is worth considering the timing of its play, as there can be many circumstances where the continued threat of unleashing Mehmed can be at least as useful as actually using the card.   

    The Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire

    Compared to the Maritime Powers and the Ottomans the interests of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg dynasty that controlled them were mostly defensive in nature when it came to Baltic matters. The religious divide across Europe in general, and Germany in particular, caused by the Reformation just prior to the start of the game was however a cause for conflict, as the Catholic Habsburgs wanted to restore the true faith throughout the Holy Roman Empire (as well as centralizing Habsburg power in the process). These religious conflicts culminated in the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648, which became intertwined with Baltic affairs as first Denmark and then Sweden saw an opportunity to expand their realms into the wealthy German lands by intervening into the war on the Protestant side. As Sweden was simultaneously fighting a war with Poland, who was allied with their fellow-Catholic Habsburgs, and Prussia-Brandenburg was being steamrolled by the armies of both sides, Northern Germany had suddenly become the focal point for most Baltic rulers.

    The period from the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 to 1721 (the end of the period covered by Baltic Empires) saw Sweden entrenched as a major power in Europe with holdings in Germany, and with a firm alliance with France – the Habsburg’s main rivals. This situation naturally led to more Habsburg involvement in Baltic matters, such as when an Imperial contingent was sent to Denmark to fight against Sweden. In Baltic Empires the Independent provinces in Northern Germany are very attractive. They mostly start the game with their full complement of Cities and Workshops and several of them produce rare Goods or even, as is the case for Hamburg, contain one of the three super valuable Trade Centers. Compared to the similarly rich, but completely undefended, Independent provinces in the Livonian region (the modern day Baltic states) the provinces of Northern Germany are not easy pickings, however, as most of them start out with enough Fortresses and other Independent units to rival the starting strength of most of the player’s armies.  

    Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705)

    Elected in 1658, Leopold became the longest ruling Habsburg emperor, and the first to understand that the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 meant a marked decrease in importance of the role of Holy Roman Emperor. To compensate he sought to strengthen Habsburg authority within their own lands along absolutist lines. His reign saw many large wars against both France and the Ottomans, but in the Baltic context he is mainly known for the direct Imperial intervention against Sweden in the Northern War of 1655-60, which saw Imperial troops campaigning as far as Denmark as part of a Danish-Polish-Imperial coalition army. The infamous “Habsburg jaw” was most prominent in Leopold, and after his jaw was depicted unusually large on a 1670 silver coin, he was nicknamed “the Hogmouth”.

    In Baltic Empires Emperor Leopold I represents the advantages of securing a firm alliance with the Habsburgs and their network of vassals and/or rulers within the Holy Roman Empire. You get to produce Independent units in Independent Provinces  each Production Phase, an ability otherwise restricted to the Prussian player. You also get to ally with a unit in the Habsburg Lands for free during the War Phase, so by using the ability to place in the Habsburg Lands you in effect get a free unit you can throw after the other Powers each turn if they cause trouble for you. This is obviously very powerful if you are involved in securing Provinces for yourself in the area, but can also be used by Powers such as Russia, who are normally far removed from the Habsburg Lands, as constant attacks from the Habsburgs can be a great way of distracting other players who would otherwise cause trouble in your lands.

    Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583-1634)

    A Bohemian military entrepreneur, Wallenstein was Born into a poor Protestant noble family but converted to Catholicism in 1606 and married a rich widow. Wallenstein made an enormous fortune and a name for himself as a mercenary captain in the service of the emperor in the early part of the Thirty Years War, where he was awarded confiscated estates for his services. His massive armies were instrumental in first defeating the Danish, and then slowing the Swedish, during their interventions in the war. His meteoric rise to power and growing independence from the emperor would prove to be his undoing as he was assassinated in 1634 by army officials with the emperor’s approval.  

    Technically speaking Wallenstein didn’t intervene directly into Baltic affairs but only fought against Danish and Swedish intervention into German affairs. As this happened within the area covered by the map of Baltic Empires, he is however included in this article and the game.
    In the game, as in history, the coming of Wallenstein will pose great problems for whoever is trying to take control of the independent areas in Germany. The player who gets Wallenstein into their Court gets to place a total of five Independent units within the German lands (as defined by being adjacent to Hannover). As befits Wallenstein’s historical conquering army these units can be placed in any of these areas and not only in friendly or Independent-controlled areas, and can therefore really set back an opponent who has spent lots of effort and expense to carve out an empire in Germany. As in history Wallenstein only works for the Emperor (and himself) and not for the player who got him in their Court, so he won’t directly help the player gain a foothold in Germany. On the contrary, the second part of Wallenstein’s card text even specifies that no Protestant powers may ally with Independent units for the rest of the Round, as well as the next, so the arrival of Wallenstein often shuts down players’ ambitions in Germany for some time. 

    Previous Article:

    Foreign Intervention in Baltic Empires: Part One

    The Women of Baltic Empires Series:

    The Women of Baltic Empires: Part One

    The Women of Baltic Empires: Part Two

    Other Baltic Empires InsideGMT Articles



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  • Foreign Intervention in Baltic Empires: Part One – InsideGMT


    The historical power struggles occurring during the period covered by Baltic Empires (1558-1721) did not happen in a vacuum, but were of great importance to the interest to major powers on the edges of the map of Baltic Empires: England, France, the Netherlands, the Habsburg-controlled Holy Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. Each of these powers were in their own way affected by affairs in the Baltic region, and in turn attempted to influence events there to their own advantage by various means. The scale of this ranged across the spectrum from minor trade deals to outright invasions and attempts at dictating foreign policy.
    The focus on this article is therefore on these foreign powers and how their interference and intervention in Baltic affairs are represented in the game.

    The map of Baltic Empires has many areas that are uncontrolled by the playable powers at the start of the game. These are called Independents, and most can be conquered by the players. Along the edge of the map there are also some special areas that can never be entered or controlled by the players. These are the “Habsburg Lands”, the “Ottoman & Tatar Lands”, and in the North Sea, the “Maritime Powers” – an amalgamation of France, England and The Netherlands. Independent units start in these areas and more can be placed each round by the Prussian player (see my previous article on Prussia in Baltic Empires for an explanation on how and why). During their turn, players may spend thalers (the money resource of Baltic Empires) to ally with Independent units and control them during their turn. This simple mechanism in itself does a great job at representing the minor interventions in Baltic affairs, where rulers could secure outside assistance in their wars.

    The Dramatis Personae (DP) mechanism, where players add a card to their Power Mat and gain the abilities of that card, adds another layer of showing the actions of admirals, rulers, and diplomats from these foreign powers that played a major role in the history of the Baltic region. In addition to the DP cards mentioned in this article, there are several other DP cards representing individuals from outside the Baltic region who were not representatives of these major powers, but rather of the major banking houses of Europe or simply individuals whose deeds as merchants, industrialists or military thinkers had a big impact on the events covered by the game.

    The Maritime Powers (The Netherlands, England, and France)

    The Sound Due was a source of immense wealth to the Danish kings, as the flow of trade between the Baltic ports and England and the Netherlands all had to pass through the narrow Danish-controlled waters. It was collected at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore (of Hamlet fame) and was from 1548 onwards based on the value of a ship´s cargo. In order to combat fraud, the local authorities there were authorized to buy a cargo at the declared price if they had a suspicion that it was deliberately set lower than the market value (the effect of the Sound Due in Baltic Empires, and how it generates thalers for Denmark is described in detail in my earlier article on Denmark-Norway). This toll was a source of immense irritation to the maritime powers who were heavily dependent on their Baltic trade for timber, flax, hemp, grain and various other goods to sustain their fleets and growing urban populations.

    In Baltic Empires this trade with the Dutch and English is represented in the “Maritime Trade Phase”, where players may trade a number of their collected goods depending on their position on the Mercantile Hegemon Track, and in exchange draw an equal number of special Maritime Trade Goods. These are either rare Goods types not found on the map (and thus valuable for the players since you pay for things with sets of different Goods) or Thalers (which are even more valuable as they are wild-card goods and are the only resource you can use to pay upkeep and repay loans). Besides its economic importance, the Baltic region was an integral part of the European balance of power. As such the region was of interest to major powers such as France, whose very active policy of subsidies and alliances meant that several of the wars fought in the Baltic during the period covered by the game (1558-1721) were to a large degree proxy wars or parallel wars to those fought by Louis the XIV in western Europe.   

    Cornelis Tromp (1629-1691)

    Tromp was a Dutch naval officer sent to Denmark during the Scanian War against Sweden (1675-79) to serve as an admiral in the Danish Navy. He performed well in this role and was instrumental in the victory in the battle of Öland in 1676. As an officer Tromp was infamous for his insubordination. He was a very aggressive commander who relished the fight, and as a result often had to change ships during battle, but he was nevertheless popular with his crews despite the danger he put them in. At home, without fighting to distract him, he had the reputation of being a heavy drinker, so much so that many inns at the time were named after him.

    In Baltic Empires, the Tromp card represents an alliance with the Dutch, rewarding you with a special Leader unit. Leader units move and fight as normal units of their type (in this case a Ship of the Line), but with some benefits that either effect the unit or all friendly units with it, as detailed on the card. Tromp´s skill as a successful naval commander is represented by an ability which transforms one enemy “Probably Hit” result into a “Miss”, thus potentially reducing friendly losses when Tromp. This might seem counterintuitive considering Tromps record of daring and danger, but these exact qualities also ensured that naval battles would be decided far quicker and in a more decisive manner, which ensured overall lower losses than those seen in a protracted battle.

    Another benefit to this Leader unit is that, for most Powers, the cost of a Ship of the Line unit is higher than the cost of a Dramatis Personae card, so if you were considering building ships anyway, the draw of a card that gives you an even more potent unit for a lower cost is often a welcome bonus.

    A painting of the battle of Öland (1676), showing Dutch and Danish ships fighting against the Swedish navy

    Coenraad van Beuningen (1622-1693)

    Van Beuningen was the Dutch Republic’s most experienced diplomat, burgomaster of Amsterdam for many years, as well as the director of the Dutch East India Company. He keenly understood the importance for the Dutch Republic of not having a single power controlling the entrance to the critical Baltic region and is credited with saying that: “The keys of Öresund lay in a dock in Amsterdam”. Van Beuningen was a highly intelligent man with interests in art, theology and natural sciences, but also with a strong interest in mysticism, astrology, dream-interpretation, and supernatural wonders. The shock of losing his fortune through speculation in shares in 1688 made him bipolar, and he was locked up after writing letters to the ecclesiastical authorities about the coming apocalypse and painting Kabbalistic signs on his house. He died in poverty, leaving only a cape and two dressing gowns, a few pieces of furniture, and “a man’s portrait” by Rembrandt valued at seven guilders (three dollars).

    In Baltic Empires, Coenrad van Beuningen directly reflects Dutch foreign policy and the goal of opening up the Sound to Dutch trade. This would happen by creating a situation where no single power held both shores of the Sound. By aligning your Power with the Dutch views on the Sound (in game terms, having van Beuningen in your Court) you are rewarded with beneficial trade deals and access to lots of capital. This is represented with the +2 modifier to the Mercantile Hegemon track, as well as increasing your Loan Limit. Should the situation in the Sound be resolved in favor of the Dutch you are rewarded even further with annual subsidies.

    Van Beuningen can be useful to all players, as there is no requirement for your power to be actively part of events in the Sound, although he will likely appeal more to those powers who are already heavily committed to the affairs of the Sound: Denmark and Sweden. For the former, Beuningen is obviously mostly interesting if you fail to keep your control of Scania, in which case he helps cushioning the blow of losing the Sound Due Thalers and let you pursue other paths to victory – which is more or less exactly what happened in the Baltics after Sweden acquired control of Scania in 1658 and Dutch policies shifted from supporting Sweden to one of supporting Denmark defend their islands from the Swedes.

    George Rooke (1650-1709)

    Goerge Rooke was an English naval officer who saw extensive action against the Dutch, French, and Spanish during his long career. In the Baltic context he is mainly known for commanding the Anglo-Dutch Squadron that cooperated with the Swedish fleet in 1700. This squadron attacked Copenhagen and made it possible for King Charles XII to land and knock Denmark out of the Great Northern War (1700-21) in its opening phases. After the short Danish campaign Rooke would fight in the War of Spanish Succession (1701-14). Here he would capture the Spanish treasure fleet in the Battle of Vigo Bay in 1702 and command the Allied naval forces that captured Gibraltar in 1704, where a statue of him was raised in 2004.

    The Baltic Empires version of George Rooke closely mirrors the historical Rooke. He is represented as a Ship of the Line Leader unit that gives you control over Independent units in the same sea area and must enter the game in the in the North or Norwegian Sea.
    Due to his entry restrictions Rooke will likely only be interesting for the Danish player, or for Powers that want to contest Denmark’s control of the seas. His benefits are highly situational, and if the North Sea is empty of Independent ships or if Denmark´s naval situation is too strong and secure he will likely be passed over for the other four cards available that round, or any other pressing concerns troubling the players at the time. But if the English offers of naval support come at a critical time and the conditions are right the questions of who gets George Rooke will cause lots of angst in the Production Phase, and will be one of the most talked about events after the game.

    Thomas Roe (1581-1644)

    Thomas Roe was an English diplomat whose voyages ranged from Central America to India, and who worked as ambassador to the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman Empire. and the Holy Roman Empire. During the Thirty Years War (1618-48) he brokered a peace between Sweden and Poland and strove to get Denmark and Sweden to join the Protestant anti-Habsburg coalition.

    In Baltic Empires, Thomas Roe is shown more as an abstract representation of British diplomatic and economic pressure in general, and less as a representation of Roe’s personal achievements specifically. He allows the Power allied with Britain (represented by having Roe in your Court) to choose any one of the other powers in the game and effectively cripple their Maritime Trade Phase by limiting them to only trading a single Good. As a side benefit, he also increases your Power’s position on the Mercantile Track to represent increased trade with England. During a game the former is a hugely interesting power to wield as it can be used both to hurt enemies but also as a tool for diplomacy/blackmail, and it is my experience that Thomas Roe is a card that increases the intensity of the table talk.

    King Louis XIV (1638-1715)

    Louis XIV, the “Sun King”, was king of France from 1643 and his reign of 72 years is the longest recorded reign of any monarch in European history. Louis’s France was emblematic of absolutism as exemplified in the quote: “L’état, c’est moi” (“I am the state”). His revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 abolished the rights of the Protestant Huguenots and the resultant stream of Huguenot refugees to the Baltic region brought with them valuable technical skills. In the Baltic context he is mainly known for thoroughly intertwining Baltic power politics with the greater European power politics, as he sought to distract his Habsburg enemies by subsidizing the standing army of his ally Sweden.

    No game on early modern power politics and war would be complete without Louis XIV! In Baltic Empires, the Louis XIV card reflects the massive impact on the Baltic scene of the Sun King’s many wars against his English, Dutch, and Habsburg rivals. His effects are two-fold, and one of only a handful of multi-category cards (Immediate and Permanent effects in this case). Upon getting Louis in your court the strong French armies will cause an abrupt diversion of Habsburg attention away from the Baltic and towards the borders with France, as represented by the removal of all independent units in the Habsburg Lands at that time. As with George Rooke above, the impact of this effect is largely situational. His other effect, representing the substantial subsidies Louis offered Sweden to maintain a large army at all times (so France’s German opponents would always have to watch their back), is a permanent effect. A -2 reduction of your Power’s upkeep costs is a significant boost, and especially so since upkeep costs can only be paid using ever scarce Thalers. Just as in history, an alliance with Louis XIV will allow your Power to maintain a far larger army without going bankrupt.

    That’s all from the Netherlands, England, and France! In the second part of this article we will look at some personalities from the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire who played an important role in Baltic affairs.

    The Women of Baltic Empires Series:

    The Women of Baltic Empires: Part One

    The Women of Baltic Empires: Part Two

    Other Baltic Empires InsideGMT Articles



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  • F1 25 hands-on preview, part three: Braking Point 3 brings more Drive To Survive-ish drama, this time out front

    F1 25 hands-on preview, part three: Braking Point 3 brings more Drive To Survive-ish drama, this time out front


    The F1 series’ Braking Point modes have always been an interesting thing to dip into, getting more refined as the TV-drama elements of the sport itself become more prominent. The mode may not be what you’re looking for if you’re in the mood to go all-in on the real-world simulation aspect of the game, or just stick to being out on track as much as possible, but there’s a place – and an audience – for it.

    Drama’s always been part of the draw, don’t get me wrong, but it feels more central to how we all interact with our watching of cars going round in circles today. That’s for better or worse, depending on who you are, but if you’re looking for a bit of the dramz to spice up your Sundays, the third instalment of Braking Point in F1 25 sounds pretty promising.

    “When we introduced characters of Braking Point in ’21, and then when we introduced Konnersport – the team – back in ‘23, it was kind of really important to us that it felt authentic,” creative director Gavin Cooper explained when introing this year’s mode. “It didn’t feel realistic that those characters could come in and start winning championships right from the outset.”

    Braking Point 3 changes that. Konnersport is now at the front following a winter with some fresh investment and a strong opening test, set to take on the existing real-world frontrunners of F1. Cooper alluded to a “key event that happens early in the story which throws the team into chaos”, and from the brief bit I played, it looks like the ongoing drama of the Butler family long-time players’ll be familiar with is set to still be a key cog this time around.

    Following the events of Braking Point 2, Aiden Jackson and Callie Mayer are the driver pairing, and you’ll be able to choose which of them to race as for key races and events in the story.

    Codemasters says it’s put a bigger focus on this offering more player agency this time around, with some “different on-track objectives and narrative elements” popping up depending on who you pick. You’ll also get an “alternative ending” to the story depending on which you’ve raced as more often, so we’ll have to see whether those feel distinct enough to be worth trying both.


    A pair of teammates battling in F1 25.
    Jackson or Mayer – it’s your call. | Image credit: EA/Codemasters

    I picked Mayer for the first two events I got time to play through, one of which was just testing in Bahrain and took the form of your standard ‘do a few laps to get comfortable with the car and nail a certain lap time’ affair. The first proper race at Imola was a bit more exciting, with you being plunged into the action mid-race after losing ground in a turn one collision with a certain Dutch Red Bull driver (points for accuracy to Codemasters there).

    Starting from about seventh, the goal was to get back the podium by the chequered flag and earn some additional points by getting back past Verstappen prior to a certain lap in the process. Since this was the first bit of the game I played, I wanted to get a feel for the car and so opted for about the most minimalistic level of driver aids I can generally cope with alongside a pretty steep difficulty.

    It’s fair to say that with the cars up ahead already well strung out given the late stage of the race, I really struggled to make any ground. Knocking things back down made it thoroughly doable though, so more than anything, this was a lesson in how much the higher-level AI is tuned to face either folks running on rails with plenty of aids, or the elite of the elite.

    Codemasters says it’s rebalanced the difficulty levels this year, with the addition of a fourth hardness rung to the existing three supposedly having the aim of making it easier for everyone to find their ideal setting. However, in this brief hands-on, the cut-off between too hand and too easy did still seem to be missing in-between that’d constitute the exact best match for my pace. That said, such a thing is nearly impossible for developers to help you nail down without endless tweaking, since everyone’s pace will vary from track to track and condition to condition.


    Callie Mayer in F1 25.
    Where will Callie’s story lead? I’m quite keen to find out. | Image credit: EA

    Going back to the off-track drama of Braking Point, that new investment I mentioned has come from the mode’s long-time rich guy Davidoff Butler, father of both Callie Mayer and Devon Butler, the latter of whom is now a sort of team advisor after being forced to retire from racing in BP2. Jackson’s in there too, as is team boss Casper Akkerman, but it looks like the relationships between Davidoff and his kids are going to be key to a lot of the drama.

    While I’m not all that invested in the tale Braking Point’s been weaving to this point, I’m at least interested to see how this year’s edition advances Mayer’s story as a fictional first female F2 champion; now stepping up for a full season in the big time. Real-world F1, lest we forget, hasn’t had a female driver actually be entered for a full race weekend since Giovanna Amati back in 1992 (though there has been testing and development work done for teams much more recently by the likes of Jamie Chadwick, Jessica Hawkins, and Tatiana Calderón). Shout-out, also, to the all-female F1 Academy series that’s been a part of the F1 support series package for a good couple of years, now.

    To bring the tale to life, Codemasters has invested in some Nvidia Audio2Face facial animation tech, which feeds into a more detailed and realistic setup for press conferences and interviews, allowing you to actually watch your driver deliver the answer you’ve picked. Plus, once you’ve run through the story, you’re now given the option to import your Konnersport team into the MyTeam 2.0 mode, so you can carry on beyond the single season of Braking Point, though obviously in that mode’s regular team management fashion.

    Though, whether you’ll be engrossed enough to want to do that once you reach the end of Braking Point 3, or whether you’ll have had your fill of the Drive To Survive-ish drama, remains to be seen.





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  • Play GMT Games Anytime, Anywhere! (Part 2) – InsideGMT


    More of GMT’s Digital Offerings that allow you to “Play GMT Games Anytime, Anywhere.

    As I noted in our first article, we have created, in cooperation with individual programmers and digital game platforms, numerous ways for customers to experience our boardgames on your digital devices. We’ve done this for one large, underlying reason: We want players to be able to engage with and experience the learning, fun, challenge, and historical insights of our boardgames with other players from around the world on digital platforms where they can play the games generally much more quickly than they can on their physical game tables.

    The Pyramid of Digital Game Options GMT Offers:

    • Computer Games. We discussed these in our last installment of this series.
    • Online Multi-player Games that enforce the boardgame rules but have no solo AI opponents. We’ll talk about these today.
    • Traditional VASSAL and TableTop Simulator Game Modules. We’ll feature these in our next installment of the series.

    Free-to-Play Online Games

    Today we’ll talk about all of the Free-to-Play Games that we have authorized to be published on Popular Online Platforms. First, a few notes about these games:

    • Most GMT Games on online free-to-play platforms look and play like the boardgame. You can play them multi-player with friends or multi-handed “hot seat” solo, but there is no AI built in, so there is no “against the computer” solo play.
    • A nice feature of Rally the Troops, one of the platforms listed below, especially if you want to familiarize yourself with gameplay before you play yourself, is that you can “Watch” a game in progress or “Review” a completed game.
    • All we ask for those of you who play our games online is that at least one of you who are playing owns the physical boardgame. That’s how it would be if you were meeting friends face to face to play – ONE of you would bring the game. But there’s no requirement that all players own the game to play online. We WANT you to use online free-to-play options to “try before you buy” our boardgames.

    Here’s the list of games we have authorized that are currently available on free-to-play online platforms:

    Rally the Troops.com

    GMT Games Available to play for free on Rally the Troops as of April 21, 2025:

    1989: Dawn of Freedom (2-player Card-driven game (CDG) set in Eastern Europe in 1989)

    Andean Abyss (1-4 player COIN series game on the struggle for power in Columbia in the 1990s )

    Nevsky (1-2-player Levy & Campaign series game about the clash between Latin Teutonic and Orthodox Russian powers along the Baltic frontier in the mid-13th-Century.)

    Plantagenet (1-2-player Levy & Campaign series game of the War of the Roses)

    Red Flag Over Paris (2-player Card-driven game on the Rise and Fall of the Paris Commune, 1871. )

    Time of Crisis (1-4 player Strategy game of Ancient Rome)

    Vijayanagara (1-3 player Irregular Conflict Series game of Medieval India, 1290-1398.

    Washington’s War (Strategic 2-player CDG about the American Revolution.)

    Wilderness War (Strategic 2-player CDG about the French & Indian Wars)

    BoardGame Arena

    GMT Games Official Implementations that you can play FREE on BoardGame Arena

    A Gest of Robin Hood (2-player game in our Irregular Conflict Series)

    Bayonets & Tomahawks (2-player strategic CDG on The French and Indian War)

    Space Empires (1-4 player 4X Space game. One of our all-time best-sellers.)

    Talon (1-2 player game of Tactical Space Combat)

    Unconditional Surrender (1-3 player game of WWII in Europe)

    TableTopia

    GMT Games that you can play FREE on TableTopia:

    A Gest of Robin Hood

    Down in Flames

    Paths of Glory (just released!)

    Red Dust Rebellion

    Tank Duel

    The Plum Island Horror

    GMT Games that you can play FREE on 18xx.games

    I should note that we also have a couple GMT Games that you can play as PREMIUM experiences on TableTopia (these are not free):

    Dominant Species

    Thunder Alley

    I hope this article and “all in one place” listing of games gives you insight into what’s available to you for our free-to-play digital games offerings. We want all of you to have plenty of options to find your favorite ways to “Play GMT Games Anytime, Anywhere.”

    Next Time: VASSAL, TableTop Simulator Module, Cyberboard  for almost all of our games, plus Solo Apps!

    Enjoy the games! – Gene



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  • From Prototype to Publication – The Bazaar Diaries Part 3: Preparing to Playtest

    From Prototype to Publication – The Bazaar Diaries Part 3: Preparing to Playtest


    [Read our full Froggy Bazaar series here: www.pineislandgames.com/bazaar-diaries]

    As I wrote about last week (in a regular blog post), as a game evolves through the development process the goals of your playtests, as well as the target playtest audience will change.

    We’re now at the point for Froggy Bazaar where I need to broaden our play tester base (beyond my immediate circle), and so have a few important questions to answer.

    1. What is the medium of playtesting?

    2. Who is playtesting?

    3. What are our goals for playtesting?

     

    Playtesting Medium

    We enlisted the help of Tabletop Simulator wizard Alexei Menardo to script our Froggy Bazaar mod. Alexei is great at getting TTS to do what you want including what could otherwise be fiddly set up [if you’d like to commission Alexei to build a mod for your game, you can reach him at pixelandboard@gmail.com].

    As such, most of our playtesting in the near term will be online through Tabletop Simulator. That said, if you’d like to print out your own version of Froggy Bazaar, we have PNP materials here, and very rough written rules here.

     

    Playtesters

    Since we’ve been through this process a couple of times, I am fortunate to have an audience of Pine Island Insiders who are excited to play our upcoming games. Over time I’ll be reaching out on the various forums to source an even broader audience.

    If you are looking for playtesters for your game, check out last week’s article Playtesting & Playtesters.

     

    Playtesting Goals

    These first rounds of playtesting are aimed at tightening up the game mechanically, finding pain points, and making sure every inch of the game is fun. Since this series focuses on a specific game, I’m going to go into a little more detail of my primary goals for this round of playtesting

    1. Make sure that the BIG HOP action is balanced.

    2. Figure out if we have the best end of game trigger (a player filling their rucksack).

    3. Balancing group bugjectives & figuring out whether we should separate them into separate color and number bugjectives.

    You can check out my full playtesting feedback form here. What I also love about these early rounds is that I run the playtesting, so can talk with players in real time about how they feel about different aspects of the gameplay.

    While I think each playtest should have a focus, it’s always helpful to have some level of consistency in what you are asking your play testers. JT Smith over at The Game Crafter put together a pretty decent starting point for a playtesting form. You can download a free pdf or buy printed booklets of it here.

    The Game Crafter Playtest Form

    I prefer to come up with my own forms rather than use a template, as the specifics of the playtest and game will determine the kinds of questions that are relevant. But, JT’s form is definitely a good starting point for inspiration.

     

    Do you want to playtest Froggy Bazaar?



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