Page: History.History - Last Modified : Sun, 15 Dec 13 - 2252 Visits

This section contains the "Making of" the game. You will learn the development history of the game.

Introduction

First source of inspiration: I first had this board game idea after playing my first and only game of Britania. It was one of the first time that I saw a war game where you could actually score victory points for controlling territories. What I did not like about Britania his the historical aspect ,with all its exceptions, that makes the game, on my point of view, almost the same from a game to another.

Basic concept: So my first design idea consisted in borrowing 2 concepts from Britania:

1. scoring points for controlling territories
2. New invaders gets into the game to replace the players already there.

Of course, the game evolved in many directions but I think the core ideas listed above are still part of the game. I also wanted to remove the historical aspect to increase the replay value of the game.

Influence of Vinci: Later during the development process, I have discovered an old game called Vinci. I really liked this game and I even made an homemade modified edition of it. Vinci had the same invasion concept than Britatia except that faction had special abilities and combat was deterministic. Even if Britania and Vinci were the main influences on my game it is very different from those games and it's clearly not a remake of Britania or Vinci.

Combat: When I designed my game, I wanted to have a very fast combat system but I never thought a game could make an even faster combat resolution by using a deterministic resolution. Anyways, I liked rolling dice for resolving battles and most people said that it was a fun part of the game.

Special abilities: But at the beginning, I did not want special abilities in my game. I wanted to make it as simple as possible and I did not want to have a pain balancing the special abilities. But eventually I game up and included some special abilities, but still not too much. Anyways, there were not that many special abilities combination possible.

Viking Theme: The viking theme came almost near the end of the design. One of my friend said that intimidation and invasion would fit more for a viking theme rather than a medieval theme. Personally, the theme was less important for this game, which is normally the opposite of what I normally design. Also many invasions in Britatia were actually done by vikings, so I thought that it actually fit better to have a viking theme.

The number three: You will eventually notice that there is an important place for the number "three" in my game. I think the whole game was designed around this number. I find it particularly interesting since it adds symmetry to the game. It makes it easier to remember the rules and makes it more elegant.

Table of contents

• Map Design
• Combat system
• Scoring system
• Production and action system
• Invasion system
• Turns and time
• Other mechanics
• Dead ideas