After years of development, testing, and multiple iterations I am proud to make this announcement. This version is
- easier to setup & put wrap up
- easier to learn
- easier system with far less rules, much shorter rule book, and more modular flexibility
- short or long game
- works with as few as 5 players or as many as 30
This Game Has Been Put to the Ultimate Test
We have tested it multiple times with
- small groups over the internet using TableTop Simulator,
- large groups of 30+ students,
- English as a second language Chinese speakers,
- young teens and preteens,
- college students, and
- the most experienced wargame experts, retired military officers running official state wargames at America’s Naval War College.
This last summer I ran it for 30 teens and preteens at a national retreat for my church. They loved it.
Back when I turned 40 in Taiwan last July, we ran the game in Taiwan in Chinese. They loved it.
Last week two of the most experienced war game experts who run games for the state involving 4-star generals at the Naval War College, Pete Pellegrino and David Sampson facilitated the game for 37 of the most intelligent incoming freshman at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. They loved it.
To be honest, I was shocked
I’ve been watching Pete Pellegrino’s lectures on running official wargames for the state for years now. He learned from the guys who wrote the books on wargaming. They know games so well that as soon as they saw my presentation on how the game works they immediately recognized that it was based fundamentally on the Matrix gaming principles but modified with common mechanics from the world’s most popular designer board games.
Peter Pellegrino, David Sampson, and Rich Johnson could have designed their own game, which they do on a regular basis, but they chose my game because it was cheaper and faster to bring me in and use my game. It was truly an honor to work with them. They only made some small modifications to the game for their use at Dartmouth, which ALLIANCE is designed for–to allow educators the flexibility to make the game as simple or complicated as they like for as few or as many players as necessary.
Now Available as a Table Top Game
For teachers or anyone who would like to try the game with small groups, it is available as part of the Game-Based Learning Toolkit for $75 from TheGameCrafter.com or as a printable digital PDF for $19.99. For any non-profit please contact me at shaunDmcmillan@gmail.com to discuss a small additional licensing fee.
Here are some photos from the three most recent megagame events.
To learn more about the mechanics and newer features you can see my writeup in this article https://www.bestclassever.org/gbl-toolkit/
