Gidday Christian,

thank you for your kind words and thoughts. A friend offered to do a go fund me which I really appreciate but there are many flood victims worse off than me. I lost my stock and myc ar others lost their lives, family or house.

But yes it would be lovely if people support us by playing our games. That makes it worthwhile to continue.

regards
harry

I just saw the news about the flood , its tragic as your games hold so many fond memories . I made history in World in Flames , losing the war as Germany in 3 and 5 turns . Made “the deal from hell” when I played China and suffered a shattering defeat and sued for peace with Japan ( I missed the the one line that says China can not declare war against a major power).

I have played Rub Out and enjoyed the "family " experience of getting mobbed :)

I wish you a quick recovery , and look forward to playing more games !!!

Sincerely,
A fan of many years ,

Trent

Sorry to hear about the flood.
This must be extra terrible considering the sensitivity of processed paper to water. And boardgames are mostly processed paper. I hope you have the strength to go on.
Sat in our “game cellar” the other day with some friends and we have gone electronic for about two years, but will probably restart our IRL (in real life) game sessions after the summer. Reason I mention this is because we discussed what to play and two of your games (7 ages and Empires in arms) were top contenders, even if we play the Avalon Hill version of EiA. A friend was quite surprised that you were the creator of so many good games (we have also played Wif, but it is too big a game for us now).

I am not a rich man, but if you want monetary help to get on your feet again I suggest selling advance copies of 7 ages or even Empires in arms. People like me – who are friendly to you and ADG – could then pay a slight premium and get early copies, like Kickstarter, except you don’t have to go through Kickstarter unless you want to. Just an idea and I am probably late in the game.

I’m fairly sure Cynic is a troll Albert, and a fairly vacuous one at that, trolling an industry he has absolutely no interest in, but he’s not alone in his concern about historical games in general and games about war in particular.

When we first went to Spiel in Germany in the 1990s little old ladies would come up to my dearly departed Dad and say “war is terrible, very very bad”. These women weren’t trolls, they were survivors from the horrors of world war II and were speaking with conviction of their horrific experience. My father, a lifelong pacifist, would reply “couldn’t agree more, would you like to buy a World in Flames?”

I remember Europa Universalis was criticised for including slaves as a resource. The difficulty for all historical game designers is that we don’t design games on what we want history to be, we design them based on what it was. You can design games that show that the politics of hate and exclusion (nearly) always lose (there would be none of us left alive if history were otherwise) but to design a zippidy doodah version of our past that whitewashes all the nasty bits is just blatant propaganda that dishonours the memory of the millions of people throughout history who have fought and died to try to make a more peaceful prosperous planet.

My personal view is if Adolf Hitler (and his modern wannabes) spent more time playing World in Flames and less time murdering people the world would be a far better place.

Of course Cynic’s view about the obsolescence of boardgames in general is just arrogant ignorant nonsense. Action-based, card-driven 7 Ages is at the cutting edge of boardgame technology!

Le Cynic criticizes the games of “death and destruction” but he is obviously very confused given the verbal (and mental) violence with which he expresses himself.
A clear example of human idiocy.

Gidday Cynic,

Thank you for your kind commiserations on my appalling health, you must be such a comfort to those close to you.

If you were a boardgamer you would know that boardgames have had quite a renaissance this century. Computer games are great but there is nothing quite as social as sitting around a table playing games with your mates. In ADG’s case, perhaps due to concern and sympathy from our customers to our plight, or because they realise that many of our classic games and kits will now sell out in the next weeks or months and there will be no reprinting of much of it due to long lost graphics and data, sales recently have never been better. Which is lucky. If you’d read the article you would know that alas our games were not insured. Still you need lose no further sleep over our sales.

As for historical games, I have nothing against light fluffy games, they can be good escapism and I enjoy many of them myself. But at Australian Design Group we firmly believe in the Santayana mantra that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and want our games to have a strong educational slant as well as being fun, absorbing with a great depth of detail.

Particularly in these very troubling times when war, plague and famine stalk the globe, there was never a greater need to understand our past and how it reasonates with the present. As I say in the designer’s notes to World in Flames “If World War II teaches us anything it teaches us that the politics of inclusion, even though it may take 5 years (or 50), in the end, will always beat the politics of exclusion.” Unfortunately these days, the politics of exclusion have nukes.

Any historical game about our species that does not include conflict is either mendacious or very short. However, our latest project 7 Ages: the collector’s edition gives glory for art, urbanisation, religions and governments and has a much more positive view of our history than World in Flames. It shows that at least, up to now, our history has more or less led to significant progress. Hopefully you will enjoy the game when it is released (bonus, no dice!).

regards
Harry

I’m pretty sure that only a very small handful of your 80’s relic cardboard dice games are sold nowadays, Mr Rowland.. a stock-destroying flood is more than likely a god-send to the insured.

In any event, with your appalling state of health, perhaps it’s finally time to walk away from teenage games about death and destruction.

Thanks guys, it has been a really tough year so far.
regards
harry

Blimey. A flood?! A bloody ass flood destroys all of that glory?! As if the world needed more hideous news. I cannot even verbalize how truly hideous that disaster is.

That is terrible news MrRowland. So sorry to hear that & hope you can keep going.

Wow, that is a real disaster.
Sorry to hear about the flood