Vijayanagara by GMT Games - Live Interview with the designers

GMT Games just announced the launch of a new series, inspired by COIN, called Irregular Conflict Series. The first game is Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India, 1290-1398 that depicts the epic, century-long rise and fall of medieval kingdoms in India over two dynastic periods, for 1-3 players.
In this live interview we'll chat with the designers: Saverio Spagnolie, Mathieu Johnson, Cory Graham, Aman Matthews. We'll discuss their game, design process and how they use the COIN mechanics to build a different kind of game.
Preorder here : www.gmtgames.c...
Timestamps:
00:30 Intro
01:32 Designers presentation
05:14 How the project started
13:20 Historical research process
14:45 Game overview
21:05 Historical background
25:40 Game Demo
43:20 Questions form the chat (asymmetry, player count, difference with COIN base system etc.)
50:59 Irregular Conflict Series
56:32 Conclusion

[@w92viking64]

Had to necro this just to say what a friggin masterpiece this game is

[@HomoLudens1871]

The production ended up being pretty awesome too. Did you also see that we streamed the final of the tournament a couple of months ago?

[@w92viking64]

@@HomoLudens1871yeah the production is above and beyond on this. Beautiful map, beautiful cards and all the PAC and guidebooks. Excellent. I didn’t see the stream will have to check it out, thanks

[@danieldavalos3562]

Well. This interview sold me on the game.

[@HomoLudens1871]

Then my job here is done!

[@danieldavalos3562]

@@HomoLudens1871 It’s my first p500 and I just realized you have a couple of games on there too. I’m excited to check out your designs.

[@HomoLudens1871]

@@danieldavalos3562 Thanks ! Yes i have a couple of games on P500: Red Flag will be shipped later this year and I am currently finishing the design of A Gest of Robin Hood. I just released the latest iteration to the playtesters, so if everything goes well I might be done with that one! I would actually recommend watching Guerric Samples, he did some nice playthrough of both my GMT Games : kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGKViYWdi72Fl5o

This is my kind of game (I'm now in the P500 for it). Nice interview!

[@HomoLudens1871]

It's a very cool game, expect a teach and play when the game is out.

[@captainnolan5062]

Another great interview. I got an idea or two to steal for my own COIN design. Thanks!

[@HomoLudens1871]

Haha, you are watching EVERYTHING

[@captainnolan5062]

@@HomoLudens1871 I am doing my best. It is good for your channel!

[@rgg1965]

Excellent interview Fred - very much enjoyed that....keep them coming! One question I was hoping would be asked/answered was ...what other settings and conflicts would this system be used for? Will it always need to be a 3-player faction setting as the game is constructed or can the game handle more or less factions aka 2-player or 4-player? Given it has a 'combat' fighting kinetic element I wonder if more formal conflicts would be viable using this system...what other periods can it be used for as interesting as this period of Indian history is? Cheers Happy Wanderer

[@HomoLudens1871]

Thanks, appreciate the support! I think it all comes down to the sequence of play, COIN showed that it could cover 2 to 4: Colonial Twilight & upcoming games are 2p, All Bridges burning & People Power are 3p, all classic COIN are 4p and I expect 5p+ games to be coming at some point. Regarding setting, it is very flexible and I think you should expect some interesting surprises for future games in the series. As to Kinetic warfare, my (very) personal opinion is that COIN and adjacent systems do not shine in representing it. Other systems were built for it and are just better in every way, COIN is amazing for modelling complex socio-political aspects of multi factional conflicts, and in my opinion that is already quite awesome.

[@rgg1965]

@@HomoLudens1871 Thanks Fred. Regards ‘kinetic’ games I agree. I just wondered as the comment was made that the game has more direct ‘combat’ in it and hence wondered what conflicts that had a lot of direct kinetic combat, along with socio-economic factors, would this new variant COIN system handle...and indeed what eras? Lastly, one question I was curious about was the book reading recommendations Saverio would suggest for this rather obscure topic? Once again, good job 👍🏻

[@MatJtube]

​@@rgg1965 ​ Are you referring to a Tributary (vassal) region system? Or simply the more kinetic combat? Both could be used for other conflicts. We didn't have time to go more in detail about the combat, but there are other mechanics to make it even more kinetic, like adjacent support attacks (It will be covered in a future Inside GMT article). Possible conflicts are unlimited! Especially medieval I suppose. Medieval Europe, Japan, China? comes to mind as having similar type of vassal relationships and more regular skirmishes/wars. Could be interesting to develop the Tributary system further.

[@HomoLudens1871]

Regarding books I think that India in the Persian Age by Richard Eaton is a reference I’ve seen floating around in the design chat. Will check if Sav suggests more.

[@sespagnolie]

@@rgg1965 Echoing Fred I recommend "India in the Persianate Age" by Richard Eaton, and "India before Europe" by Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot. Both are very readable.

[@frankbranson9583]

Wonder why India looks like that. So elongated. Almost getting phallic.