Game description

A game from Tim "Herr Niemand" Taylor

Game description

Messagede Arnauld » Sam Nov 22, 2008 11:49 pm

TO THE LAST MAN! as described by the designer

TO THE LAST MAN! -- The Great War in the West is a surprisingly historical, yet uncomplicated World War I grand strategic land battle game focusing on the Western Front. Although a "beer & pretzels" kind of game, TTLM! nevertheless simulates strategic World War I decision-making, combat results, and overall "feel" much better than designs far more complex. Additionally, despite being an historical simulation, players are not straitjacketed by history. Players may explore many different strategies, setups, army compositions, even alliances.

In essence, TTLM! is a card-driven impulse game. Players' hands represent their aggregate economies in this Total-War simulation. Players use their cards to conduct offensives, take combat losses and so on. Each side strives to conduct mapboard operations as well as to bankrupt his opponent's hand, all while trying to avoid the same fate. This produces psychological tension with every card played.

Exciting card play keeps the game fun despite there being a static front. The game board truly becomes the focus of play only when a player's hand dwindles to a critical level. A player's ability to bluff is just as important as the strength of his armies!

Not knowing your opponent's true capabilities makes each card played an unknown quantity. A superior force can be made to retreat from inferior numbers due to a lack of reserves (cards), while a lone corps can hold out against many armies, as long as a steady stream of replacements can hold the line.

There are few "exceptions" style rules. TTLM! is mostly a "systems" oriented approach. For example, other WW1 games use "idiocy rules" to force the French player to make foolish attacks into Germany early on because that's what happened historically. In TTLM! the French player will likely make those same attacks, not because they're forced to do so, but because it makes sense to do so (at least from a psychological standpoint).

Requiring players to husband their economic potential (i.e., hang onto their cards) means you can't always move your units just where you want them to go. Offensives take on a life of their own and are very difficult to end just when you want them to.

Historically, a lot of carnage was caused by the attitude: "just one more big push and the enemy's finished." Without knowing the composition of your opponent's hand, players are put in the same boat. Maybe one more offensive will actually break the line and precipitate retreat; or maybe it'll just lead to horrendous losses you can ill afford in a grueling battle of attrition. You'll never know unless you try, but should you try at all...

TTLM! has been meticulously researched for more than fifteen years -- historical capabilities are elegantly subsumed into card play, army size limits, production, and so on. Each nation's army configuration is distinct, highlighting doctrinal, industrial, and technological differences effortlessly.

For instance, corps and corps-aggregate units can freely move about on the map, but since only three units are allowed to stack in an area there's not much power to them. Units can be placed in Armies though. Like containers, Armies can hold many types of units, but still only count as one unit for stacking purposes. Supply considerations, logistics, concentration of force issues, as well as national doctrinal and technological differences all neatly represented by a simple technique. That's what TTLM! is about.

Simple to learn and easy to play, this innovative game design has been extensively playtested over many years. TTLM! is a fast-paced blast of a game meant to be played again and again, not just collect dust on a shelf. With a short playing time, you can even get in two games on a Saturday afternoon, so both players can get to play both sides.


The Story So Far...

As designer of TTLM!, I’d like to say a bit about how this game came to be in its present form.

I’ve always been fascinated by World War 1. Perhaps because one of my first games was 1914 by Avalon Hill, published in 1968. In high school, my favorite games were PanzerBlitz, D&D, and that old SPI game “World War 1,” because all were playable in one study hall period!

Around 1990 I started tinkering with a WW1 game design, purely for my own pleasure. I called it, THE GREAT WAR. It ended up covering every theatre of operations (and most of a ping-pong table) in way too much detail. With more than a thousand counters, it was a monster. That wasn’t the point, though. I just wanted to have fun with my gaming buddies. Trouble was: the game wasn’t fun. Although it had a great deal of historicity due to my years of research, the game was just too long and boring. So I set aside version 1.0 to pursue other endeavors.

A few years later, back at the drawing board, I was commissioned to design v 2.0, a new corps-level game. In this version, I would split the game into different theatres, each one on a separate map. Thus the map costs weren’t going to be unreasonable. That deal fell through, which was just as well since in retrospect the game was still too long and too slow -- in other words, no fun.

Then a profound realization struck me, that a great simulation is pointless if no one bothers to play it. As Billy Bob Shakespeare said, “The play’s the thing...”

The Great War had to be fun! So back in the mid-90s, I designed a totally new game, a card game -- version 3.0. I created this game purely for amusement. Entirely a card game, TGW v3.0 used only pencil and paper to keep track of armies; literally everything was in the cards! It played great and was a lot of fun, but was disappointing as a historical simulation. This version just didn’t seem like a wargame. However, with the card play, I had the makings of a game engine which could drive an exciting World War 1 game.

I set the whole shebang aside to become a popular late-night DJ in Indianapolis. That kept me pretty pre-occupied so I had never heard of PoG or even Eurogames -- until I found BGG, that is. So TGW's card game engine is quite unlike PoG or Friedrich.

In 2000, with a new century and a change of venue, I designed TGW versions 4.0 to 4.2 as a block game and focusing just on the western front. I’d always been a great admirer of Craig Besinque’s designs Rommel in the Desert and EastFront and thought the block method might just be the model to use with my card game engine. Unfortunately, after many attempts, it became obvious that TGW would need too many blocks to make it as historically accurate as I’d like.

By 2002, I was using miniature figures in TGW version 5.0. I really enjoyed this version -- fast and furious, but with an eye towards historical simulation. And it looked pretty good with the miniatures from many scavenged games. Proper miniatures would have been too costly, though.

I needed to reduce the cost to make TGW. I opted to shift to cardboard chits and revamp the game into versions 5.1, 5.2, and 5.2.1. This was even better; freed from restrictions on the number of units, I could allow The Great War to flower into the historical simulation game it was always meant to be, yet it played fast and remained very entertaining. Playtesters who played it wanted to immediately play it again.

Then I found another wargame company and they were very enthusiastic. With a change of name, TO THE LAST MAN! (version 5.2.2) was going to finally be published ... or so it seemed at the time. Originally slated to be published in 2004, they delayed it time and again. In late 2007, after more than a year of no communications, they suddenly cancelled the project.

I was naturally disappointed, but also felt bad for those of you eagerly awaiting the arrival of TTLM! Many have written me expressing their disappointment as well. Two BGG users simply would not give up on the game. The French Arnauld and the Belgian Christophe wanted to play this game so badly that they would not stop bothering me. They volunteered to design the counter art, map and cards. How could I say no?

Arnauld and Christophe convinced me save this design from languishing in unpublished form. At their urging, yet another rules rewrite, version 5.3 is complete. Collecting together all the little changes over the years as well as stripping out vestiges of the unpublished version, I'm renumbering TTLM! to v1.0 to represent a new start. I intend to make all or most files available on BGG (as long as Aldie says OK), and Arnauld has graciously offered other hosting possibilities as well.

I will be offering TTLM! as a free PnP downloadable game for many reasons, not the least of which is that I've spent nearly 20 years honing this design. I would really like other people to enjoy this game as well. My only apology is that each of you will have to make your own copy.

TTLM! is currently undergoing final polishing. As of this writing, I hope everything will be uploaded by early 2009. My idea is to provide this game as an "open source" project. Christophe and Arnauld have already produced far nicer game components than I could muster. The contributions of others can only make this game even better.

Waiting in the wings is a companion game, AT ALL COSTS! -- The Great War in the East. Although each is a stand-alone game, together they will provide an easy-playing, exciting historical study of the Great War playable in under 4 hours. I currently have no plans to complete this project, but who knows what the future holds?

TT 23 January 2009
Dernière édition par Arnauld le Sam Jan 24, 2009 11:10 pm, édité 3 fois.
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Messagede Arnauld » Dim Nov 23, 2008 12:44 am

Hi all,

I proudly announce the restart of TTLM project.

The game won't be published in 2008. It may be finished in 2009.

Christophe and I will try to give to this product the shape it deserves. We are not graphic designers but we don't want to produce an ugly game.

! No deadline - quality comes first ! So please, be patient, and support our team !
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Messagede Arnauld » Lun Jan 05, 2009 7:22 pm

:o :o Christophe is making a wonderful map !! :o :o
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Messagede Arnauld » Mar Jan 13, 2009 9:39 pm

Autre point fort, les règles sont complètes, très attrayantes et limpides à lire. Un modèle du genre.

Et dire que nous sommes les heureux possesseurs de ce bijou ludique !!
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Messagede Arnauld » Sam Jan 24, 2009 11:10 pm

Mise à jour des notes du concepteur !!
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Messagede Arnauld » Lun Fév 02, 2009 12:09 am

TTLM will have its own webpage

http://landships.free.fr/TTLM_index.html

The links don't work for the moment. But try again soon to get your FREE copy of this fantastic game !!
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Re: Background

Messagede PaskudnyOrk » Dim Mar 01, 2009 8:24 pm

"So please, be patient, and SUPPORT our team!"

What kind of 'support' TTLM-team need?
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Re: Background

Messagede Arnauld » Dim Mar 01, 2009 8:33 pm

PaskudnyOrk a écrit:"So please, be patient, and SUPPORT our team!"

What kind of 'support' TTLM-team need?


Well... i don't know...

just buy our free game ^^
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Re: Game description

Messagede PaskudnyOrk » Lun Mar 02, 2009 10:47 pm

Orcs have another proposition...

I will draw soldiers icons on all counters, and you will send me a boxed copy of TTLM game. Black contours on ikons look ascetic - it is possible that detailed figures will look better! What do TTLM team say about such operation?
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Re: Game description

Messagede Arnauld » Lun Mar 02, 2009 11:52 pm

PaskudnyOrk a écrit:Orcs have another proposition...

I will draw soldiers icons on all counters, and you will send me a boxed copy of TTLM game. Black contours on ikons look ascetic - it is possible that detailed figures will look better! What do TTLM team say about such operation?


I have work on this counter for so many hours !! grrrrr

For the moment, there's no boxed version - it is just a semi-joke.
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Re: Game description

Messagede PaskudnyOrk » Jeu Mar 05, 2009 10:11 pm

Even 'print and play' game, without box, should have furious soldier-icons on counters!

"On ne passe pas!"
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Re: Game description

Messagede Arnauld » Jeu Mar 05, 2009 10:39 pm

The reason why I can offer you this game is simple :

1/ it is not my game
2/ this game will be free

Your icon is beautiful.... well, no.... excellent !!
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Messagede PaskudnyOrk » Jeu Mar 05, 2009 11:25 pm

Thanks, Arnauld. If Your site will ever need a support of such soldiers pictures, You can always count on Orcs!

I must change tactic: "free game" mean also "free icons". I can't claim awards from total free project! Of course, if TTLM authors still need new illustrations - 'To The Last Man' looks now like ready to play game...
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Re:

Messagede Arnauld » Jeu Mar 05, 2009 11:41 pm

PaskudnyOrk a écrit:Thanks, Arnauld. If Your site will ever need a support of such soldiers pictures, You can always count on Orcs!

I must change tactic: "free game" mean also "free icons". I can't claim awards from total free project!


The guy wants to make an "open-source" game, a make that everybody could change/develop/enhance with its own talent.

One says that some game companies love this game too !! ... to be continued...
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Re: Game description

Messagede PaskudnyOrk » Jeu Mar 05, 2009 11:43 pm

So Orcs wait for further events! :mrgreen:
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