It is, no doubt, an amazing time to be a war gamer. Not only do you have decades of incredible titles to look back on, with legendary designers who’ve iterated and expanded upon mechanics, conflicts, and player counts, but you have publishers branching out into fresh arenas to explore. New spaces often mean new names, and in this article, we’re going to highlight some relative newcomers to the wargaming scene, designers that deserve your attention, both now and in the future.
The world of hexes, counters, and CDGs has never been brighter, and the four new war game designers below are a good reason to believe it’ll get better still.
Francisco ‘Pako’ Gradaille
It takes guts to jump into a Volko Ruhnke system (Levy and Campaign, which we detailed here), and Gradaille did so with gusto, working with GMT to publish Plantagenets: Cousin’s War For England 1459-1485. Better known as the War of the Roses, Plantegenets sees two players battling over three eras, with political influence adding onto the military aspect. In other words, you’ll need to get towns, cities, and their lords on your side both for their troops and their supplies (and coin) to feed those troops.
If you’ve played Nevsky, Almoravid, or Inferno, Gradaille’s adjustments for Plantagenets will feel striking, while at the same time creating enough variation between it/pic8579689.png)
and its sister titles to keep them all unique. First, you’ll find it easier to force battles, with lords unable to outright flee without removing themselves from the map in exile (appropriate for cowards). With many victory points coming from military victories, the emphasis on conflict is high, and trapping an enemy lord or making a sudden ambush brings rewards often worth the risk. The cat-and-mouse feel arises here and there, but it’s not to the same degree.
When you do get into conflict, the era itself imposes a simpler combat system. Cavalry are gone, and combat goes into two parts with a missile and melee phase. Someone’s going to bite it, and the leftovers will scramble to hold territory. You won’t be doing sieges either, those are tossed in favor of the political element, which uses newfound influence points. You won the battle, but can you afford to convince the nearby city to join your side? Just spend a few points and call it a wrap, right?
Well, those influence points are also your VPs. How you win the game. Toss them out like candy to make friends with everyone on the board and you’ll find yourself rich in friendship and poor in power. Thus, Plantagenets makes a tight game packed with conflict and juicy decisions. The rulebook is less than twenty pages long too, the sign of strong effort made to streamline systems and keep people engaged in the game, not looking up exceptions.
One other thing I love? Included variants that allow up to six people to play the game in teams. Gather a bunch of Levy and Campaign pals together and have a Plantagenets party.
Gradaille’s next projects for 2025 include Onoda, a solo title about a Japanese bandit, Habemus Papam, an aptly timed multiplayer title about a papal conclave, and Cuius Regio, a larger production covering the Thirty Years War currently on GMT’s P500 list.
Jarrod Carmichael
New Zealander Jarrod Carmichael isn’t exactly an unknown – his YouTube channel 3 Minute Board games has thousands of subscribers and makes entertaining, 
compelling snapshots (mostly) of, well, board games. With last year’s Red Dust Rebellion, Carmichael put all that time playing and reviewing games to good use, creating a sci-fi COIN with GMT Games that packs a huge punch with its various factions. We dove into Red Dust Rebellion more here, but if you’ve been looking for an asymmetric sci-fi game as much about politics as it is about warfare, this is one to pick up.
The key point – amid a swath of great, but historical war games, getting a sci-fi setting with less focus on spaceships and more on the challenges of society on a frothy planet is big. It’s a gateway to new players who care less about history, and Red Dust’s success is sure to open doors for fresh settings and ideas. Including from Carmichael himself.
His next project, Shadow Moon Syndicates, is currently up on crowdfunding and is worth keeping track of, because who doesn’t want to play as a criminal mastermind, playing cards to gain influence, control various seedy spots, and assemble a team of swarthy outlaws destined for cyberpunk glory?
Morgane Gouyon-Rety
Speaking of COIN, one of its most original designs came courtesy of Morgane Gouyon-Rety, the crafter of Pendragon, which throws players into the turbulent world of Dark Ages Britain. Romans, Celts, and barbarian raiders all mingle in a frothy, violent mix in hopes of gaining control of the Old Country. Sieges, coups, and sneaky plays all come about through card play and negotiation. Battle rules are deep and era-appropriate, contributing to an immersive feel, whether you’re the thundering Roman legions or the haphazard Celtic militias. Pendragon sucks you in, and does so with hefty scaffolding.
Consider one of the factions, the powerful Dux, representing the Roman army. At the game’s start, they control fortresses, have strong cavalry, and have a
reasonable hope of retaining Britain for the Empire. Maybe your play is good enough, your tactics and pitting of adversaries against one another cunning enough to make this strategy work, but if a few raids go wrong, you’ll have to change tactics. Not many games will allow this, but Pendragon offers options, and the Dux can seize on changing conditions to make fresh alliances with barbarians (read: other players) to carve out a new warlord state for themselves, putting victory in play with an entirely different goal than where they began. It’s a morphing magic that keeps players engaged even when their initial objective becomes impossible.
Almost, say, like real life.
Likely best for players familiar with COIN (or games like Vast, where different victory conditions and a board state with broad decision space is common), Pendragon rewards players willing to embrace its depth.
Oh, and the bot players are exceptional, making Pendragon a great COIN choice for solo or small groups where a full four players is hard to come by.
Gouyon-Rety’s next project, Hubris: Twilight of the Hellinistic World leaves behind the COIN trappings for an original system and an eastern Mediterranean setting around the 2nd Century B.C. Your favorite pals like Hannibal and Kleopatra are here, along with events, armies, and area control galore. Spectacular art and production quality abounds in this forthcoming GMT title, one worth paying attention to as it arrives later this year.
Carlos Diaz Narvaez
Venturing forth with a prequel of sorts to Here I Stand, one of the biggest asymmetric war games out there, is a bold move, but that’s what Carlos Diaz Narvaez with Tanto Monta: The Rise of Ferdinand and Isabella 1470-1516. Shrinking the scope to the Spanish peninsula (and some New World sections), Tanto Monta is a CDG race to 45 victory points between the French, Muslims, Portuguese, and Spanish. Like Here I Stand, your options are numerous, from weddings to warfare, political intrigue to plunder. And that war? It starts off with a bang from turn one.
That said, Tanto Monta, despite its lower player count, is often just as complex as its siblings (if not more so). It’s a labor of historical love that demands effort and
time to create memorable gaming sessions with your group. If you’ve three others ready to embark on this journey, then Narvaez’s grand conflict will be a special experience.
If you prefer two players, then Narvaez’s The Charge of the 3 Kings is worth a look. Zooming into a single battle, the conflict between Christian and Muslim armies in 1212 AD in the Iberian Peninsula, Narvaez takes a dynamic approach. Players use cards while trading impulses, moving formations across a broad plain with a rise on one end. What’s unique here is the ability to interrupt opponent’s impulses with reaction cards, creating lifelike twisting and turning to the battle. Units won’t sit static and take abuse for long, and ambushes can be readily set and executed. Meant to run through in three hours, 3 Kings feels faster and, despite covering a single battle, can play out many different ways as both players dance with their dealt cards.
One consistent with Tanto Monta and 3 Kings is production quality. Both are top notch in their artwork, counters, and board design, and I find myself particularly drawn to the art style in 3 Kings, where counters are more than numbers. Each one carries a soldier, a horseman, or a leader drawn upon it, immersing you further. It’s not just a cavalry strike, it’s Tudela, Estela, and Sancho VII making a desperate flanking charge to break the enemy’s right line.
War games are about reliving history, sometimes to change it, sometimes to experience what actually happened from the perspective of one side or another. Narvaez’s designs lean closer to the latter, providing a compelling, fascinating view into battles and periods little explored in our great hobby. Watch for what he does next, because it’s bound to be different.
While this piece just touches on a few new war game designers out of the many great ones, it hopefully gives you some great games to try, and ones to look forward to. Our hobby’s continuing to flourish, and the designs here are, as they say, the proof in the pudding.
Check out our previous article here!
