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Master of Europe

by Brian Cameron and Jim Wallman (adapted by a team from Megagame Makers)

10 Jun 2023

Anerley Town Hall

Game fee is £35.00

1813, and Napoleon faces a grand alliance of Europe. A game of high-level political and military strategy. Can you become Master of Europe?

Europa Universalis: 30 Years' War

by Johan Olofsson and Odd-Helge Gravalid

16 Sep 2023

Anerley Town Hall

Game fee is £35.00

Get ready to immerse yourself in a high-paced megagame where your actions rewrite the history of the Thirty Years' War. As you take control of one of the eight nation teams, three trading house teams, or one of the five foreign powers invested in the conflict, you have the unique opportunity to alter the war's outcome and come out on top. Navigate the complex political and religious tensions of the Holy Roman Empire during this tumultuous time while also strengthening your family name and filling your chests with silver and gold. With so much at stake, the only question is: do you have what it takes to rewrite history and emerge victorious?

Introduction

Enthralled by military history, war movies and battle dioramas as a child, I was easy prey for the hobby when I first came across minature wargames at the National Army Museum aged 8. Inflicting terrible home brew rules on my parents and schoofriends, I found my hobby outlet of a lifetime through Chestnut Lodge and Megagame Makers aged 15. After more than a quarter century of serious gaming, I have learned more history through games than through my formal education.

I play RPGs and computer strategy games, but my favourite part of the hobby is playing and designing megagames, in particular the interaction between politics and warfare. I tend to prefer historical games still but am up for most things with interesting stories and mechanisms. My main interest is late Anglo-Saxon England, especially the 11th century - I am working on my third game in a trilogy about the decline and fall of the Saxon kingdom. I'm also very interested in ancient mediterranean history (especially Greeks and Carthaginians), the works of JRR Tolkien and a hundred other more minor obsessions.

I refuse to accept the dualism of the Simulation-Game spectrum. I want to write and play games that are realistic but also full of interesting decisions. For me, the crucial decision is scenario selection - picking a game context that generates agency for lots of players within a plausible historic framework. I don't want to re-run history - I want to explore how the possibilities could have worked out differently. I also want to learn something from the experience - and hope that those playing my games do so as well.

At their best, megagames are a grand historical experiment - what if? - as well as a brilliant social environment for interacting with all sorts of gamers. I have hugely enjoyed the renaissance in the last 5 years and it's great to see so many different people making different sorts of games.

Game Designs


Andrew Hadley
17th March 2007For the Light of the TreesAnerley Town Hall
13th November 2010Come One and EorlAnerley Town Hall
14th November 2015Come to a KingAnerley Town Hall
8th August 2020The Bastard ComesAnerley Town Hall
4th December 2021The Bastard ComesAnerley Town Hall

Andrew Hadley & Bruce Walton
15th November 2018Hands of the ManyAnerley Town Hall