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 2007	For the Light of the Trees	Anerley Town Hall
13th November 2010	Come One and Eorl	Anerley Town Hall
14th November 2015	Come to a King	Anerley Town Hall

Andrew Hadley & Bruce Walton

15th November 2018

Hands of the Many

Anerley Town Hall