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'''GMT Games''' is a California-based ] publisher founded in 1990. The current management and creative team includes Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, ], and Andy Lewis. The company has become well known for graphically attractive games that range from "]s", of many maps and counters, to quite simple games suitable for introducing new players to wargaming. They also produce ] and family games. ''The Washington Post'' called GMT "the modern hobby's highest-profile wargame publisher".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/in-the-world-of-role-playing-war-games-volko-ruhnke-has-become-a-hero/2014/01/10/a56ac8d6-48be-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html |title=In the world of war games, Volko Ruhnke has become a hero |work=] |author=Jason Albert |date=January 10, 2014 |accessdate=January 17, 2014}}</ref><ref name=gaynor>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/the-cold-war-themed-board-game-that-feels-more-relevant-than-ever/2018/07/16/45be9be4-7a4e-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html |title=They created maybe the best board game ever. Now, Putin is making it relevant again. |work=] |author=Michael J. Gaynor |date=July 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907202809/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/the-cold-war-themed-board-game-that-feels-more-relevant-than-ever/2018/07/16/45be9be4-7a4e-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html?utm_term=.dc05601b64c1 |archive-date=2018-09-07 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Wargamer Magazine'' called them a "house-name in table-top wargaming".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wargamer.com/articles/gmt-games-digital-games/ |title=GMT Games are bringing Labyrinth, COIN games and more to digital |work=Wargamer |author=Joe Robinson |date=July 24, 2018 |accessdate=January 23, 2020}}</ref> '']'' said they published "some of the best wargame design of the last twenty years."<ref name=zacny/> '''GMT Games''' is a California-based ] publisher founded in 1990. The current management and creative team includes Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, ], and Andy Lewis. The company has become well known for graphically attractive games that range from "]s", of many maps and counters, to quite simple games suitable for introducing new players to wargaming. They also produce ] and family games. ''The Washington Post'' called GMT "the modern hobby's highest-profile wargame publisher".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/in-the-world-of-role-playing-war-games-volko-ruhnke-has-become-a-hero/2014/01/10/a56ac8d6-48be-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html |title=In the world of war games, Volko Ruhnke has become a hero |work=] |author=Jason Albert |date=January 10, 2014 |accessdate=January 17, 2014}}</ref><ref name=gaynor>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/the-cold-war-themed-board-game-that-feels-more-relevant-than-ever/2018/07/16/45be9be4-7a4e-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html |title=They created maybe the best board game ever. Now, Putin is making it relevant again. |work=] |author=Michael J. Gaynor |date=July 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907202809/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/the-cold-war-themed-board-game-that-feels-more-relevant-than-ever/2018/07/16/45be9be4-7a4e-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html?utm_term=.dc05601b64c1 |archive-date=2018-09-07 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Wargamer Magazine'' called them a "house-name in table-top wargaming".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wargamer.com/articles/gmt-games-digital-games/ |title=GMT Games are bringing Labyrinth, COIN games and more to digital |work=Wargamer |author=Joe Robinson |date=July 24, 2018 |accessdate=January 23, 2020}}</ref> '']'' said they published "some of the best wargame design of the last twenty years."<ref name=zacny/>


GMT's name comes from the first name initials of founders Gene Billingsley, Mike Crane, and Terry Shrum. However, Crane and Shrum soon split acrimoniously with GMT, and founded their own company, the Fresno Gaming Association. GMT's name comes from the first name initials of founders Gene Billingsley, Mike Crane, and Terry Shrum. However, Crane and Shrum soon split acrimoniously with GMT, and founded their own company, the Fresno Gaming Association.{{fact}}


In the 1990s GMT pioneered a pre-order system called "Project 500", which the ''Washington Post'' characterized as a "Kickstarter before Kickstarter that allowed fans to vote with their wallets on which GMT games should come to market".<ref name=gaynor/> Customers can pre-order a title, and production (printing) would not begin until a set minimum of games had been reached. This system has since been adopted by other wargame publishers. GMT's success during the 1990s, when other war game publishers were failing, has been credited in part to their innovative P500 system.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=newport-papers&usg=AOvVaw05cUmvNMyrDxrB_h2ZvgB5 |format=PDF |title=On Wargaming: How Wargames Have Shaped History and how They May Shape the Future |publisher=Navel War College Press |author=Matthew B. Caffrey Jr. |year=2019 |page=396 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125165749/https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=newport-papers&usg=AOvVaw05cUmvNMyrDxrB_h2ZvgB5 |archive-date=2020-01-25 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1990s GMT pioneered a pre-order system called "Project 500" or "P500", which the ''Washington Post'' characterized as a "Kickstarter before Kickstarter that allowed fans to vote with their wallets on which GMT games should come to market".<ref name=gaynor/> Customers pre-order a title and production does not begin until a set minimum of orders had been reached. This system has been adopted by other wargame publishers. GMT was successful during the 1990s, when other war game publishers were failing, which has been credited in part to their innovative P500 system.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=newport-papers&usg=AOvVaw05cUmvNMyrDxrB_h2ZvgB5 |format=PDF |title=On Wargaming: How Wargames Have Shaped History and how They May Shape the Future |publisher=Navel War College Press |author=Matthew B. Caffrey Jr. |year=2019 |page=396 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125165749/https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=newport-papers&usg=AOvVaw05cUmvNMyrDxrB_h2ZvgB5 |archive-date=2020-01-25 |url-status=live}}</ref>


GMT is known for publishing the COIN series of games, which started with ''Andean Abyss: Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Columbia'' by Volko Ruhnke a CIA instructor in his day-job. The games focus on asymmetrical, insurgency/counter-insurgency scenarios from throughout history including games set in the Roman Empire, India Revolutionary War, Cuban revolution, the Vietnam War and others.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.polygon.com/2017/6/22/15730254/cia-board-game-volko-ruhnke-coin-series-gmt-games|title=The art and craft of making board games for the CIA|author=Charlie Hall|work=Polygon|date=June 22, 2017|access-date=2018-06-13}}</ref> GMT is known for publishing the COIN series of games, which started with ''Andean Abyss: Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Columbia'' by Volko Ruhnke, a CIA instructor. The games focus on asymmetrical, insurgency/counter-insurgency scenarios from throughout history including games set in the Roman Empire, India Revolutionary War, Cuban revolution, the Vietnam War and others.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.polygon.com/2017/6/22/15730254/cia-board-game-volko-ruhnke-coin-series-gmt-games|title=The art and craft of making board games for the CIA|author=Charlie Hall|work=Polygon|date=June 22, 2017|access-date=2018-06-13}}</ref>


In 2018, GMT began creating digital adaptations for some of their titles, including their best-selling ''Labyrinth: The War on Terror''.<ref name=zacny>{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbj7pb/gmt-games-already-make-great-tabletop-wargames-now-theyre-going-digital |title=GMT Games Already Make Great Tabletop Wargames, Now They're Going Digital |work=] |author=Rob Zacny |date=July 25, 2018 |accessdate=January 23, 2020}}</ref> In 2018, GMT began creating digital adaptations for some of their titles, including their best-selling ''Labyrinth: The War on Terror''.<ref name=zacny>{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbj7pb/gmt-games-already-make-great-tabletop-wargames-now-theyre-going-digital |title=GMT Games Already Make Great Tabletop Wargames, Now They're Going Digital |work=] |author=Rob Zacny |date=July 25, 2018 |accessdate=January 23, 2020}}</ref>

Revision as of 17:24, 26 January 2020

GMT Games logo
GMT Games logo

GMT Games is a California-based wargaming publisher founded in 1990. The current management and creative team includes Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Mark Simonitch, and Andy Lewis. The company has become well known for graphically attractive games that range from "monster games", of many maps and counters, to quite simple games suitable for introducing new players to wargaming. They also produce card games and family games. The Washington Post called GMT "the modern hobby's highest-profile wargame publisher". Wargamer Magazine called them a "house-name in table-top wargaming". VICE News said they published "some of the best wargame design of the last twenty years."

GMT's name comes from the first name initials of founders Gene Billingsley, Mike Crane, and Terry Shrum. However, Crane and Shrum soon split acrimoniously with GMT, and founded their own company, the Fresno Gaming Association.

In the 1990s GMT pioneered a pre-order system called "Project 500" or "P500", which the Washington Post characterized as a "Kickstarter before Kickstarter that allowed fans to vote with their wallets on which GMT games should come to market". Customers pre-order a title and production does not begin until a set minimum of orders had been reached. This system has been adopted by other wargame publishers. GMT was successful during the 1990s, when other war game publishers were failing, which has been credited in part to their innovative P500 system.

GMT is known for publishing the COIN series of games, which started with Andean Abyss: Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Columbia by Volko Ruhnke, a CIA instructor. The games focus on asymmetrical, insurgency/counter-insurgency scenarios from throughout history including games set in the Roman Empire, India Revolutionary War, Cuban revolution, the Vietnam War and others.

In 2018, GMT began creating digital adaptations for some of their titles, including their best-selling Labyrinth: The War on Terror.

GMT was about to publish Scramble for Africa in 2019, but pulled the title after controversy erupted about its subject matter, as reported in the New York Times.

Games

Some of the better-known games produced by GMT Games include:

  • American Revolution (series)
  • Andean Abyss
  • Asia Engulfed
  • Barbarossa (series)
  • Barbarossa to Berlin
  • Battle Line
  • Blackbeard, revised edition
  • Chandragupta
  • Churchill
  • COIN Series
  • Combat Commander
  • Commands & Colors: Ancients - a block game with card-driven action, based upon tactical combat in the Classical Period.
  • Cuba Libre
  • A Distant Plain
  • Dominant Species
  • Down in Flames - a card driven game of WW2 air combat
  • Europe Engulfed
  • Fading Glory
  • Falling Sky
  • Fields of Fire
  • Fire In The Lake
  • For The People, revised edition
  • Fort Sumter
  • Glory (series)
  • Great Battles of History (series)
  • Great Battles of the American Civil War (series)
  • Here I Stand
  • Hellenes
  • Invasion: Sicily
  • Ivanhoe
  • June 6th
  • Kutuzov
  • Liberty Or Death
  • Labyrinth
  • MBT
  • Napoleonic Wars, The
  • Navajo Wars
  • Next War (series)
  • No Retreat! (series)
  • Operation Dauntless
  • Panzer (series)
  • Paths of Glory
  • Pursuit of Glory
  • Reds!
  • Red Winter
  • Roads to Leningrad
  • Roads to Moscow
  • Sword of Rome
  • SPQR
  • Space Empires 4x and its expansion Space Empires: Close Encounters
  • Triumph & Tragedy
  • Twilight Struggle
  • Unconditional Surrender!
  • U.S. Civil War
  • Wellington
  • Wilderness War - a game set in the French and Indian War
  • Wing Leader
  • A World At War

References

  1. Jason Albert (January 10, 2014). "In the world of war games, Volko Ruhnke has become a hero". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  2. ^ Michael J. Gaynor (July 17, 2018). "They created maybe the best board game ever. Now, Putin is making it relevant again". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2018-09-07.
  3. Joe Robinson (July 24, 2018). "GMT Games are bringing Labyrinth, COIN games and more to digital". Wargamer. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  4. ^ Rob Zacny (July 25, 2018). "GMT Games Already Make Great Tabletop Wargames, Now They're Going Digital". Vice News. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  5. Matthew B. Caffrey Jr. (2019). On Wargaming: How Wargames Have Shaped History and how They May Shape the Future (PDF). Navel War College Press. p. 396. Archived from the original on 2020-01-25.
  6. Charlie Hall (June 22, 2017). "The art and craft of making board games for the CIA". Polygon. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  7. Kevin Draper (August 1, 2019). "Should Board Gamers Play the Roles of Racists, Slavers and Nazis?". The New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2020.

External links

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