Father, father, tell me, why do the horsemen ride
Why do the troopers look so grim, by Jaime Graham's side?
Is it true that he's a traitor, or father tell me why,
There's na'er a man, among them all, can look him in the eye...

--excerpted from "Montrose" by the Battlefield Band, 1986

The history of Scotland rivals only that of Ireland in its intense struggle against its more powerful neighbor, England. Much of this history is admittedly hard to get at, as it is often steeped in partisan passions. I can remember as a little boy, my grandmother (Betty Cameron) telling me stories of both god's pure Highlanders and the decadent English to the south! Comments from my Irish cousins were even less flattering!

I've always enjoyed games portraying conflict in the British Isles, because of the familiarity of ancestry, perhaps, and the conflicts themselves. Cromwell (SDC), Brittania. and Kingmaker (both AH) are among my favorites. This is why, several years ago, I jumped at the chance to playtest a game called The '45 by Decision, based on the Jacobite Rebellion and escapades of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Unfortunately, I got in on the game late and "Liam" Sariego's did not get to contribute as much as he would have liked.

I had given up on getting any of my designs published in the Twilight Period of Wargaming, and developing was a thankless job (since abandoned, praise Odin!). Thus I was quite surprised when in early July of 1997, Mike Bennighof of Avalanche Press approached me with the idea of doing a game for Shadis magazine. As it turns out, Marcello, the editor is an old Grognard himself, lamenting the decline of board war-games. What if his fantasy/sci fi magazine publishes a wargame that its readership can relate to? Would this help revise some interest?

The boys at Avalanche had a lot of projects in the works (including the top secret USN PLAN ORANGE) and Mike thought about giving me a chance (we've known each other since high school). Various topics were bandied about. The Alamo, but it has been done to death. Something on the Vikings (my personal favorite), but most fantasy world has barbarian raiders aplenty. In the end, with the recent popularity of the movie BRAVEHEART, we decided on this conflict as an ideal subject matter for the Swords and Sorcery crowd.

My research into The War for Scottish Independence brought several points into question quickly. First was the historicity of the movie. Mel Gibson is a good actor and director. As a historian, however...he is still a good actor and director! The real William Wallace was just as bloodthirsty and ruthless as his counterpart, Edward! We are dealing with warfare in a brutal and harsh time, and the humanitarian ideals that lead to the Geneva Convention were thoughts for the (far) future. There is fuzzy line between good and bad guys.

Also, the conflict was a long one, outside the parameters I was given. I was told to make it small, with an 11" x 17" map, 140 counters, and LOW complexity. This forced me to narrow the focus. Fortunately, history provided the answer. William Wallace practically disappears from the scene after Falkirk. This provides a narrow focus on the first two years when he was a leading figure.

I used an old favorite, A HOUSE DIVIDED, as a model for the system. I wanted hexes, rather than areas, however, for the map. "Front lines" were not an issue, and the Hearts and Minds of the Lowland Scots was the main issue. Thus, battle became a means to an end, but control of the towns is the key to winning. Introducing randomness in the form of Strategy Markers added a bit of spice, and many cool possibilities were dropped due to counter mix limitations. The toughest element to balance was the personalities themselves. The war featured men of heroic proportions and fickle behavior in the extreme. Robert the Bruce could have given Marshal Bernadotte a lesson in fence sitting! I think I succeeded, but the gaming community will be the judge of this. The downside is that the game, as published, will primarily be familiar to the non-historical side of the hobby. Hopefully, exposure on the net and in newsletters like the Strategist will increase knowledge of the game. From a purely selfish standpoint, those who like the design are encouraged to pester Avalanche Press to publish my game on the Vikings!