Name: Greg Blake

Genius: The Marshal's Baton, Rules for Land Battles of the period 1700-1880.

Bio: Additional designs, awards, past credits, recognitions or other accomplishments? with dates if possible...

I have written numerous articles for 'Miniature Wargames' magazine as well as having an article published in 'Military History' Magazine.

Current job (and title): What do you do for a living?

I am a History teacher at a private secondary school.

Where did you get the inspiration for The Marshal's Baton?

I've been wargaming since 1971 and deeply interested in military history for as long as I can remember. In all that time I have, like most others, progressed through the whole range of games from the era of the dreaded WRG 'flinch points' to those rules which leave players with throbbing heads from having to cope with an avalanche of charts, tables, tests an variables.

Being interested in the 'big picture' I had never been satisfied with the "feel" of any of the games I played. Most rules tended to confuse their levels of command and tactics and none of them convincingly simulated the frustration involved involved in manoeuvering tens of thousands of men in formation against an enemy. These thoughts had been bouncing around in my head for years and saw several attempts to write rules all of which for one reason or nother came to nothing.

The actual spark of inspiration that ledto TMB came from two sources. The first was a very supportive local wargaming group who were searching for some way to 'do it better', the other was reading Paddy Giffith's brilliant little book on Tactics of the American Civil War. In his book Griffith showed in clear and specific detail the fundamental problems of army command i.e. time , space and communication. Armed with these raw facts and figures and encouraged by my friends I began work.

In creating The Marshal's Baton, how did your design philosophy evolve? Did something trigger the proverbial lightbulb to light up over your head during design and testing?

The design process involved in writing TMB followed a winding, dimly lit path illuminated at points by the proverbial light bulb. There was always a goal at the end and it was important never to loose sight of that. Problems were overcome as needed, sometimes as logical steps to arrive at the determined goal, sometimes as pure inspiration, the morale rules are a case of an inspirational design leap.

What do you believe is the greatest success of the design? The most noticeable flaw?

TMB's greatest success is its ability to represent the complexity of really large C18-C19th battles in an uncomplicated manner. Once a person is familar with the rules they seldom need to open the book again. Gmes move fast and results can be achieved in a few hours.

If there is one aspect of TMB which seems to be the most difficult to grasp it is the abstraction of smaller unit tactics to a point where they are often ignored. Additional to this is the 'frustration' factor. I say that this is a strength of TMB others hate it and it ruins their enjoyment of the 'game'.

What were some other influences as you developed the system?

I'm a WARgamer as opposed to a warGAMER, thus I like wargames in which some degree of serious effort has been made to present the paricipants which the problems intrinsic to a given military situation. One of my biggest bugbears is when patently ridiculous or anachronistic situations arise and are allowed to continue because "the rules say" or "its in the army lists" is loudly argued.

Anyone who has been wargaming for a while will have experienced this. I've got nothing against people wanting to enjoy their wargaming but I think that if a wargame doesn't help to increase one's appreciation of the military era in question it leaves a lot to be desired. Another influence was of the negative type. I was sick and tired of rules which snowed the players down under blizzards of charts, dice rolls, cross checking etc, etc, etc. I wanted to avoid this and tried to be ruthless at cutting away the impedimenta without loosing sight of the objectives.

How long did The Marshal's Baton take from inspiration to final product? Did you get any faster as you continued?

As I've said previously the basic ideas for TMB have been with me for a number of years. Serious work began about three years ago and was completed by the end of 1996.

When in design mode, what's your favorite snack food?

Pass!

Do you play computer games?

No

What type of system do you have?

A MAC Classic II. It does all the WP work required of it.

What piece of hardware--real or imaginary--would you add to it?

I'd replace it with an IBM type PC with modem and everything which turned, squeaked and flashed if I could. Not because my MAC is a bad machine but because it is very limited and the market is dominated by PCs.

In general, do you think board wargames make the leap to computer screens effectively? Why or why not?

I've had so little exposure to them I don't fel qualified to comment.

How would you like to see The Marshal's Baton presented on a computer screen, if at all?

I believe it could work but I don't know how or in what format. I must admit a bias here as I prefer figures, tables, scenery and live interaction with other people.

If you were going to be represented on a computer screen by an icon, what would it be?

Pass!

Computer games are becoming an extension of Hollywood--games based on movies or movie characters. Do you believe the Hollywoodized games to be better, worse, or about equal to ones created from original material? Why?

Pass!

What was the last movie (theater) you watched? Last videotape rental?

'The Game' at the theatre, 'Mississippi Burning' as a rental.

Is there a movie you'd like to do a game of?

The USMC storming Tangiers in "THE WIND AND THE LION", I love that scene!

Given unlimited resources but present day technology, what would you design and why would it be cool?

Pass!

They say everyone needs a hobby. How do you decompress outside of game designing/playing?

Wargaming is my hobby! Other than that I enjoy reading and writing military history, I like drawing, travelling (when I can afford It), riding my bicycle, watching movies.

Where was the last place you visited on vacation? What's your next vacation spot?

Brisbane, Australia. Melbourne, Australia.

If not bound by time or space, where would you go...and why?

I would love to do an in depth tour of the Civil War battlefields of both the Eastern and western theatres of operations. I would also like to do the same along the Western front in France and on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. The first tour would be to see for myself the places I've read about and studied for years, the second for much the same reason and the third to pay homage to a part of Australian history which was crucial in the development of our national folklore and character.

Excluding your own creations, what three games (of any type) would you take with you to the proverbial desert island? What three books?

Books: LORD OF THE RINGS, THE HOBBIT and DAVID CHANDLER'S CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON. Games: A DECK OF CARDS, CHESS and DOMINOS, apart from their normal uses these three would give me the basic ingredients from which I could create any number of wargames.

We see the emergence of online gaming as putting the social aspect (and the smarts of a real-live opponent) into gaming on a world-wide scale. Good or bad? Why?

The idea of online gaming does open the potential for a world wide network of likeminded people to participate in their hobby. I see this as a very good thing. I can see the advantages of playing a 'real' person over an electronic opponent. My only concern is that online gaming might distract people from minatures, I've seen friends who began PC gaming drop out of the minature scene entirely. On the other hand online wargaming might encourage people into miniatures, like most things it depends upon individual interest. I do see great potential for running a miniatures campaign with an international cast. I'm doing something like that at the moment but on a much more modest scale, one of the players lives 3,800 km away; he sends orders via e-mail. The potential is there.

Do you have a favorite poster or cartoon hanging by your desk? What is it and what makes it your favorite?

Max Escher's "Drawing Hands" hangs on the wall of my office. I like it as an example of the artists skill as a draughtsman and the quirky subject matter which implies and endless cycle of human creativity.

What epitath would you want encoded on your (hopefully far in the future) digital tombstone?

Pass! (I did think about this one - I figure its best to leave it to someone else to write my epitath)

What question did we leave out that you would like to answer?

Pass!

Any last omniscient thoughts for MagWeb members?

Read all you can about your area of interest and think about want you've read. Acknowledge good ideas but don't be afraid to question silly ones. Choose your wargaming opponents well. Finish one painting project before starting the next ( a hopelessly idealistic fantasy).

Short Bio of accomplishments outside game design:

Commissioned Officer in the Australian Army (Reserve) 1986. Served with 4/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse Regt (Armoured Recon). I've travelled a lot, and have visited most continents at least once.