The BOX!

We’ve jumped in our old red automobile and rushed with 20 miles per hour speed to the closest village. It was a sunny morning but then, as always in Belgium (always for the past year), the rain has come and the small wheels of the red old cranky automobile started to make slow slippery movements in the mud. We knew we got stuck. Did I say we were in the wildest mountains and the forest around was even wilder now when the rain got heavier? And did I say that this wilder and wilder with every minute forest and mountains were famous for their hungry bears and poisons snakes? Yes, and we were lost, stuck and …

Good that this is not a real story. Some times I’ve noticed, it’s easier to tell the story straight from your imagination than to actually be honest and write about the truth. I will try really hard this time to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.

So… it was like this.

In the morning, the weather was really great. It was almost sunny and you could even see a little bit of the blue sky!! “What a day!” I said to myself. But after we've jumped to our not-so-old and not-so-new black automobile it really started to rain. We rushed to L., a town which is real and where our friend who we’ve never met face-to-face lives. Did I say why we were rushing to the mysterious L. town? Oooh, I see - I did not. Let me explain to you what was the reason to rush through the rain on the great highways of Belgium! We went to see the BOX, but not any box; this was an actual handmade wooden and beautifully self-designed BOX. One day after buying a wild Warriors & Traders game box, our friend Tassos got so angry with the magically flying components of the game that he decided to do something. He did not want to lose any of the Barbarian units, Army units or - God forbid! - Princesses! He is a wise man, he is an engineer and he has an artistic soul, so he sat down and thought for a few days. And then he made the BOX.

And here is the BOX, handmade, wooden, with burnt out names and logo of Warriors & Traders

Ok, I do not know how he actually got the idea and if what I wrote is in any way related to the truth – but I like this story, so just follow my words for few more sentences and then enjoy the pictures.

Just keep reading… good! : )

We met Tassos in L. and then he showed us the BOX. I’ve seen the pictures a few days back, but it was something totally different to see the real thing. It was just an amazing piece of work. Tassos even took the time to get Warriors & Traders logo printed on the top of the wooden box. He made it himself! And as I was looking at the handmade beauty, I’ve noticed that it can rotate, so the players can get all the resources and other tokens much easier and that all the compartments are the perfect size for every single token in Warriors & Traders. And I could not believe that we’ve found him so easily. It is a big day, a great day and the day to remember and cherish when things are going bad, as we have just meet a soul mate. Whatever was the reason for Tassos to do the BOX, for me it meant - here he seats, a Facebook friend, mailing friend, a Twitter friend – a FRIEND who understands our craziness and passion.

Thank you Tassos – you made our day. And the BOX – it’s just precious!

And thank you all for getting through!

The beginning (part 1)

The idea of Warriors & Traders came to me in February 2010. 

Being in a group of board games enthusiasts, we were playing almost anything we could get our hands on. One day, during a game of Risk, the dice were not on my side and I started complaining heavily, so a good friend said the magic words "If you don't like this one, why don't you make your own board game?!".

Those words stayed in my head for a long time, until it finally came to me, why don't I start designing my own game? I had already though about this, but the idea seemed overwhelming. I needed something different from everything we had played until then.

By April 2011, the answer was clear, I needed to make a board game that is interesting, fun to play and  involving no luck! Having this settled, I chose the environment, the Dark Ages of Europe, and I started working on the mechanics.

Warriors & Traders - version 0.1

The first version of Warriors & Traders looked nothing like it does today, but it kept the paradigms of game design that can be found in the commercial version: military strategy, economic development and social interaction through trading. And let's not forget about balance and no luck.

There was a map, there were armies, many, many types of armies -, there were development cards and a very basic set of rules, on a small piece of paper.

During the first month of testing, the versions were changing from one day to the next and testing involved only another person, who I have to thank for the patience and diligence. The main issues were having a coherent set of rules and ... making it playable.

For the next two months of testing, the time between two consecutive versions increased from a few days to a few weeks, but still I was already at version 0.11 when I decided that it was the high-time for larger scale testing.

The first to see the game were the very people that are now involved in NSKN and made this project possible.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story...