Interview with Brian Train

Brian Train has been at the forefront of designing games about insurgency and urban warfare. He is probably best known for his COIN volumes: A Distant Plain & Colonial Twilight, his District Commander Series, Nights of Ire, Brief Border Wars and much more. We discussed designing for insurgency, irregular warfare, and the tension between unpleasant topics and fun gameplay. 

Chapters

• 0:36 Design Notes
• 8:59 Historicity of a Model
• 20:02 Designing Games on Insurgency & Urban Warfare
• 45:13 Ukrainian Crisis & Tabletop Design as Citizen Journalism
• 57:28 Unpleasant Topics vs Fun Play