Interview - Alvaro Erize

This year, another very special opportunity opens for me and Jindra to join final pre-alfa playtest of new game Clash of Spears. Today, one of the authors of Erize Brothers join us in short talk about this new exciting game on Kickstarter. 

Q: Alvaro, thank you for agreeing to answer our questions and welcome to our blog. Can you tell us something about your gaming history?

Sure! When I was 8 and Francisco 12, our father came home with an orange book and two sets of miniatures. Warhammer 3rd ed., Orcs and Undead. From that day on we have wargamed every year of our lives. 

And of course we have modified/designed games for a good part of that time too. You should see our order based/simultaneous movement Warhammer version...

From then on we have wargamed in all worlds, times and platforms, and intend to continue doing it till they nail down our coffins!

Q: Let’s speak about this new project of yours, Clash of Spears currently at Kickstarter (NOV2019). Can you introduce CLASH to us? 

Happily! CLASH of spears is a fast paced, warband level, wargame to be played in 4’ by 4’ tables over 1 to 3 hours. It was designed to be fast and intuitive, while providing realistic feel, tactical depth and high impact decision making.

It is set in the rise of the Roman Republic and the Punic wars and meant to be played with warbands of 30 to 50 miniatures. It is being released with three ready to build and play warband boxed sets with beautifully detailed Victrix plastic miniatures. 45+ minis per box in 4 to 6 different troop types!

Gallic Starter Set from Victrix

Q: Is Clash your first published game? Where the idea started and how did you proceed with creating the game. Can you explain the design process?

It is. We have designed a few games and developed them quite a bit through our gaming lives but never published before. Almost two years ago Francisco and I decided it was time. We picked the skeleton of a system that had been in our minds for a long time, originally designed for fantasy battles, and made the internal decision to make it real. 

From that mental decision on things just started falling into place. The best decision was to involve a large community of unrelated gamers early on, this improved the game significantly but their excitement also put timing pressure on us, forcing us to keep the project going.

The rule set came first, getting the bones right and enough army lists to get people playing, and then we started bringing people on board for art design and more...it really took a life of its own!

Q: What was the hardest part to design? 

The activation mechanic had much iteration till we were really happy with it. It has a few moving parts that had to fit seamlessly. Hardest thing in game design is to add tactical depth without adding complexity. So we had to get it perfect. Don’t ask Francisco how many times it was rewritten.

Q: What mechanics do you like the most in the Clash?

I personally love the activation and reaction mechanic. And how they interact with command and fatigue! I feel command and actions many times get thrown together into one dynamic, either giving units’ super activation powers or treating everyone the same. In CLASH command points give you flexibility of when and how to activate your units but the units themselves suffer fatigue by how much they are asked to do. The two dynamics are separate but connected giving a lot of tactical depth without adding complexity.

CLASH is a game where you can very easily hurt yourself by the amount of freedom you have. And, like chess, it is a game where you may not realize the opponent actually has the advantage till it’s too late. And I love that.

Q: Why did you choose conflicts in Ancient „Italy“? 

You mean beyond how awesome the Roman Republic is and how epic the Punic wars were? 

I think probably one of the best aspects of this period is that every faction was allied and opposed to all other factions at one point or another. Gauls fought against Rome and Carthage but also FOR Rome and Carthage. Same for Iberian and Italian tribes. There is no potential for ugly –Americans vs British ww2- battles. Every conflict is both historically accurate and fun. 

You also have the clash of some very distinct types of warfare, thrusting spear vs throwing spear and open terrain vs guerrilla fighting, which gives a lot of variety and increases the tactical depth.

So you have a tactically beautiful era, with 12 different factions who all fought with and against each other in one of the most colourful periods of ancient warfare...we needed to tackle it!

Q: What do you think is the most important part of tactics/strategy of the era you recreated in Clash?

As I mentioned in the last question I think that the clash between thrusting spear and throwing spear really defines this time. But in a skirmish game like ours the key to the game becomes less your fighting doctrine and more your resource management of your troop’s willingness and capacity to continue violence.

Roman Starter Set from Victrix

Q: You have reached agreement with Victrix and produce some excellent starter box together for several factions. Any expansions planned? I am considering Victrix the best plastic models on the market, so I am eager to hear some news. 

Indeed, Victrix has created a huge line of BEAUTIFUL, highly detailed plastic miniatures and we will continue to expand on that together. For starters we have Iberian, Italian and Geek boxed sets coming soon...but that is just the beginning!

Q: Speaking about periods and missing games. What are your future plans with Clash?

The easy answer is that we have late republic/early imperial book in the pipeline (with some beautiful Victrix models to match!) but more than that what we hope is that by opening up our points system to the community we will have people testing and advancing army lists in chariot times, dark ages and medieval times right away so we can move officially into those sooner rather than later. Still our focus is to do one thing very well first. And the Punic wars are a great starting point to introduce our gaming system to the world...

Q: We are living of the Golden Age of Wargaming. There are tons of games available for gamer to choose from. So the key question is what is the reason for a potential buyer to purchase the game? 

First – It is a truly unique gaming system. Fast flowing but with a lots of command options for you to define the destiny of your crew. It will keep you at the edge of your seat (no downtime at all) and, while of course influenced by lady luck, it makes the outcome of the battle very dependent on your decisions. No dice throw marathon or flip a coin battles. It can be a little stressful to have so much control though :-).

Second – It’s a game, not a product. Supported by people that really love it, and will continue to invest in it. With partners like Victrix, 4ground and CBBM that give it a full range of miniatures and terrain, this game is going to be fully supported and expanded for a long time. 

Third – it was built specifically for gritty skirmish level conflict, not as an adaptation of a large battle rule set. And uses true wargaming mechanics to give it colour and depth, rather than more fantastic (but fun) board game mechanics. 

Fourth – It has been play tested for 1.5 years by more than 70 people in 7 different countries. While I am sure it still has gaps that will appear with competitive gaming, we have really fleshed this system out and it is ready to play.

Fifth – It’s an open system that will give you all the tools to make it your own and expand on it as you see fit. Help us co-build it!

Q: Let’s talk about wargames in general.  What do you expect the rule set have to have to satisfy you as a player?

One – my decisions need to matter. If I want to play the lotto I buy a ticket 

Two – it needs to transport me. Really make me feel I am there in the world/time/scale that the game is representing

Three- it needs to be balanced. I can be a power gamer, and I hate rulesets that allow me to abuse my opponent with army choice/design.

Four – it needs to flow. If I have to constantly check charts and read rules through the game I won’t have a great time.

Q: What do you seek designing the game, what do you want to achieve in game mechanics?

The same 4 things in the question above.

Q: I am still looking for Hussite Wars rules, especially now with success of PC game Kingdom Come: Deliverance (slightly pre-Hussite).  How would you design Hussite Wagenburg tactics in CLASH core system? I know it’s too early, but you can think now about it for future projects. 

Well...we need to talk more!! You will soon have the core of our build system at your disposal and we can start thinking!

Q: What games do you play often, or enjoy?

I like FOG, SAGA, Battlegroup, Brink of Battle, Bolt Action and Frostgrave for some quick fun!

Q: Do you prefer Resin, Plastic or Metal for models?

I really like the clean details of highly detailed plastics and the ability to change heads and poses so that every member of a unit is unique

Thank you for your time and opportunity to join the creative process. We wish you a good luck and hope we can help in the future!

Dalibor and Jindra