Frank Chadwick

Frank Chadwick is a game designer. He co-founded Game Designers' Workshop in 1973. He has also done consulting work in the defense industry.

Chadwick has designed several sets of historical miniature and role playing games rules sets. These include "En Garde!" (which he sold to SFC Press in 1987) and two very popular sets for www.testofbattle.com: "Volley and Bayonet" (now in its 2nd edition), for the blackpowder era, and "Command Decision" (now in its 4th edition) for combat in World War Two. He also designed the "" RPG and wrote the "Desert Shield Factbook" and "Gulf War FactBook".

His primary contribution was designing board wargames, and has over 50 titles to his credit.

Board Wargames designed for Game Designers' Workshop

There is little doubt that, even in the rather busy pantheon of (wargame) industry heroes, Frank Chadwick is a Zeus amongst the Ajaxes. He is one of - if not THE - finest game designer working today. Since GDW's emergence in the mid 70's, Chadwick has been GDW's main designer, producing a body of work remarkable for its breadth and width. ... ever resourceful, Frank C covered his simulated butt with the out-of-sight success of his "Desert Shield Fact Book". Its reported, six-figure sales will probably bank-roll the company for the next decade. And, as if that weren't enough, he has steered GDW (admittedly with the astute help of others) from a small-town, Third World company to its status as one of the major simulation and RPG publishers in the market today. Frank is also president of the industry professional association, GAMA, so GDW's tentacles reach out to almost every cave in which hobbiests can hide in. If dice produced olive oil, there is no doubt that Frank Chadwick would be wargaming's Godfather.

Richard Berg, 13 time Charles S. Roberts Award winner, in "Berg's Review of Games", issue #3, Spring 1992

Chadwick is known for innovative game designs. His work has been successful across several types of games. He has designed tactical, operational and strategic games, utilizing many different board wargame formats. His work includes hex based games, area movement games, double blind games, monster games, and series games.

Some of the highlights include:

"Drang Nach Osten" and "Unentschieden" are very large (monster) games covering World War II in Russia from 1941 to 1944. These were some of the original monster games, of which many following games have been patterned upon. Chadwick was quoted in "Fire & Movement" magazine that he scaled the games to fit a ping pong table, as he figured that many wargamers owned them but used them for board games (and not ping pong.)

"A House Divided" is one of the most successful area movement wargames ever made.Fact|date=July 2007 Chadwick combined ease of play, size, historical accuracy and parsimony (4 pages of rules) to make this one of the most entertaining games on the American Civil War. The game is in its 3rd edition, the previous two being Charles S. Roberts Award winners.

Two games, "Citadel" (the battle of Dien Bien Phu) and "Avalanche" (the Salerno landing in 1943) allow units to move anywhere on the game board. This unique design creates a highly fluid and dynamic game play, and has made these games classics.

Chadwick's tactical analysis of the American M1 Abrams tank in his "Assault" series of games raised eyebrows in "Fire & Movement" magazine and amongst wargamers.Fact|date=July 2007 He rated its armour and firepower as much superior to the contemporary tanks it would face (the T-62, T-64, T-72 and T-80.) Combat reports from the first Gulf War, where the M1 Abrams dominated the battlefield, proved his thesis correct.Fact|date=July 2007

Chadwick is no stranger to series games. He helped found "Europa", one of the oldest series of wargames in the hobby. His "Assault", "First Battle" and "Third World War" series of games were a comprehensive analysis of a potential 1980s or 1990s global conflict. His "120 Series" of games were designed with 120 counters and meant to be played in 120 minutes.

He was inducted in the Charles S. Roberts Award Hall of Fame in 1984.

His game designs:

*"Drang Nach Osten" (1973) - 1st edition "Europa" series
*"Unentshieden" (1973) - 1st edition "Europa" series
*"Narvik" (1974) - 1st edition "Europa" series
*"Torgau" (1974)
*"1815: the Waterloo Campaign" (1975)
*"Crimea" (1975)
*"Avalanche" (1976)
*"Kasserine Pass" (1977) - new edition of a "Conflict" game by John Hill
*"Bar-Lev" (1977) - new edition of a "Conflict" game by John Hill
*"Case White" (1977) - 1st edition "Europa" series
*"Citadel" (1977)
*"Battle of the Alma" (1978) - "120 Series"
*"The Fall of Tobruk" (1978)
*"The Battle of Lobositz" (1978) - "120 Series"
*"Operation Crusader" (1978)
*"Overlord" (1978) - new edition of a "Conflict" game by John Hill
*"Beda Fomm" (1979) - "120 Series"
*"Belter" (1979)
*"Road to the Rhine" (1979)
*"White Death" (1979)
*"1940" (1980) - "120 Series"
*"Asteroid" (1980)
*"Azhanti High Lighting" (1980) (Charles S. Roberts Award winner)
*"The Battle of Prague" (1980) - "120 Series"
*"Tacforce" (1980) - miniatures rules
*"A House Divided" (1981) - 1st Edition (Charles S. Roberts Award winner)
*"Suez '73" (1981)
*"Trenchfoot" (1981)
*"Attack in the Ardennes" (1982)
*"Soldier King" (1982)
*"Assault" (1983) - "Assault" series
*"Boots & Saddles" (1984) - "Assault" series
*"Spain & Portugal" (1984) - 1st edition "Europa" series
*"8th Army: Operation Crusader" (1984) - "Double Blind" series
*"The Third World War" (1984) - "Third World War" series
*"Southern Front" (1984) - "Third World War" series
*"Arctic Front" (1985) - "Third World War" series
*"Operation Market Garden" (1985) - "Double Blind" series
*"Bundeswehr" (1986) - "Assault" series
*"Battle for Moscow" (1986)
*"Persian Gulf" (1986) - "Third World War" series
*"Team Yankee" (1987) - "First Battle" series
*"Chieftain" (1988) - "Assault" series
*"Great Patriotic War" (1988)
*"" (1988)
*"Sky Galleons of Mars" (1988) (Origins Award winner)
*"A House Divided" (1989) - 2nd Edition (Charles S. Roberts Award winner)
*"Battlefield Europe" (1990) - "First Battle" series
*"Red Empire" (1990)
*"Battle for Basra" (1991) - "First Battle" series
*"The Sands of War" (1991) - "First Battle" series
*"Stand & Die" (1991) - "First Battle" series
*"Tet Offensive: 1968" (1991)
*"Blood and Thunder" (1992) - "First Battle" series
*"Bloody Kasserine" (1992)
*"Phase Line Smash" (1992)
*"Race for Tunis" (1992)
*"Battle Rider" (1994)

External links

*Travellerwiki|Frank Chadwick