Here is my Interview to Emanule Ornella, one of the best italian game designers and also a friend. The interview will be also soon posted on Boardgame News wher you can find the full series.
[Liga] Hi Ema, finally we are been able to arrange this interview. I think the reader could be interested in a short introduction about yourself
[Emanuele] I'm 34 year old. I love games since I was very young. I remember I designed and played a baseball simulation when I was about 8 years old. In Italy baseball is not so common, so I never find a team where to play. This gives me the idea to create a board game about that sport. I played several board games for kids until I discovered video games (years of Commodore 64). So I loose the passion for board games during 80s and played a lot to Magic the Gathering during 90s. At the end of 90s I started again with board games with some Faidutti's games (Mammouth valley, Castle) then passion came back. I started to design games in 2001. In
2003 with my wife Barbara I started to produce games and to attendee to Essen fair with the label of Mind the Move. Then we released one game at year
(that are Fantasy Pub, Oltre Mare, Il Principe).
[Liga] That really nice. I have also designed a game about baseball when I was kid, but I'm not evolved in a good game designer but in a restless gamer! And now, Cosa Bolle in Pentola?
[Emanuele] Hermagor of course! It's the new game from Mind the Move that I designed. The game will be produced by Rio Grande Games in the US market and from Quined and White Goblin Games in Netherland.
It is about merchants in a fantastic land. I would not say fantasy because there are no such as monsters or elves or dwarves. It is rather something about dark middle ages, where magic and superstitions are the natural way of explain things. There is a big city in the center of the map: Hermagor. There is a castle, and outside the castle there is market place where every week merchants and traders meet each other for their business. There is a lot of business to do with the main products asked in the land of Hermagor. There are Relics and Blessings to be trade. There are Salt and Maize for food purpose, there are Books and Amulets for your superstitions, and there are Weapons and Dragon's eggs for your strength.
On the main market at Hermagor you just buy your products and then you move with your goods from village to village in order to sell them. Find the better way and sell the most precious good is the way of the success. But it is only one of the way: each time you go to sell in a village you just build a Trade Station there! This will give you future income thanks to your opponents business. Moreover you want to grow in respectability and nobility.
I tried to have a fast game where rules are very easy to learn. Infact in Hermagor you just place 4 merchants on the general market to try collect the best products for yourself. Then you move your caravan on the near villages to sell them. That's almost all. Well, there are something more like buzz about business that give you extra income, special tiles that give you special abilities during the turn and a price table where product prices are floating.
With easy rules I wanted a game with good challenge each turn and the need to build a good strategy to win. Of course the winner will be the richest of the land.
I searched for a fantastic theme instead of a historical one because I tried to avoid the usual Catan like products. I thing that this theme is really good implemented thanks the great artwork from Frank Czarnè
[Liga] I like Hermagor and I'm really curious to see the final version and art. I think it works very well but I also know you have already at least another game almost ready to be published: so, please, tell us your projects for the future.
[Ema] Barbara and I had a new baby (Leonardo) just few days ago (3th of October). So our projects are for sure concentrated on him and his wonderful sister Alice (already 2 years and half old!!).
We planned to release another game for Nuremberg but this is still not decided which one.
Mind the Move try to grow up looking for other authors than me, but this must be carefully planned and we hope to achive this goal during the next year.
I want to thanks all my play testers in Italy (in Padova most of them) and around the world.
[Liga] Good luck. I know be a father is really a full-time job (I'm also father of a 5 years old daughter and she will have a little brother!) and also game designing will take away from you most of time, but I know you are also a gamer, so tell us the 10 games you like to play most.
[Emanuele] It is always hard to say because there are some games I play more often even if these are not my best choices, and because there are always so many new games to try (or someone old that I not yet tried! For instance El Grande!!).
Let me try to give you a list: Amun-Re, Hansa, Puerto Rico, Euphrate and Tigris and Caylus are about the most heavy.
Pockimino, Ticket to Ride Europe, Dragon's Gold, Kingdoms and Carcassonne Die Burg are from the more light. As you can see there are a lot of Knizia there.
[Liga] Hi Ema. thank you for this nice interview. Good luck and good play! See you in Essen
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