Playing With History

Board game company immerses players in the past

STORY BY RHOADES CLARK

Julius Caesar’s troops have been ordered to move west from Genua and attack Pompey The Great’s troops in the port town of Massalia. Caesar’s control of Rome, Athens and Ephesus has given him a slight advantage in the two years since the war started. He’s also killed Metellus Scipio — one of Pompey’s commanders — leaving Pompey’s control of the eastern Mediterranean uncertain.

The war pauses as Grant Dalgliesh weighs his options. He is playing “Julius Caesar,” one of dozens of block war games developed by his family-run business, Columbia Games. Grant’s father, Tom Dalgliesh, is speaking on the phone a few feet away with a game designer, going over recent changes to Columbia Games’ latest game, “Victory in Europe.”

Grant lives with his father, Tom, and mother, Penny, in Blaine, Wash., where they converted a tri-plex into a game studio for their growing business in 2012.

Tom Dalgliesh started Columbia Games — known as Gamma Two Games until 1983 — in 1972 in Vancouver, B.C., after earning a history degree at Simon Fraser University. He wanted to become a teacher, but discovered education was not a lucrative field in Canada at the time, he says.

Instead, he put his history degree to use by combining it with his passion for games that grew during the time spent playing with his friends in college. Tom Dalgliesh invented a tabletop board game called “Quebec 1759.” He continues to create games with the goal of teaching history through gameplay, operating under Columbia Games.

“I think schools are missing the boat when it comes to teaching history,” Tom Dalgliesh says. “You could play ‘Julius Caesar’ three or four times and know the entire geography of the Mediterranean.”

“Quebec 1759” is a simulation of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Also known as the Battle of Quebec, the real event was a pivotal moment in the French and Indian War.

“A lot of people don’t realize the Battle of Quebec is the reason the American Revolution could happen,” Tom Dalgliesh says.

“Quebec 1759” marked the first appearance of the blocks that define most of Columbia Games’ work. Block war games are characterized by the small, six-sided blocks players move around a map. Each block has a labeled side that details the unit and a blank side that faces the opponent. Players can see the location of enemy units, but they can’t tell what the unit is or how strong it is.

The success of “Quebec 1759” encouraged Tom Dalgliesh to continue producing board games based on other historical battles.

Other companies make similar games based on historical events, but contain thousands of pieces and kitchen-floor sized maps. Games such as “Axis & Allies” and “Game of Thrones” can take whole weekends to play, but Columbia Games offers shorter experiences and fewer pieces to work with, Grant Dalgliesh says.

Most of Columbia Games’ war games can be played between three and five hours while maintaining epic scopes.

Some critics consider Columbia Games’ board games light in content, but Columbia Games maintains the philosophy that less is more. Costs and production are minor factors in decisions to make the games shorter and accessible.

“We want to make every move matter, every piece matter, and every step and every action important,” Grant Dalgliesh says.

“Victory in Europe” allows players to cut through the baggage of longer board games and perpetuates player interaction.

“The complexity comes from players reading each other as they make moves,” Grant Dalgliesh says.

In an era where the gaming market is dominated by video games, tabletop gaming is part of an incredibly niche market. Columbia Games sells a few thousand copies of each game, with the most successful pushing 10,000 copies, Grant Dalgliesh says. In comparison, the popular video game “Grand Theft Auto V” sold 11 million copies in its first 24 hours on the market. It made $1 billion in three days. Even smaller independent titles such as “Thomas Was Alone” or “Ridiculous Fishing” earn millions of dollars.

The Dalgliesh’s keep the business going because they enjoy it, despite not making much money, Grant Dalgliesh says. Columbia Games will remain a family business for years to come. And while the market for tabletop war games is small, the Dalgliesh’s aren’t worried.

In the next 40 years, Grant Dalgliesh recognizes the industry will likely continue to move toward video gaming, but says he is confident that history will always generate interest for niche-market games.

“One of my fundamental theses of life is that history is pretty timeless,” Grant Dalgliesh says. “Motivations of people are pretty much the same as they ever were.”

He considers his next move in “Julius Caesar.” One round of fighting damaged his units, and he has the option to retreat back to Genua and regroup. He rolls his dice to attack, but the math didn’t work in his favor and Pompey wipes out his units.