Interview with Daniel Hernández Iniesta Designer of The Defense: The Siege of Cádiz, 1625 Appearing in C3i Magazine #38 from RBM Studio

Last year, we began a correspondence with a new and interesting designer named Daniel Hernández. He was working on a solitaire game at that time covering the Spanish Road during the Thirty Years’ War (1614-1648) called The Spanish Road (El Camino Español), which was specially designed for the 6th edition of the Bellota Wargames and Historical Games Convention that is held in Badajoz, Spain with the stunning artistic talent of Nils Johansson. Since that time, the game was printed in issue #37 of C3i Magazine from RBM Studio. He has now embarked on another project taking a look at the Siege of Cádiz which will be appearing in the upcoming issue #38 of C3i Magazine. We reached out to Daniel to get more information on the design and he has provided us with answers to our questions.

If you are interested in The Defense: The Siege of Cádiz, 1625, you can pre-order a copy of C3i Magazine #38 from the RBM Studio Store at the following link: https://c3iopscenter.com/rbm-studio-store/C3i-Magazine-Nr-38-Pre-Order-p645718603

*Please keep in mind that most of the artwork and layout of the various components shown in this interview are not yet finalized and are only for playtest purposes at this point. Also, as this game is still in development, rules and scenario details may still change prior to publication.

Grant: What is your game The Defense: The Siege of Cádiz, 1625 about?

Daniel: The game is a solitaire game where the player takes the role of the Spanish player and the AI (game system) the Anglo Dutch player (in the game called ‘Allied’ to abbreviate). The game is about the Siege that happened early November 1625 by an Anglo Dutch fleet commanded by Sir Edward Cecil to the city of Cádiz, with the intention to conquer it in order to support a naval blockade from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. But even more important strategically than conquering the city was trying to capture the Spanish Fleet of Indies that was coming from America. Thus, the game focuses on the naval Siege and battles around the city and a possible assault on the city.

And I would like to thank Rodger MacGowan specially and Steve MacGowan as well as Charlie Kibler and the whole team from RBM Studio for the wonderful job preparing the game for its publication, and for the confidence in me and my design to publish for the second time in C3i Magazine. It was my dream to publish at C3i as last year with The Spanish Road that had very positive feedback from players, so a second time publishing for a young designer as myself and even from Spain is a privilege that show how comfortable and happy we were both with our 1^st work to work together again. I really hope to one day meet Rodger MacGowan in person to thank him for all his help and support, besides his knowledge from so many years that I had the privilege and honor to learn from and I hope that him and all players will enjoy and be proud of the game.

Grant: What does the title of the game reference? What should it convey to players about the situation?

Daniel: The title has two references. The first one as ‘The Defense’ wants to emphasize that as the Spanish player its strategic goal was to resist the naval Siege (on naval battles, preparing the Bay of Cádiz and Cádiz city fortifications defenses) as well as a possible naval assault. So with ‘The Defense’ we found me as designer and Sergio Ortega Barrios (owner of the fantastic Spanish wargames blog ‘Mesa de Guerra’ that I highly recommend to follow), that captured the reason of the Spanish player to win and that was to resist offering a desperate but very epic resistance to the Anglo Dutch siege and possible assault of Cádiz. The second name ‘The Siege of Cádiz 1625’, wants to emphasize that specific year of the Siege, because in late 16th century and during the 18th century other sieges and attacks were attempted at the city of Cádiz.

Grant: Why was this a subject that drew your interest?

Daniel: During my research that started in 2020 for my upcoming strategic wargame design The Collapse that covers the entire 30 Years’ War (1618-1648), I looked at many historical events that occurred in the period and the Siege of Cádiz in 1625 was one of them. However, as I had to limit the card numbers included and select events, I decided not to include it despite finding the history intriguing.

So, when in early 2023 I had a talk with Sergio Ortega Barrios, who organizes the fantastic wargames convention Pax Lúdica at Cádiz at the last week of September about designing a game to give to the attendees (for free) he suggested to me that siege and immediately came to my mind that I already discarded it from The Collapse, but that I had some notes about it and was worth having a look at it. We both found it interesting, a unique history not well known neither in Spain so it was a great chance to design a wargame in a topic not-well known so we could increase its historical relevance.

Grant: What is your design goal with the game?

Daniel: The design goal was to first be fun (thus, I had to exclude some historical aspects as they seemed to make the game a bit boring to play), short-time play (it plays in about one hour), solitaire (so everyone who is interested in the topic can get it and play it without guessing if another player will like if it would be a multiplayer game), and challenging but not impossible to win (here players who played The Spanish Road published at C3i Nr 37 will find some similarities but with some interesting challenges added to adjust it to a naval siege and city assault).

Besides that design goal, the game has something unique to offer to players because in 2025 will be celebrated the 400th anniversary of the Siege (1625-2025). I thought that it would be a very special way to celebrate it will be very interesting and that’s when I suggested Rodger Mc Gowan after the fantastic work done together and great reception by player of ‘The Spanish Road’, that a special 400th anniversary edition at C3i will be a fantastic idea to commemorate 400 years of an amazing historical event. So, at C3i magazine Nr 38 players will find an English edition with rules made by an English native speaker, edited to English and reviewed all files by Sergio Ortega Barrios as game developer and the unique and wonderful layout made by Jarib Flores which believe me you will love it when you will see. And of course, the fantastic art made by Nils Johansson, which captures the historical period. But the most important in the design goal, was to present as many choices as possible to the player to choose from (from game actions, to what to do with the limited resources, when to fight or not …), have lot of fun and much more. But that’s something for the players to discover when they will read the article that I wrote for C3i Nr 38 and play the game.

Grant: What elements from the Thirty Years War are most important to include in the design?

Daniel: The Thirty Years’ War was a conflict where Sieges had a special relevance (some took longer than others, but it was a part of the conflict that I wanted to explain). But naval Sieges were very rare, so having the chance to show this unique aspect of a naval Siege was something that I really wanted to include in the game design.

Also the often not well-known conflict between Spain against England and the United Provinces was something that I wanted to reflect, because we often tend to highlight suchgreat battles as Nördlingen, Lützen, White Mountain among others and the great generals that took part in the conflict in central Europe, Flanders and even Northern Italy, but those smaller conflicts (because the naval Siege took not long) I thought that it will bring a unique aspect to the game and that players will enjoy playing a challenging but fun and historically accurate game about a not well-known topic as the Siege of Cádiz in 1625

Grant: What research did you do to get the details correct? What one must read source would you recommend?

Daniel: Here comes the main problem, because the Siege of Cádiz in 1625 is not well-known (neither in Spain, and even for myself before doing my research because I just knew that the siege didn’t succeed and that it happened in 1625 but nothing more). Because there are not many written documents, books or other printed material, it became quite challenging to document myself about the details and history of the Siege. Therefore, I had to refer mostly to my research notes and bibliography from The Collapse, and from there expand the information available.

So for the game research concretely, I looked at several museum and archives sources recommended by Sergio Ortega Barrios and also others that I looked by myself as the ‘Provincial Historical Archive from Cádiz’, internet sources like at University of Seville where I found two very interesting books recommended that I read as ‘Nueva Historia de Cádiz’ (‘Cádiz New History’) (2014) by Manuel Bustos Rodríguez which provides an Spanish version of the Siege very accurate and ‘Versiones inglesas de los ataques angloholandeses a Cádiz’ (‘English versions from the Anglo Dutch attacks to Cádiz’) (1985) by José Antonio Calderón Quijano which focuses on the English opinion about the Sieges to Cádiz (which includes the one in 1625). Consequently, I had the option to contrast both versions and highlight the most relevant information to research for the game. Furthermore, the game will include also a very interesting historical article written by my friend Carlos Díaz (whom I thank a lot his help and time to write it), so players will better understand the game context. Because Do you know a unique historical event that happened during the Siege as 4 ships that were sunk at the Bay of Cádiz to avoid the move of the Anglo Dutch fleet? Players will have the chance to explore by themselves this and other unique events from the Siege at the game and decide if they want to perform as historically happened or not.

Grant: What is the scale of the game and force structure of units?

Daniel: In the game there are Detachments and Fleets for both the Spanish player and the Anglo Dutch. The scale of the units has no concrete number of soldiers for the detachments or ships for the fleets, so each Detachment and Fleet represent an abstraction of strength and effort in the sea and land respectively.

While the Detachments have a full and reduced strength that can be flipped due to a land battle during the possible assault of Cádiz, each fleet has only one side and its strength is reduced due the result of naval combats from the respective Fleet Track. Some Anglo Dutch fleets have a maximum strength of 2 and others 3, which wants to reflect an uncertainty at which fleet was in front of the player, while both the Spanish fleets have a maximum strength of 2. But the 3 Anglo Dutch fleets that appear in the Bay of Cádiz map when they reach this area, come together as a single Allied Fleet which then is divided into 3 Fleets on different map start areas based on a 6-sided die roll which adds a very interesting uncertainty for the player to know where to place and/or move its Spanish fleets.

Grant: What is the meaning of the phrase “a linear game sequence system”? What does this look like?

Daniel: As presented in the game system and objective (1^st point in the rulebook), “a linear game sequence system” means that players have to follow step by step and in order the Sequence of Play for the game, which will be included as a player aid and only refer to the rulebook in case of need but being that the Sequence of Play is well detailed it will enhance gameplay. That linear game sequence system will support that all steps are performed correctly, and after a while it won’t be needed to check it in the rulebook unless concrete situations which are well detailed and explained.

Grant: As a solitaire game how does the AI work? What are its possible actions and priorities?

Daniel: The solitaire system (AI) works taking the actions for the Allied player (Anglo Dutch) in a very simple, but effective and fast gameplay keeping an interesting game tension. For example, when the Allied Fleet reaches the Bay of Cádiz space, automatically in the Bay of Cádiz map the 3 allied fleets that formed the Allied Fleet combined are determined randomly in which of the 3 possible start areas they appear. Then, when it is the Allied fleets movement step they move to an adjacent sea area based on the result of a 6 sided-die (like in The Spanish Road published at C3i Nr 37) and if they have a leader an extra movement following the same conditions from a die-roll.

Also there is another important moment in the game, to check if the Allied disembarkation and landing is successful (if the conditions to disembark are met, and also the tide effects for the disembark to know the exact strength of the Allied detachment). This disembarkment is run by the AI, and it is very important because it may allow to happen and having to play the assault of Cádiz, and when the Allied detachment moves once disembarked it will do so following the die-roll result to an adjacent space (similar like the Allied fleets at Sea).

For the events and other aspects as Allied leaders’ movement, as well as when and how to use the resources received by the Allied based on a table priority following a die-roll, and when to use the reserves and other resources during gameplay the AI explains it very clear when to apply each one of them adjusting to the current map situation.

Grant: What is the makeup of the Allied Anglo-Dutch armies?

Daniel: As mentioned above in the structure of the units, it has no concrete number of soldiers each army and in the game the Anglo Dutch army is reflected in a single Detachment counter that tries to reach the center of Cádiz when the assault happens in order to win the game.

The game includes 4 leaders (3 English and 1 Dutch), that when the Allied Fleet combined reached the Bay of Cádiz the player picks two randomly (placing all four on their back side) and placing (without revealing the leaders) at the Allied Fleet 1 and 2. So each game will have an interesting replayability, because not all leaders will be the same.

Grant: I see that the game uses 2 different maps including an Operational Map and a Tactical Map. Why is this the case?

Daniel: The reason is to reflect in two maps the operational movement of the fleets and their actions in the Bay of Cádiz (also how the fortifications in the bay may be built), and in another map the tactical actions at the city of Cádiz if the assault of the city finally happens. This was made intentionally to allow players to focus on the current game map and not on two.

Grant: What opportunities does this give the design?

Daniel: This design decision allows as mentioned above for players to focus visually on the map that they are currently playing with, and leave the other aside for the moment helping gameplay.

Grant: How can players affect the difficulty level?

Daniel: At the game setup, players may select the difficulty as easy, medium or hard (like in The Spanish Road). Each difficulty level selected, indicates the number of turns that the player must resist in order to fulfill one of the victory conditions in two cases.

The first case is how much strength must have one of the three Allied fleets when reaching the disembarkation zones to disembark successfully (there are 3 options) on the Bay of Cádiz map, and also the level of fortifications in the Bay of Cádiz and the city that the player may build during the setup.

The second case, is how many turns the player must hold off the Allied detachment, before reaching the center of Cádiz if the disembarkation successfully happens.

Grant: What is the general Sequence of Play?

Daniel: The Sequence of Play is as follows:

Game setup (only during the 1^st turn)

INITIAL PHASE

For all turns (including the 1^st turn) ‘Start of the turn’ (morale impact on the Spanish fleets)
Effect of the Thirty Years’ War (only Turns 2 to 6, results from a random events table)
Effect of the Turn Weather (all turns, results from a random events table which may impact turn actions)
Detection attempt of the Allied Fleet coming from England
Resources received and distributed by the player depending if the Allied Fleet was detected or not (more if it was detected), which can be used to increase fleets strength, prepare fortifications in the Bay of Cádiz or the same city, keep some for reserves or if the possible assault to Cádiz approaches to bombard the Allied detachment (depending if the city fortifications were prepared previously).

OPERATIONAL PHASE (on the Bay of Cádiz map)

Turn event (result on a random event table)
Allied Fleet advance (if it was not detected)
Spanish Leaders movement (from Cádiz to the Spanish Fleets and vice versa)
Allied Leader movement (without flipping the allied leader counter, they may move between allied fleets at the Bay of Cádiz depending on a die-roll)
Naval Blockade of Cádiz (it is checked if during 4 turns consecutive the naval blockade conditions were met, so the player loses the game immediately)
Establish Blockaded zone (the player may voluntarily decide to sunk some ships and block an area to move to/from, and later to remove it leaving it permanently open)
Spanish Spies (the player may spend resources to repeat if not successful the detection of the allied fleet, reveal allied leaders in a fleet …)
Check for landing, and if the conditions are met the player moves to the map of Cádiz city (tactical map), and follows the steps to confront the allied assault to Cádiz.

TACTICAL PHASE (on the Cádiz city map, and only if the Allied disembark is successful)

Preparation for Assault on Cádiz (only the first turn of the assault)
Tactical options (all turns of the assault)
Effect on Spanish morale, detachment recovery and the assault to Cádiz status (all turns of the assault)

Grant: What purposes do the Game Track, Fleet Advance, Allied Track, Resource Track and Fleet Track have in the game?

Daniel: The tracks allow the player to gather the game information in a more easy and convenient way and to identify as follows:

The Game Track: keeps track of the turn, how many turns has been placed the naval blockade (if the conditions are met) for a possible player’ defeat and the morale for the player that starts at 25 but most likely will be reduced throughout the game due to actions, battles and so on that if ever reaches value 0 the player has lost the game.
The Fleet Advance: this is an abstraction of how the Allied Fleet combined progress to reach the Bay of Cádiz since its start in England. Each turn (until is discovered the Allied fleet), it is checked if detected and if so and depending on the turn it is rolled to know where it was detected exactly (there are several locations in the Fleet Advance Track). So it could be that it is detected in turn 2 and the location was … already the Bay of Cádiz! The player wants to detect the Allied Fleet combined as soon as possible because it gives more resources and time to prepare for the defense of the Bay of Cádiz and the city itself, but if it is detected too early and close to the Bay of Cádiz this means that you have fewer time to prepare.
The Allied Track: This is where the Allied fleets once they reach the Bay of Cádiz is placed a counter to keep its strength and also the Allied leaders on top of each Fleet area. Same for the player with the ‘Spanish Fleet Track’.
The Resource Track: For both players, there is a track where the resources are tracked and used during the turn. While the player resources are more limited before detecting the Allied Fleet combined (2 vs 4 resources and an extra resource if the leader Duke of Medina-Sidonia is placed at the city of Cádiz at the game setup) and can use into the desired options (up to a max. of two per resource type), the Allied receives a fixed number of resources and depending on a priority resources table die-roll the resources are tracked there.
The Fleet Track: this is as mentioned above, were both factions keep track of their fleet’s strength and leaders (if the fleets have any).

Grant: What different leaders are available to the Spanish? What abilities do they have?

Daniel: The player who takes the role of the Spanish forces has 3 leaders. While the Duke of Medina-Sidonia who historically took a relevant role in the defense of the siege of Cádiz in 1625 stayed in Jerez de la Frontera, I wanted to reflect in the game as possible and historically accurate “¿what if?” as if it was decided to stay in Cádiz closer to the front line of the siege. In game terms this is reflected as an extra resource each turn if the player decides to place him in Jerez space on the Bay of Cádiz map, or an extra morale point each turn if he is placed in a space in the center of Cádiz at the Bay of Cádiz map. But keep in mind that this setup decision is EXTREMELY important, because it is permanent and makes each game unique on its leaders’ placement strategy. Do you prefer one extra resource each turn (they are very limited), or an extra morale point (the morale will drop for sure and probably quite fast)? The decision is yours!

On the other hand, the other two Spanish leaders ‘Fernando Girón’ and ‘Pedro Ruiz’ (both took an important role in the Cádiz defense) could be moved to/from a space at the center of Cádiz in the Bay of Cádiz map to a Spanish fleet that has no leader already (or swap with already there). But keep in mind that there are only two spaces available to place them at the center of Cádiz so if you have placed the Duke of Medina Sidonia there you will have only one space available and the other leader must be placed with a Spanish fleet.

The benefits and abilities to have a Spanish leader at a fleet or the center of Cádiz are:

At a Spanish fleet: allows a possible extra move and bonus on a naval battle.

OR-

At a space at the center of Cádiz: allows some benefits in a possible assault to Cádiz such as avoid the Spanish Detachment being flipped to its reduced-strength side due to a land combat.

So, players must plan carefully where and when to place their leaders, taking a very important decision already at the setup with the Duke of Medina Sidonia placement, and later with the other two leaders that may be moved during the turn between the Spanish fleets and an available space at the center of Cádiz. But if the assault to Cádiz is launched because the conditions for the Allied are met you may be at danger, because from that moment you will be able to use the resources saved (but won’t be able to get more), and the leaders placed already at the center of Cádiz, so be careful on a proper timing of leaders’ placement!

Grant: What operation choices do players have to choose from?

Daniel: The player (takes the role of the Spanish), has the option to decide where to allocate its resources (and I must say that they are limited) into 4 options during the operational phase of the game, so later can decide how to use them during the game as follows:

Naval strength: to increase the two Spanish Fleets strength, so later can better confront the Allied fleets and also avoid losing morale at the start of a turn if a Spanish Fleet has 0 strength.
1. Repairs: in order to improve the 4 fortifications around the Bay of Cádiz on the operational map (Bay of Cádiz map) that help to protect the 4 cities around Cádiz being conquered (because if Rota, Puerto de Santa María, Puerto Real and San Fernando) the player loses the game immediately. Cádiz defense: an opportunity to improve the 3 fortifications in Cádiz city to protect it when an Allied Fleet gets to the same area and also to possibly bombard more effectively if the Allied disembark is successful and being able to attack the Allied detachment.

The Allied side (run by the AI), dictates how the resources are allocated and the possible actions to take at each moment, being really challenging and adjusting its difficulty to the changing map situation making each game unique and highly replayable. And if the possible assault to Cádiz happens because the conditions are met, the game enters into the tactical phase on the city of Cádiz map. In that map the player (taking the role as the Spanish) has to avoid the Allied Detachment reaching the center of Cádiz in the turns selected on the game difficulty at the game setup. In order to do that, the game has 4 possible choices that the player may choose from being 3 optional and 1 mandatory as follows:

Spanish movement: move to an adjacent space (the player starts at the center of Cádiz), and get closer to the Allied detachment. If a leader is present at the center of the city, an extra movement must be attempted.
Bombardment: depending on the level of the 3 fortifications in the city of Cádiz that were prepared previously and if the Allied detachment is in one of the bombardment zones, the player may try to bombard the Allied detachment to flip it to its reduced-strength using reserve points.
Barricades: limited to 2 to cancel the Allied detachment into the same area as the Barricade is placed.
Enemy movement: the Allied detachment moves to an adjacent space based on a die-roll result, and if a leader is present in the Fleet that successfully disembarked attempt an extra movement. While the enemy movement is mandatory, the other 3 options are optional and the player may decide its order each turn but can’t repeat them and once an option started it must be finished before starting another one. Should the player move first to get closer and fight the Allied detachment, Or should allow the Allied detachment to move first and see if they reach a bombardment zone, When is most effectively to place one of the two barricades available (once used they are gone)?, When to perform one of the 4 possible choices and its order is another key decision for the player to take, which adds a unique strategic depth to the game.

Grant: What type of events are found on the Events Table?

Daniel: There are six possible events, and a die-roll is done between turns 2 and 6 and a result applied for the rest of the turn. Events can range from modifiers to weather determination, impact on the Spanish morale, modifiers to the Allied Fleet combined detection and two of the events are possible only once per game (if the die-roll result is the same as one of those two events, there is no effect). Those two unique events are:

‘Annus Mirabilis’ (marvelous year, showing that 1625 was a special year for Spain with several and important military victories as ‘The Siege of Cádiz’, ‘The Siege of Breda (in Flanders)’ or ‘Bahía reconquest in Brazil from the United Provinces’
The safe arrival of the Galleon Fleet from the Indies, which historically on their retreat back to England, the Allied Fleet if waited a few more time (maybe just a few days) near Cape Saint Vincent they would have met the Galleon Fleet and attempted its capture. This event wants to reflect it’s a safe arrival to the city of Cádiz.

Grant: What is the role and purpose of the Spanish Spies?

Daniel: The Spanish Spies is a step performed during the operational phase (which happens at the Bay of Cádiz map). For 1 reserve point (and only once per turn), the player may flip an allied leader to its named side if not revealed already on an allied fleet, or if previously unsuccessful make another attempt to detect the Allied Fleet combined. They had the purpose to work undercover, and try to detect the Allied Fleet and its compositions (including the leaders attached to the Anglo Dutch expedition from England to Cádiz.

Grant: How does a battle work in the design?

Daniel: There are two types of battles in the game, naval battles (when an allied fleet and a Spanish fleet are at the same sea area on the Bay of Cádiz map), or land battle (when the allied and Spanish detachments are on the same space on the city of Cádiz map).

For naval battles: it is subtracted the allied fleet strength to the Spanish fleet (from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 3 value), which is crossed with a 6 sided-dice modified by some factors (i.e, leaders, turn weather, use of reserves points, some events modifiers). The result indicated by crossing the values is the loses to suffer by the faction indicated (for example S1 means that the Spanish loses 1 strength from the fleet taking part in the naval battle. The winner is the faction that causes the highest loses, so if in the example mentioned previously the result was S1, as the Spanish lost 1 strength and the allied nothing, the winner would be the allied.

For land battles: is quite similar to naval battles and depending if a detachment is on its full or reduced-strength side it has a strength value it is substracted the Spanish detachment strength from the Allied detachment strength. That result is crossed by a 6 sided-dice with some modifiers (i.e., leaders present, use of reserves). Those two results crosses indicate the faction winner.

After either a naval or land battle, there is as most wargames a retreat from the defender and possible moral loses for the player depending if it’s the winner or loser of the battle.

Grant: How do sieges work?

Daniel: The siege concept in the game works as a strategic concept. Cádiz city could be conquered by assault, or by an effective naval blockade in order to surrender the city by siege. Thus, siege is reflected as one of the possible ways the player may lose the game if when the Allied fleet combined arrives to the Bay of Cádiz with two conditions:

If at least 2 (or the 3) allied fleets have a strength of 2 or more (if the 3 fleets fulfill the conditions the Spanish morale is reduced by 2, and if it’s only the case of 2 of the fleets by 1).
If option a) is maintained for four consecutive turns.

If both conditions are met for four consecutive turns, the naval blockade is effective and the Siege is successful for the allied with the consequent loss in the game for the player.

Grant: How is victory attained?

Daniel: Victory for the player (that takes the role of the Spanish) is attained very simply by not losing and resist the allied attacks. Thus, we must say that the Spanish player loses the game:

At any time: If Spanish Morale reaches zero (0) or less.

During the Operational Phase:

If the Allied conquers all four cities in the Bay: San Fernando, Rota, Puerto Real and Puerto de Santa María; or

The Allies maintain an active Naval Blockade for four (4) consecutive turns.

During the Tactical Phase:

If the Allied Detachment finishes its movement, after resolving any possible combat, in the center space of the Cadiz City map.

And the Spanish player wins the game by resisting the allied attacks:

During the Operational Phase:

If the game reaches Turn 10 and no assault on Cádiz has taken place.

During the Tactical Phase:

If the Allied Detachment is forced to withdraw into a landing zone.

If the Turn marker (“T”) reaches the zero (0) space on the Game Track.

Grant: How does the player make repairs to the defenses?

Daniel: The Spanish player may use resource points to build or restore fortifications in the Bay of Cádiz (not in the city of Cádiz), but first must be build its reduced-strength side before completing the fortification to its full-strength side. All fortifications have two sides that may be built from its reduced to its full-strength side (and be careful because they may be attacked during the Allied movement, but they also help you to bombard the Allied fleets!

Those fortifications are located in the Bay of Cádiz map:

In the spaces indicated not in Cádiz city (with a brown border around the icon): Santa Catalina Castle, Sancti Petri Fort and Matagorda Fortress. The Spanish player may use repair resource points to build them.

OR-

In the spaces indicated in Cádiz city (with an orange border around the icon): San Sebastián Castle, Santa Catalina Fort and San Felipe Bastion).

The Spanish player may use defense of Cádiz resource points to build them.

But the player must be careful, because if during the Allied naval movement, a fortification must be flipped from its reduced-strength side, it is permanently removed from play and can’t be built again.

Grant: What is the use of Barricades?

Daniel: The barricades block the Allied detachment advance in the city of Cádiz map when it reaches one space containing it.

Grant: Why was it important to include these elements?

Daniel: These elements (fortifications and barricades), played a key role historically in the siege of Cádiz 1625 and this chrome adds a unique concept not seen often in similar games and also allows to show why Cádiz was such an important city for the Anglo Dutch since its continuous efforts to conquer the city.

Grant: What do you feel the game design excels at?

Daniel: The game excels at providing a unique siege with things that are reflected in the game such as:

The decision for the Spanish player to sink some ships to blockade the movement between some regions. The tension when and where to prepare the fortifications as the player has two possible areas to build them with a unique game impact, as earlier in the game at the Bay of Cádiz or also at the city of Cádiz. The very simple but quite elegant and tense moment when is detected the Allied Fleet combined (if not detected already at the start on Turn 4, it is automatically detected that turn), but also when is detected … at which place? Maybe is detected at the same Bay of Cádiz and the player didn’t have too much time to decide how to prepare the defense. The many player options as the 3 mentioned on the previous points, and also if attack the Allied fleets with the risk of losing strength but with more chances to avoid or at least delay the possible Allied disembark. Or if placed during game setup the Spanish fleets closer to the areas where the Allied fleets might appear but with less strength, or inside the Bay of Cádiz more secured with a higher strength but a bit more far to react to the Allied fleets movements? Should the player follow a strategy to confront the Allied at the Bay of Cádiz, or enhance its defense for the possible assault to Cádiz? Or even more challenging, pursue for both strategies? So many tense choices, high replayability and full of history in about one hour gameplay. The game has a very positive approach for people with visual disabilities, since Nils Johansson made a wonderful work not only with the beautiful art but also including shapes in the fortifications and areas identification, so players that may have problems to distinguish colors will have the chance to distinguish them by shapes, becoming a very inclusive game for everyone.

And even more important, the game excels in a great team work result, because I am the designer and Nils Johansson did the graphic art, but without the playtesters (list that will be included in the game) as well as Sergio Ortega Barrios who worked as the game developer and translated the art files to English, Jarib Flores who did the wonderful files layout that you will find in the game and the fantastic RBM Studio led by Rodger Mc Gowan this game won’t be possible. So I would like to thank to them for their help and support, and I wish that they are proud and happy with the game result as I did working hard with them, and that we will celebrate together in the last week of September 2025 at ‘Pax Lúdica 2025’ wargames convention the unique 400^th anniversary of the Siege (1625-2025) with ‘The Defense’. I will have something special for the game, that those who will attend ‘Pax Lúdica 2025’ will see and have the chance to explore and play with, but the surprise will be in September 2025 😊

Grant: What other designs are you currently working on?

Daniel: I am working to deliver by the end of 2024 the files for The Collapse which is a strategic wargame that covers the entire Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) that can be ordered without compromise or payment request (is just a pledge of interest, but when he game will go to production if confirmed the interest will have a very interesting discount). The Collapse reserves can be made at (click ‘apúntame’): http://tinyurl.com/yfkkdbc3

I am also working on a solitaire game about the ‘Army of Sambre and Meuse’ during the French Revolution, which is a CDG very tense and uncertain that lasts only 4 turns showing the political and military struggle from that army and the tension to fight in many fronts with the need to control regions and expand the revolution … all together with limited resources which makes the game very tense and highly replayable. This project allows me to test some unique mechanics that I developed specifically for the game, with the intention to get players’ feedback as I have started early 2024 the research and start planning for my future bigger game about the French Revolution.

Besides that, I am truly enjoying a lot playtesting and helping my friend Clint Warren Davy with his upcoming design One Hour Napoleon with Worthington Games, which is a fantastic game about Napoleonic times which is very tense and fun that plays in about an hour and that I highly recommend to get when it will be available to reserve/purchase next year.

And I am having a lot of fun playing games with my friends too.

I would like to thank you Grant and Alexander for this great interview, and that I highly recommend to get next C3i magazine Nr 38 where the game The Defense-The Siege of Cádiz, 1625 will be a special edition to celebrate the historical 400^th anniversary of the Siege (1625-2025) with some special things and surprises including a special scenario that I designed to allow players to explore the historical Siege (that I won’t give more details as it is a surprise and something that I designed especially for C3i Magazine Nr 38 edition).

I have written also an article for C3i magazine Nr 38 about the game and Pax Lúdica fantastic convention in Cádiz organized by Sergio Ortega Barrios (owner of the blog ‘Mesa de Guerra’) with the support of the game club ‘Pax Lúdica’ from Cádiz. The convention takes place always the last week of September that I wish you have the chance to come in 2025 because you will have a wonderful wargames convention at a historical building called ‘La Bomba’. And we will have something special to celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the siege, great wargame players, wonderful gastronomy and a city full of history (including for the UK and US since the Duke of Wellington stayed in the city during the Spanish War of Independence, and also as being Cádiz the city where George Meade the ‘Army of Potomac’ winner at Gettysburg 1863 was born earlier 19^th century). It will be our pleasure to welcome you Grant and Alexander in Cádiz, also we will make sure that Xesco López “the Spanish Grant” will be present. You will not regret the experience coming to Cádiz in late September 2025.

If someone wants to contact me to playtest my designs or just to play together online, or any doubts that they may have they can find me on social media at X (@HndezDaniel) or Instagram (@daniel_hernandez_iniesta)

-Grant