Interview with Matt White Designer of Until the Bitter End – Tanks – Battle of the Bulge Print ‘n Play Currently on Kickstarter

A few years ago, we posted an interview with Matt White, who is a very talented graphic artist and budding game designer, that focused on his artistic talents and love of tanks. He has since designed several very interesting small scale print and play wargames, with his most recent series being a World War II tactical wargame series for 1-2 players pitting the British Airborne versus the German Wehrmacht called Until the Bitter End. He has proceeded to add several different expansions or entries to this series including Until the Bitter End – US Airborne followed by Until the Bitter End – Tanks. His most recent offering in the series is called Until the Bitter End – Tanks – Battle of the Bulge and is currently being offered on Kickstarter. We reached out to Matt to get a bit more information about the game and he was willing to respond to our questions.

If you are interested in Until the Bitter End – Tanks – Battle of the Bulge Print ‘n Play, you can visit the Kickstarter campaign page at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1564988876/until-the-bitter-end-tanks-battle-of-the-bulge

Grant: What is this new project you are Kickstarting? Is it an expansion for your previous successful Until the Bitter End?

Matt: My new project is Until the Bitter End – Tanks – Battle of the Bulge. This is the latest in my series of Until the Bitter End Tanks games and the third game in that series. It is a completely stand alone game though.

Grant: Do we need to own Until the Bitter End to play this game?

Matt: You don’t need to own or have played any of the other games in the Until the Bitter End Series. This game comes complete with all the rules, scenarios, player aids, maps, counters, etc. for both Solitaire and 2-player games.

Grant: I know the design is a Print ‘n Play. Why do you feel this model is best suited for your design?

Matt: It gives the player a very low cost and great value for money, and I know a lot of gamers enjoy the process of the physical construction and crafting of the game. Also the game can be constructed and played at your own pace. You can start with just printing one map and a small number of counters and then as you want to play more larger scenarios you can print more of the game out. The game can be printed at home (which is how I print all my print and play games) or a print shop if you prefer.

Grant: I know you are not only the designer but you do the art as well. Please show us a few examples of your great art. What is your inspiration for your unique art style?

Matt: My biggest inspiration comes from both the real world study of the subject matter, such as visiting museums or history events, plus the reading of books based on the historical subject.

Grant: How do you create your art? What is the process and what graphics tools do you use?

Matt: I draw and paint using software – a very simple drawing piece of software, but fundamentally I use traditional art techniques just using a tablet and pen rather than physical pencils and paints. The biggest phase of work is creating the palettes that I use, basically all the tonal colors based on the subject and lighting.

Grant: What new elements have you added to this entry? How does the campaign system work?

Matt: This game has quite a few new elements that add to the series. Firstly there are new maps and new counters to reflect the historic setting. The game will include a fully formed optional campaign mode for both 2-player and solitaire. This will allow individual tank crews to level up and gain new skills and stat improvements based on the actions of that that tank crew in the game and of course them surviving the battle!

Grant: What different types of Axis and Allied armor is included in the design?

Matt: The game contains a selection of tanks based on the historical research I have done. For the Germans, this includes the Panzer IV, Panther, Jagdpanzer IV, Tiger II and then for the Americans there is a selection of Shermans and tank destroyers like the M10.

Grant: How did you go about the process of assigning different values to the different types of tanks?

Matt: I do a lot of historical research, which involves reading and studying a wide range of books on the subject! Thankfully with tanks and tank crews first hand accounts there are are lots of books.

I basically created categories of armour defensive strength and gun strengths and then tweak them during ongoing gameplay testing.

Grant: How does the armor value effect a Fire Attack on a tank?

Matt: The armour value of a counter is the unmodified dice roll needed for a firing armour counter to penetrate that armour target. For example if a tank has an armour value of a 5 then when that tank is hit the opponent needs to roll a 5 on a D6, to penetrate (and potentially knock it out) that tank’s armour.

Grant: How does penetration bonus effect a tanks Fire Attack on another armored unit?

Matt: Each tank has a penetration bonus which modifies that armour value of the target, and potentially makes it easier for the firing tank to penetrate its targets armour.

Grant: What are the various results from Fire Attacks?

Matt: If a target is hit, and to determine if its armour is penetrated you roll on a table to see the effect of the hit. This can result in the target becoming immobilised, having its turret or main weapon jam, catching fire or being knocked out of the game (and replaced with a Burning Wreck counter).

Grant: What is the Roll of 6 and Roll of 1 rule and why did you feel this needed to be included?

Matt: When firing at the enemy a 6 is always a hit and a 1 is always a miss, regardless of modifiers. This represents the incredible good luck and human element of armoured combat.

Grant: What is the Bravery Point Pool and how is this used in gameplay?

Matt: Bravery Points are a resource you can use to re-roll any one of your dice rolls and make your enemy re-roll one of their dice rolls. Again, it represents the incredible bravery, good fortune or one-in-a-hundred chances of real combat in the game. As a gameplay mechanic its also incredibly satisfying making your opponent re-roll that incredibly hard to hit dice roll, which they have just made!

Grant: How is the Chit Pull mechanic used for activation? Why did you feel this was the best choice for the design?

Matt: For every one of your tanks in the scenario you place a Chit in a cup for both you and your opponent (including the solitaire AI) and randomly take one out – the Chit that belongs to the player, or AI, can now activate one of their tanks. I love this mechanic in other games, it gives more unpredictable gameplay plus the time between your turn and the other player is generally less (but it all depends on the chit that is taken from the cup!). I feel it suits the chaotic nature of this type of combat.

Grant: How is armor movement affected by differing terrain?

Matt: Different terrain types cost different movement points within the game – such as moving uphill or driving the tank through denser vegetation and the like. Terrain is the single most important element of strategy when playing this game of armour vs. armour as being in the right spot at the right time can be the difference between life and death.

Grant: What is the anatomy of the counters? What different types of information are printed on them? Can you show a few closeup shots of the counters so we can see the amazing art?

Matt: The counters contain 4 pieces of key information: the movement points, the armour value, the normal range of its primary weapon and the penetration bonus of that weapon.

Grant: How many maps come with the game? How many different scenarios are included?

Matt: The game will come with 8 geomorphic maps that can be laid out in different combinations for the different scenarios. There will be 12 scenarios for 2-player and 12 for solitaire with again. In addition there are extra maps and scenarios unlocked as stretch goals.

Grant: How does the solitaire mode work?

Matt: The Solitaire and 2-player game share many mechanics such as movement, firing, line of sight etc. What makes the Solitaire very different is that there are specific scenarios for Solitaire where you will take specific tanks in specific missions. The other major component is that the Solitaire has its own AI system that will activate and perform actions as you play. This is a refinement of my AI from the previous Until the Bitter End games revised for this tank and armour combat.

Grant: What is the price of the print and play?

Matt; The game is discounted to £13 and includes all the rules, scenarios, maps, artwork book, campaign book, counters and player aids and is running now.

Grant: What are the stretch goals you plan to offer?

Matt: The stretch goals will include more maps, more scenarios and more counters.

Grant: When do you think it will be ready for fulfillment?

Matt: The game will ship April this year.

Grant: What are your future plans for the Until the Bitter End system?

Matt: I have got plans underway for more games set in the North Africa campaign and France 1940.

Grant: What are you most pleased about with the design?

Matt: I’ve always enjoyed creating a game with focus on Tanks and Armour so really enjoy both the design and art elements. I really want to get across the combination of the machinery but also the human element to this conflict, which I hope comes across in both the game mechanics and artwork.

Thanks Matt for your insight into the design and for your great art. I just could look at your tanks for days!

Here also is a link to a great overview video on a 2-player game turn: