Martin Wallace (game designer)

Martin Wallace was born and raised in the U.K., and has been resident in Manchester for most of those years.[1] He began gaming in his teens, starting with titles from SPI and Avalon Hill, and as a student he got into Dungeons & Dragons.[1]

Wallace worked for a while at Games Workshop, then started designing games in earnest in the early 1990s, his first DTP game being Lords of Creation.[1] Eventually German companies picked up a few of his games, such as Und Tschüss, Volldampf, and Tempus.[1] He has also published a number of games through his own company, Warfrog.[1] These include such titles as Struggle of Empires, Princes of the Renaissance, and Age of Steam.

Wallace is the founder and chief designer of Treefrog (former Warfrog) Games. Wallace is known for designing complex strategy games that depict a variety of historical settings. Two themes he has frequently used are the construction and operation of railroads, and the rise and fall of ancient civilizations. He has developed a reputation for blending elegant European style game mechanics with the strong themes that are more typical of American style games.[2] Many of his games feature economic systems, incorporating rules for income, taxation, and debt. In 2016, Wallace announced the closure of Treefrog Games[3] and focussing on being a full-time game designer.

Martin Wallace's most popular game, Age of Steam, was the winner of the 2003 International Gamers Award.[4] and in 2008 was one of the top twenty rated games on BoardGameGeek.[5] There was a lengthy dispute over the ownership of the design and publishing rights of Age of Steam, which was resolved on the 15th March 2019 to the satisfaction of all parties.[6][7][8]

• Empires of the Ancient World (2000)
• Liberté (2001)
• Volldampf (2001)
• Age of Steam (2002)
• Tyros (2002)
• Princes of the Renaissance (2003)
• Secrets of the Tombs (2003)
• Runebound (2004)
• Struggle of Empires (2004)
• Byzantium (2005)
• Railroad Tycoon (2005)
• Tempus (2006)
• Perikles (2006)
• Brass (2007)
• Tinners' Trail (2008)
• After The Flood (2008)
• Steel Driver (2008)
• Steam: Rails to Riches (2009)
• Waterloo (2009)
• Automobile (2009)
• Rise of Empires (2009)
• Last Train to Wensleydale (2009)
• God's Playground (2009)
• Moongha Invaders (2010)
• Age of Industry (2010)
• London (2010)
• First Train to Nuremberg (2010)
• Gettysburg (2010)
• A Few Acres of Snow (2011)
• Discworld: Ankh-Morpork (2011)
• Aeroplanes: Aviation Ascendant (2012)
• Doctor Who: The Card Game (2012)
• Discworld: The Witches (2013)
• A Study in Emerald (2013) based on Neil Gaiman’s short story A Study in Emerald
• Onwards to Venus (2014) based on Greg Broadmore’s Dr Grordbort
• Mythotopia (2014)
• Ships (2015)
• A Study in Emerald Second Edition (2015)
• Via Nebula (2016)
• Hit Z Road (2016)
• A Handful of Stars (2017)
• AuZtralia (2018)
• Judge Dredd Helter Skelter (2019)
• Milito (2019)
• Nanty Narking (2019)
• Anno 1800 (2020)
• Tinners' Trail (2021) (new, reworked edition)
• Rocketmen (2021) campaign on Kickstarter

• Treefrog Games website domain has been bought by another company. Link directs to Wayback Machine archive.
• Martin Wallace article in The Games Journal
• Martin Wallace at BoardGameGeek
• Rank-ordered list of Martin Wallace's games