Sam Mustafa is both an academic, teaching History at Ramapo College of New Jersey, (where his interests cover Modern Europe: Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era and German History), and a successful game designer whose credits include Might & Reason, Lasalle, Maurice, Blücher, Longstreet, Aurelian, Rommel, Freejumper and Your Majesty. They range in scope from the massive Napoleonic battles depicted in Blücher to a single space ship in the sci-fi game Freejumper.
Sam spends his time on both sides of the Atlantic (at least, until the Covid-19 restrictions came into play), which has influenced his life in many ways, giving him insights into European history of the 1700-1815 era in particular that would have been hard to achieve otherwise. He also speaks fluent German, which led to a bit of Teutonic banter between us!
Unlike many of the guests I have interviewed, Sam arrived at miniatures gaming via the world of hex and counter boardgames, especially the titles put out by Avalon Hill. This background has coloured his approach to miniatures gaming and the kind of experiences he wants the people playing his games to have.
We discuss the design of Blücher, Rommel and Aurelian in some depth, covering many of the aspects that I know my listeners are keen to hear about. We also managed to incorporate some questions posed by patrons, which led to some very interesting discussions.
My thanks to Sam for taking the time to chat with me at the end of an exhausting week that left him feeling a bit croaky, and for my part, I’m delighted that at long last, I had the opportunity to chat with the man who has designed so many innovative and exciting games that are at least as popular on this side of the Pond as in his home country.
Henry
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