Richard Berg

It was sad to hear of the passing of the legendary board wargaming designer Richard Berg last week. His Pax Romana is one of the top three board wargames ever made* and he really had a giant influence on the hobby. He divides opinions like almost no one else, but when he was good he was very good indeed.

I don't have any stories of contact with the great man myself, but wargame buddy Pat did tell me how in pre-internet days he and a friend had once rung him from Canada at a tense moment to resolve a critical rules issue. Apparently Mr. Berg was very gracious about being woken up in the middle of the night. Whether he was able to provide a satisfactory answer to Pat's rules query is harder to say!

I tell you what though, being the guy who designed Pax Romana, Rise of the Roman Republic, Terrible Swift Sword, Successors, Great Battles of Alexander and many more is a pretty decent legacy.

Cast a cold eye 

On life, on death. 

Horseman, pass by!

* IMHO, obviously.