Mac Gerdts

Mac Gerdts (or Walther Gerdts) is the designer of German-style board games such as Imperial, Antike and Hamburgum. His games introduced the concept of a rondel rather than dice as a mechanism for play. This is designed to prevent players from repeatedly taking the same action in quick succession without paying a cost.^[1]

Like many German board games, all of Gerdts' games include a mechanism designed to keep game length roughly within the specified time constraint. In Imperial, the game ends when a nation reaches the 25 point on the counting chart. In Hamburgum, the game ends when six churches are constructed.

Games

Antike, released in 2005, is about evolution and competition among ancient civilizations.

Imperial, a 2006 game, has the players take on the roles of international investors in pre-WWI Europe.

Hamburgum, released in 2007, is a game in which the object is to trade goods and make prestigious church donations. The spaces on the rondel are Church, Trade, Cloth, Guildhall, Beer, Dockyard, and Sugar.