Here's what he had to say to our starter questions:
Totally Pawsome: As a creator of wargames, what inspired you to write the one you're most proud of?
Chris Bahnweg: What inspired me to write Demigod was the fact that no one had made one like it – there were other skirmish games, of course, stuff like Frostgrave and Mordheim and Necromunda, but nothing set in Greek mythology. So I sat down and decided to write one.
TP: What would you say is the best selling point of your wargames?
CB: Probably the best selling point of my games is that they’re designed to be single-book, miniature-agnostic games. Each game is designed to be played entirely with a single core rulebook, and all of modules and expansions introduce rules that are constrained solely to that module or expansion. Miniature-agnosticism just means that my games can be played with any miniatures you have, as long as they fit the general theme of the game.
TP: Why the wargaming space?
CB: Because it’s what I grew up with. My uncle took me to the Palisades Mall in New York and bought me my first box of Space Marines over a decade ago now, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve played everything from big-battle games like Warhammer 40,000 to smaller, skirmish stuff like Frostgrave, and loved every second of it.
TP: What is your favourite product that you produce and why?
CB: Definitely Demigod. It’s just such a cool concept. I wanted to give players the ability to duke it out with creatures from mythology, to put themselves in the shoes of all of the famous heroes you read about in Greek or Roman myths.
TP: What is your current work in progress and what can you tell us about it?
CB: My current work-in-progress is Fury of the North, which is an expansion for Demigod that brings in Vikings. It’s meant to be a self-contained expansion that you’re free to integrate or ignore. It brings in some pretty cool mechanics, like Runes vs the Divine Favor in the core book, new units, and new missions.
TP: Who do you think would love to play your games and why?
CB: History or mythology nerds. That’s who I wrote it for, really – people like me who want to re-enact stuff like that. People whose thought process goes “Could I have done better than Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings?” Because that’s kind of what Demigod is: an invitation for players to see if they’re capable of doing better than the heroes in the myths.
TP: Where do you see your game design career taking you in 5 years?
CB: Ideally, I’d like to have some kind of storefront – either physical or virtual. I’d like to start going to cons more – become something a regular on that circuit, and just get Demigod to the point where it can sit among stuff like Frostgrave and Necromunda and Mordheim.
TP: If you were given the time and opportunity to develop something unique, what would it be and why?
CB: In the back of my head, I’ve had an idea for a combo wargame/solo-rpg/detective-thing where you’re a knight and a squire going on adventures and solving mysteries and righting wrongs. I used to love Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small quartet of books as a kid, and this would be my homage to that plus my own HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) background.
TP: Who do you admire in the wargaming space and why?
CB: Probably Ash Barker from Guerrilla Miniature Games. He’s pretty much where I want to be in terms of my impact/visibility in the wargaming space. His Last Days tabletop game was one of my big reminders that I could sit down and write my own game and actually have people play it.
TP: What got you into wargames in the first place?
CB: Warhammer 40,000 and Games Workshop in general. I remember reading my cousin’s codexes/army books as a kid, and that inspired me to get into Warhammer 40k. From there, I got into smaller skirmish games as GW priced me out of the hobby, which culminated in me writing and publishing Demigod in November of 2022. If you’d like to support it, there’s a Kickstarter that will launch near the end of July.
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