Mark Herman (game designer)

Mark Herman (born 1954) is an American game designer known for his contributions to wargames and historical strategy games. With a career spanning more than five decades, Herman is regarded as a pioneer in the genre, particularly for his innovations in "card-driven games" (CDGs), which blend narrative and strategy through card-based mechanics.
==Early Career==
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1954, he was the first child of businessman Nathaniel Herman and homemaker Joan Herman. He graduated from Stony Brook University with a bachelor's degree in history in 1976.
Mark Herman started apprenticing for Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1976 under James F. Dunnigan and Redmond A. Simonsen. In 1977, he published his first game for SPI, called October War. He went on to design several more games and, after a brief departure, returned to SPI in 1978, during which time SPI was being taken over by TSR, Inc.
In 1982, Eric Dott, owner of Monarch Avalon and Avalon Hill, founded Victory Games, where Herman served as Executive Vice President of publishing as well as a game designer. During his time at Victory Games, he designed notable titles such as Gulf Strike, AMBUSH!, NATO: The Next War in Europe, and, most notably, Pacific War.
Since 1987, Herman has worked as an independent game designer, publishing his games through Monarch Avalon and GMT Games. During this period, he has created some of his most popular games, including We the People, For the People, Fire in the Lake, The Great Battles of Alexander, Washington’s War, Empire of the Sun, and Churchill.
==Breakthrough: "We the People" and the Card-Driven Game Mechanic==
In 1993, Mark Herman and Avalon Hill released We the PeopleBoardGameGeek, a historical wargame that pioneered the card-driven mechanic.
The game includes Battle Cards and Strategy Cards, which replaced traditional dice-rolling as the combat system. During battles, players alternate playing Battle Cards, with each player’s hand size determined by their General's rating, the number of strength points, and other factors. The attacker plays a Battle Card, and the defender must respond with a matching card to continue the fight or attempt a counterattack by rolling within their General's battle rating. This back-and-forth continues until one player cannot match the opponent’s Battle Card, resulting in a decisive outcome.
==Awards==
* Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Pre-World War II Boardgame for For the People
* Charles S. Roberts Award for Best World War II Boardgame for Empire of the Sun: The Pacific War 1941-1945 with Stephen Newberg
* 1991 Charles S. Roberts Hall of Fame Award
* 1998 James F. Dunnigan Award for Playability and Design at Origins '99
==Selected Works==
* We the People (1994)
* Empire of the Sun (2005)
* Washington’s War (2010)
* For the People (1998)
* Pericles: The Peloponnesian Wars (2017)
* Churchill (2015)
* Fire in the Lake (2014) - co-designed with Volko Ruhnke
* Pacific War (1985)
* The Peloponnesian War (1991)
* Gulf Strike (1983)
* Vietnam 1965-1975 (1984)
* France 1944 (1986)
* Plan Orange (2008)
Category:1954 births
Category:American game designers
Category:American people
Category:People from Brooklyn