Martin Wallace (game designer)
Martin Wallace is an English game designer from Manchester. Early life and education. Martin Wallace was born and raised in the U.K., and has been resident in Manchester for most of those years. He began gaming in his teens, starting with titles from SPI and Avalon Hill, and as a student he got into "Dungeons & Dragons". Career. Wallace worked for a while at Games Workshop, then started designing games in earnest in the early 1990s, his first DTP game being "Lords of Creation". Eventually German companies picked up a few of his games, such as "Und  Tschüss", "Volldampf", and "Tempus". He has also published a number of games through his own company, Warfrog. These include such titles as "Struggle of Empires", "Princes of the Renaissance", and "Age of Steam". Wallace is the founder and chief designer of Treefrog (former Warfrog) Games. Wallace is known for designing complex strategy games that depict a variety of historical settings. Two themes he has frequently used are the construction and operation of railroads, and the rise and fall of ancient civilizations. He has developed a reputation for blending elegant European style game mechanics with the strong themes that are more  typical of American style games. Many of his games feature economic systems, incorporating rules for income, taxation, and debt. In 2016, Wallace announced the closure of Treefrog Games and focussing on being a full-time game designer. Martin Wallace's most popular game, "Age of Steam", was the winner of the 2003 International Gamers Award. and in 2008 was one of the top twenty rated games on BoardGameGeek. There was a lengthy dispute over the ownership of the design and publishing rights of Age of Steam, which was resolved on the 15th March 2019 to the satisfaction of all parties