About HexWar
Who are the people behind the project?
HexWar Ltd.
The creation of Keith and Carola Martin-Smith.
Keith has been a wargamer since before he can remember, certainly since the mid 1960's. His first board game was 'Lost Battles' from S&T 28. On the business front, he has been in computing since 1981, when he wrote his first commercial game for a Sharp MZ80K. An early member of Dell Computer Corporation in Europe, joining in 1988 and leaving 8 years later as European Business Operation Manager. Keith then specialised in Computer Services at Dixons Stores Group, a massive UK retailer, before moving to Scotland in 1998.
Keith & Carola
Carola was head of Financial Planning at Dell UK when she married Keith. A graduate of GE's Financial Planning Programme (FMP), she brings the same skills to bear to make HexWar.com a viable business. The two of them also run a successful Internet Services and Consultancy Business.
They live in Fortrose, an ideal place for a wargamer - within an hours drive of a battery of Castles and only half an hour to Cullodon, the last battlefield on the UK mainland. Their office overlooks Fort George, errected by the English to keep the unruly Highlanders in check! Also they are less than an hour away from Loch Ness - for more fanciful inspiration!
The Rest of The HexWar Team
Eric Skea (Earl Thorfinn): Our No. 1 assistant. Eric has made major contributions to Marengo, The Battle of Nations, Austerlitz, Borodino and a battery of games yet to see the light of day. His major activity is developing HexWar games for the Apple Mac!
Tuesday Stevenson: Tuesday has produced many of the map, counter and rules conversions.
Wayne Dare (GamerWD): A volunteer helper. Wayne does some play testing and generally helps out. A wargamer since he was 10 he is a veteran board gamer. Also plays a fair a mount of DBM 15mm ancients miniatures even having won the odd competition.
Graham Evans (Maharg): A volunteer helper. Graham does some playtesting and is a general helper. Graham won the UK board championship in 1982 so ignore his hustle if you view his profile when challenging him. Also a DBM ancient player often forming a team with Wayne and Keith.
Kimberly Beattie (Kimbo): A volunteer helper. Kimbo created and manages the discussion group on yahoo. His exposure to wargaming was Avalon Hill`s Waterloo, but he really cut his teeth on Panzerbiltz, Blitzkrieg and the SPI games. Prefers games like the quads that don't require a law degree to understand the rules!
Other Assistance
HexWar.com would have never of got off the ground with out the initial work on the project by Caithness Multi-Media. Key software developers supporting many of the early games they contnue to assist with graphics development and advertising.
Decision Games
For so long this company has flown the flag for SPI games. We will for ever be in debt to James F Dunnigan and all the guys at SPI from the 1960's through to the 1980's. Since 1990 it has been Decision Games that has kept S&T in print as a viable business.
In 2002, Decision Games and HexWar Limited entered into a licensing agreement. As a result, HexWar has unique rights to convert Decision Games/SPI titles into PC games for play via the Internet. Decision Games are not involved in the design or development of the games, other than as advisors.
This is a cost effective way to get all those great games from the past back into circulation. It is also a great way to introduce a wider audience to classic board games. We at HexWar.com firmly believe that, with the help of Decision Games, we can get as many people playing these games over the Internet as there were playing them on table tops at the start of the 1980's. Only time will tell ...
Keith Martin-Smith
Games Master