Cole Werhle is a board game designer, known for titles such as Root, Pax Pamir, John Company, Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile and Arcs.
Born in 1986 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Werhle gained a degree in Journalism and English at the University of Indiana. He has since gained an MA from the University of Texas in 2012, and a PhD from the same institution in 2017. His dissertation concerned how the experience of empire altered the way British writers imagined distances of time and space in 19th century. [1] [2] Wehrle earned a doctorate in the literature of British colonialism. [3]
Wehrle designed the 2015 game Pax Pamir, part of the "Pax" series of historical board games. [4] Wehrle designed the 2016 game An Infamous Traffic about the opium wars of China, in which he "believes he achieves the payoff by juxtaposing sobriety with absurdity." [3] Shortly after earning his PhD, Werhle joined Leder Games, as a designer.[ when?][ citation needed] Root, his first game with Leder, was crowdfunded in 2017 and published the following year, to much acclaim. [5] Wehrle designed Root as a "simulation of political and economic warfare of a struggle for the hearts and minds of the people" which is "radically asymmetric" in which "Each side plays by different rules and aims at different goals; they virtually play different games. Root is based on the COIN series of war games-a series of extremely complex simulations of counterinsurgency warfare." [6] A reviewer for the New York Times said that "I'm going to make this sound really weirdly intellectual, but let me just say that Cole Wehrle has a designer diary where he explains how the idea of this game came from his graduate studies into Foucauldian biopower." [7]
In 2018 he founded Werhlegig Games with his brother, Drew, which manages the publication of his historical games. He continues to work at Leder Games as Creative Director. [8] [9] A new version of Pax Pamir was released in 2019, as a reboot of his first game design, as the first release from Wehrlegig Games. [4] [10] The company next published a second edition of John Company. [4] Wehrle designed the 2021 game Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile. [11] Matt Jarvis in a review of Oath on Dicebreaker said that "Unlike designer Cole Wehrle’s breakout hit Root, all of the players have the same set of options and actions - for the most part - at their disposal. ... Cole Wehrle has added another masterpiece to his already gleaming collection of games that are as interesting around the table as they are on it." [12] Dan Jolin in a review of Oath said that "Those drawn in by Kyle Ferrin's awesomely evocative and characterful artwork – think The Dark Crystal by way of Richard Scarry – might be put off by designer Cole Wehrle's almost highbrow yet generic terminology (that wordy subtitle is a big tip-off)." [13]
Wehrle with artist Kyle Ferrin launched a Kickstarter in 2022 to publish the swashbuckling space opera strategy board game Arcs through Leder Games. [14] [15] [16]
Wehrle explains his feels that board game aesthetics, "like the rules that structure their play, are essentially political in that they organize the relationship between the players. [...] For, if games structure play, so too do they structure feeling." [17]
Cole Werhle is a board game designer, known for titles such as Root, Pax Pamir, John Company, Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile and Arcs.
Born in 1986 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Werhle gained a degree in Journalism and English at the University of Indiana. He has since gained an MA from the University of Texas in 2012, and a PhD from the same institution in 2017. His dissertation concerned how the experience of empire altered the way British writers imagined distances of time and space in 19th century. [1] [2] Wehrle earned a doctorate in the literature of British colonialism. [3]
Wehrle designed the 2015 game Pax Pamir, part of the "Pax" series of historical board games. [4] Wehrle designed the 2016 game An Infamous Traffic about the opium wars of China, in which he "believes he achieves the payoff by juxtaposing sobriety with absurdity." [3] Shortly after earning his PhD, Werhle joined Leder Games, as a designer.[ when?][ citation needed] Root, his first game with Leder, was crowdfunded in 2017 and published the following year, to much acclaim. [5] Wehrle designed Root as a "simulation of political and economic warfare of a struggle for the hearts and minds of the people" which is "radically asymmetric" in which "Each side plays by different rules and aims at different goals; they virtually play different games. Root is based on the COIN series of war games-a series of extremely complex simulations of counterinsurgency warfare." [6] A reviewer for the New York Times said that "I'm going to make this sound really weirdly intellectual, but let me just say that Cole Wehrle has a designer diary where he explains how the idea of this game came from his graduate studies into Foucauldian biopower." [7]
In 2018 he founded Werhlegig Games with his brother, Drew, which manages the publication of his historical games. He continues to work at Leder Games as Creative Director. [8] [9] A new version of Pax Pamir was released in 2019, as a reboot of his first game design, as the first release from Wehrlegig Games. [4] [10] The company next published a second edition of John Company. [4] Wehrle designed the 2021 game Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile. [11] Matt Jarvis in a review of Oath on Dicebreaker said that "Unlike designer Cole Wehrle’s breakout hit Root, all of the players have the same set of options and actions - for the most part - at their disposal. ... Cole Wehrle has added another masterpiece to his already gleaming collection of games that are as interesting around the table as they are on it." [12] Dan Jolin in a review of Oath said that "Those drawn in by Kyle Ferrin's awesomely evocative and characterful artwork – think The Dark Crystal by way of Richard Scarry – might be put off by designer Cole Wehrle's almost highbrow yet generic terminology (that wordy subtitle is a big tip-off)." [13]
Wehrle with artist Kyle Ferrin launched a Kickstarter in 2022 to publish the swashbuckling space opera strategy board game Arcs through Leder Games. [14] [15] [16]
Wehrle explains his feels that board game aesthetics, "like the rules that structure their play, are essentially political in that they organize the relationship between the players. [...] For, if games structure play, so too do they structure feeling." [17]