I suppose with all the hub-bub going on at BGG about Age of Steam that I should say a few words. I don't enjoy this, but it is time, I expect. People have been lied to for far too long.
My father, whom I always thank in every one of my game rules, a Patent Attorney, died in 1999. Martin Wallace knows this, do you? I do all my own legal work. I loved my father and will continue to mention the man in all my game rules, but that is not important here.
People have been led to think that my father and some powerful law firm pummeled poor MW in court. Actually, it was quite the reverse. Mayfair Games hired an excellent Patent & Trademark attorney to fight for MW. Larry Roznai told me they spent over $35,000 in legal fees. I spent nothing and won. How could this be?
Well, all MW had was his execrable Brummie Rails game. I had two years of heavy design work records outlining my creation of Age of Steam. Mayfair did not know this when they paid MW big money but they sure found out later. MW's contribution to Age of Steam was changing all the red cities to blue and the blue cities to red, with the result that the rules examples made no sense in the first Warfrog printing. I simply could not lose this case in Federal Court; facts are paramount there, proof is everything. It came as no surprise to me when Mayfair later posted that they would never produce another MW game. Larry was not happy with MW.
One night, in a rambling drunken BGG post, MW revealed that I had created Pampas Railroads and put his name on it. It is true. MW wanted to be a famous game designer back in the 90s and I did not. He was thrilled that Pampas Railroads was lauded as a great game and everyone thought him a game designing genius in SUMO. He was getting the limelight he craved so much. I just enjoyed that so many people liked the game and more people were getting into train games.
So, yes, I use pseudonyms. I don't want any limelight and pseudonyms are great. I am Harry Wu, David V. H. Peters, Eddie Robbins and others. Game designing is easy for me and I can do it in different styles. I also use pseudonyms in magazine articles and other creative endeavors. I used the Martin Wallace pseudonym for his early train games up through Age of Steam. I made sure, though, that every copy of Age of Steam had my copyright. I may eschew the limelight, but I protect my intellectual property.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but it is enough for now. I am sorry if I have made anyone unhappy with the realization that they were played for a fool by MW, but I really have no choice. It is unfair to Rick Soued to let this charade go further. He is a fine gentleman and an honest, ethical person.