Aaron Overton

From WarEngine

Aaron Overton is the original developer of the WarEngine system and founder of the WarEngine wiki.

Aaron graduated from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in Computer Science. While he has been a freelance computer programmer and software designer for most of his adult life, he has also had an intense interest in games of all sorts.

His first introduction to miniature wargaming was a very early edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. His Skaven hordes regularly stomped opponents through several versions of the rules. While still a big fan of the original Warhammer Fantasy Armies lists, the changes to that system were not to his liking and he began to seek alternatives.

A brief stint with Fantasy Warriors by Grenadier in that company's final days led him to see what the miniature manufacturing process was all about. It was there that he met Bobby Jackson and first hatched the idea of a new miniatures company and game system. He launched DemonBlade Games using a number of figures acquired from Grenadier and more that Bobby had sculpted for Grenadier, but were never purchased by them.

He published a first edition of Shock Force: Battles in the Remnants of America without the usual niceties of ISBN numbers and the like, but it did quite well, establishing his credentials as a decent game designer. The rules system was developed much like the software he was building as a consultant: modular, generic, and extensible.

Still through DemonBlade, he went on to publish GWAR: Rumble in Antarctica and a second edition of Shock Force before the realities of the lackluster financial world of miniature manufacturing became too much and he shut down the company.

The game system, now dubbed the WarEngine, continued to have fans, however, and he toyed for years with the idea of putting together a new edition even as he spent three years as a program manager at Microsoft. Now, having left Microsoft and an interim position as president of a directory publishing company in Washington, DC, he has returned to his consulting efforts and launched this wiki as a way to open up the WarEngine for use and expansion by the community. He continues to participate in producing new content as Dark Tortoise.