With a career spanning more than five decades, Herman is regarded as a pioneer in the genre, particularly for his innovations in card-driven games (CDGs), which blend narrative and strategy through card-based mechanics.
Herman states that he created three games to be used by Pentagon planners for officer training on contingencies for combat.
[9] Herman worked with General William E. DePuy on games at BDM International for the United States Department of Defense.
[10] Herman designed a second edition of Gulf Strike that was published in 1988, as well as the 1990 Desert Shield expansion module for the game.
[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Herman continued to work as a defense and military analyst in the early 1990s, and designed the simulation that the Pentagon used for Operation Desert Storm.
[21]: 93 In 1993, Mark Herman and Avalon Hill released We the People,[22][23] a historical wargame that pioneered the card-driven mechanic.