Blog Archives
sWe’re looking for a few good RSS feeds. I love a good wargaming post. Even better, I like it when wargamers come out from their fora and private social media, and write stuff where regular people are liable to come across it. If you know of a great wargaming site that belongs in this round […]
One of the hardest and most worthwhile elements of Wargaming, indeed the part that never stops, is developing a mastery of the intricacies. Learning a new Wargame might be done in a few days, but getting to the point where you can manipulate the forces under your control, develop them, and predict their interaction with […]
Way before the Borg burst onto the Next Generation Trek series, Star Fleet Battles had the Andromedans. These mysterious alien invaders from another galaxy had never been witnessed in the flesh. Their boarding parties were made up of robots, so they are known primarily by their ships which operate on entirely different technologies than the more […]
In the last article I wrote for Wargame Wednesday I looked at what Wargaming is like as a hobby and today I am going to share a little bit of what makes a good Wargaming environment. Across the whole span of Wargames there are certain commonalities, things you can expect and things that many look […]
Over the holidays, my dad and I had the opportunity to both finish Avalon Hill’s Air Assault on Crete and try out the accompanying Invasion of Malta mini-game. Crete wrapped up with a very narrow Allied Victory. Malta has proved to be… frustrating for the Germans. In Crete, I managed to just barely evacuate enough […]
REVIEW: Dark Conspiracy (by Lester W. Smith/GDW)
Monday , 18, January 2016 Book Review, Game Design, Games, Tabletop Games 4 CommentsDark Conspiracy (published by the Games Designer’s Workshop, or GDW, in 1991, by Lester W. Smith) was a grim action/horror RPG set in a dystopian future where evils of all kinds plague the globe. This one came out when I was in college. The Gulf War had kicked off, if I recall correctly, and GDW had (or […]
At Castalia House there is some excitement over the rumored re-release of TSR’s classic fantasy board game, Divine Right. It seems that Excalibre Games has the rights to produce an update. I decided to check out the company and while looking over their catalogue noticed a couple of interesting titles. Today is a “two for […]
Air Assault on Crete endeavors to recreate the German’s audacious attempt at the theretofore unattempted, an entirely airborne military invasion by several battalions of Fallschirmjaeger, and the fighting retreat and evacuation of Allied personnel in the aftermath. This game is hard. Very hard. Part of why it is hard is because it is rules heavy […]
Reading Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin recently has re-sparked my desire to adapt classic war game rules to my favorite science fiction property. Wargames in the classical format set during the One Year War are virtually non-existent* in both tabletop and electronic format. Recently, the Gundam model industry made a foray into “serious” kits via […]
BATTLE ACADEMY and BATTLE ACADEMY 2 REVIEW
Wednesday , 23, December 2015 Computer Games, Wargames 4 CommentsThis week’s Wargame Wednesday’s post highlights the enjoyable Battle Academy series by Slitherene. Bottom line up front: easy to learn, easy to play but with enough complexity to keep even hard core gamers engaged. The scenarios, campaigns and force selection options will disappoint historical purists and the online player base seems small but despite that […]
Unplugging members of the Millennial Generation and introducing them to real world hex and counter wargames is good for them, good for you, and (let’s not engage in any false humility here) good for western civilization and all of humankind. This week let’s take that idea beyond the easy question of “why” and delve into […]
To continue the Wednesday series on wargaming we will explore the question of what is wargaming like as a hobby: What is a Wargame? How is it different from playing other games? Why is it separated from other sorts of gaming? Who are Wargamers? How expensive is getting into Wargaming?