Welcome to another edition of Wargame Wednesday!

If you missed Warren Abox’s guest post yesterday, go check it out here. You know… I’ve seen Osprey Publishing’s books for years and had no idea that they did any sort of games, much less miniatures rules. A word of warning, though: the “En Garde!” covered is not the classic role-playing game put out by GDW back in the seventies! (Yeah, that game was really neat and all… but this is something else.)

And speaking of role-playing games, Rex Brynen of PAXSims seems to have re-discovered more than a few game design principles that are hotly debated whenever game masters get together to talk shop. In a post from this week, he touches on the significance of differing play styles before delving into on how role-playing elements like setting and backstory impact the way people engage with and experience games.

Alex has a piece on Avalon Hill’s War and Peace this morning. When I heard the guys talking about this one, I was flattered that my Federation Commander stuff was getting some buzz. But no, this is Napoleon at Austerlitz, not Andromedans shooting up the ISC. Exploding spaceships is so last week…! (Is there such a shortage of decent names in the wargaming scene that they get recycled to this extent…?)

A PDF from RAND Coporporation made the rounds this week which poses the question, “what might the consequences be if Russia decided to reclaim the territory of the three Baltic republics — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — which are NATO members?” Here’s what they discovered after playing it out:

Further gaming indicates that a force of about seven brigades, including three heavy armored brigades—adequately supported by airpower, land-based fires, and other enablers on the ground and ready to fight at the onset of hostilities—could suffice to prevent the rapid overrun of the Baltic states. While not sufficient to mount a sustained defense of the region or to achieve NATO’s ultimate end state of restoring its members’ territorial integrity, such a posture would fundamentally change the strategic picture as seen from Moscow.

Is the Revolutionary war a good fit for Volko Ruhnke’s COIN system? Take a look in the box and decide for yourself!

Here’s this week’s link roundup along with a new video from Ardwulf’s Lair:

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PaxSims (Simulations)

• Matrix games at the US Army War College (2/09/16)
• Global politics in historical strategy computer games (2/07/16)
• COIN Day in Minnesota (2/07/16)
• Gendering AFTERSHOCK (2/05/16)
• Legal Advises You to Choose a Fictional Country… (2/04/16)

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Inside GMT (GMT Games)

• COIN Series Falling Sky: Aedui Strategy (2/09/16)
• Delian League Diaries #1 (2/05/16)

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Castalia House (Wargames)

• Avalon Hill: War and Peace (2/10/16)
• Guest Post by Warren Abox: Osprey Publishing’s “En Garde!” (2/09/16)

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Real and Simulated Wars (JC)

• Crossing Points – Combat Mission Black Sea AAR, Part3 (2/09/16)
• Crossing Points – Combat Mission Black Sea AAR, Part 2 (2/08/16)
• Saving Basra – Steel Armor Blaze of War (2/07/16)
• Retaking Mount Hermon (or Some Part of It) – Campaign Series Middle East AAR (2/05/16)

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VASSAL (News)

• Update – World in Flames (2/10/16)
• New Module – Gazala: The Cauldron (2/10/16)
• Module Update – No Retreat 4! Italian Front 1943-45 v1.2 (2/10/16)
• Update – RAF: The Battle of Britain 1940 (2-player) (2/09/16)
• New Module: Les Quatre-Bras & Waterloo 1815: The Empire’s Final Blows (2/09/16)
• New Module – Pocket Battles Series (2/09/16)

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War in a Box (Warren Abox)

• New Yan’qui Craftsman (2/09/16)
• A Wargamer Christmas – The Lead Pile Groweth (2/07/16)
• Never Paint Alone – A Podcast Recommendation (2/05/16)

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