Wargames To Go

Continuing with my new idea of releasing incremental episodes of my podcast that all deal with the same subject, here's the second one about the events of December 1941 in the Pacific. The main feature is my interview with game designer Mark Herman. At the end I decided to record my reply to the recent Bonding with Board Games/HAMTAG episode "Top 5 Wargames That Made Me the Grog I Am Today." Ogre/GEV Air Force Up Front Strategy & Tactics magazine Panzerschreck magazine Remember to follow along & chime in on my discussion thread (and geeklist) for all of my Month of Infamy/December 41 thoughts & explorations. If you're a wargamer on social media, follow me on Twitter (@WargamesToGo) and Facebook. Feedback is always welcome. -Mark

Here's that new idea I was talking about--the first of smaller episodes that get released as I go on my exploration of a topic. Not much in the way of links & notes, as you can find those in the discussion thread and geeklist, above. I'm still figuring out how, exactly, I want to do this new format. Feedback is always welcome.-Mark

Hey! I'll be at BGG.con. Look me up at the Wargamer Meet & Greet on Wednesday night. Or join me in a game of Waterloo 200 on Friday morning!   Timestamps (approximate) 12:09 - Andrew Hobley interview (Bicentennial Waterloo gaming) 38:25 - Pete Belli interview (One-Minute Waterloo)1:02:45 - Books & Films1:19:45 - Paul Comben interview (Waterloo wargaming)1:59:30 - Games I played Maybe now I'm getting the hang of this, not biting off more than I can chew for the the next episode. Might be fewer films & games discussed here, though then again maybe that's not true. Regardless, this episode didn't swamp me as much as other "recent" ones have. Getting one of those episodes out every few months would work well with me, because that's about the pace that I want to explore new topics in military history.This time I'm digging into another historical anniversary--the bicentennial of Waterloo. That happened earlier this summer, on June 18. I'd played a few Waterloo titles already, and more came a

Timestamps (approximate)    8:37 - Ted Raicer interview   59:18 - Books & Films 1:12:30 - Games 1:32:11 - Visiting the battlefields   I sort of did it to myself again, aspiring to play more games and learn more about the subject matter of this episode. I swear I'm getting calibrated on myself, though, and have big plans to think smaller next time. :) Historic anniversaries in wargaming are appealing to me, because the occasion often leads to the some of hobby community focusing on the same topic. It gets discussed online, good games are suggested, and sometimes there are even new books & documentaries that become available. That was certainly true for 2014's centennial of the start of World War 1. I jumped in, finally reading Barbara Tuchman's famous Guns of August (well, it was an unabridged audiobook), listening to podcasts, watching several dramatic films & documentaries, and playing several wargames. Plus, I was lucky enough to visit some of these battlegrounds on a vacation last summer, which

This is a long episode. If you want to skip ahead, here are some approximate timestamps within the recording you can jump to:0:00 - My intro, poll results, BGG.con attendance, etc.0:15 - Vasey interview pt 1 (background, his games)0:51 - Vasey interview pt 1 (ECW)1:51 - Cruel Necessity report1:58 - Unhappy King Charles report2:06 - Winceby report2:13 - Langport & Naseby report (TCS series)2:28 - Cromwell's Victory report2:33 - Roberto Chiavini interview2:49 - Other wargaming recaps (Monitor v Merrimack, Salvo, Caesar XL, Gettysburg [Wallace])2:58 - Flowers of the Forest report3:03 - Vasey interview pt 2 (Flowers of the Forest)Ok, I bit off more than I can chew. I've been doing my other podcast for nearly a decade, and those listeners know I've occasionally had a long hiatus between episodes while life intervened (work, kids, whatever). That's true about the gap between WGTG 2 and this new episode, but there's something else, too. I'd turned the episode into a giant project for myself. It felt like I was w

Well, shoot, that was a longer interval than I'd planned. But here, finally, is the second episode of my wargame podcast. As before, the episode features me talking about broader topics in the first half, then transitioning to discussion about individual titles in the second. In between I've got an interview with wargame designer Darin Leviloff, too. The focus of the episode are the [url=http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/3245/victory-point-games-states-of-siege-series]States of Siege[/url] family of solitaire games published by [company=8007]Victory Point Games[/company]. In all of these the player is assaulted from multiple sides, and can't really maneuver. Instead, you fight off the attackers as long as possible. The system has been used for subjects ranging from Imperial Japan in WW2 to a zombie horde to the French Revolution. Though they are simple and abstract (some would argue whether they're wargames at all--I say they are), the card-driven play presents a narrative that is fantastic for learnin

The first episode of my first podcast about smaller wargames, I spend some time introducing myself and my wargame interests, then proceed to cover three different games about the battle of Gettysburg.