Wargames To Go 25.3 Wars of Scotland (Conclusion, part 1)
Wargames To Go
Come join the new Wargames To Go (and Boardgames To Go) discord server As always happens, a subject that attracts me for wargaming and this podcast proves to be deeper and richer than expected. Once I knew I would get a chance to visit Scotland on vacation last summer/fall, it was my opportunity to dive into "wars of Scotland" in a general sense. What did I think that was? From Braveheart and Hammer the Scots I knew about the first War of Scottish Independence, at least a bit. I'd heard of the Jacobite Rebellion and The '45. And I figured there was some Roman history somehow, what with...
info_outline
Wargames To Go 25.2 - SDHistCon 2023
Wargames To Go
Come join the new Wargames To Go (and Boardgames To Go) discord server One week ago I was at my first SDHistCon. I had a good time, would like to share that experience via this audio convention report...and still there manages to be a slender but worthwhile connection to my Wars of Scotland subject. For anyone who only found me for the convention report, I start with a brief overview of me & my podcast(s). Then I get into the convention itself, some of the great people I chatted with, and the remainder of the episode is a rundown of all the games I played. I'm covering...
info_outline
Wargames To Go 25.1 - Wars of Scotland (Intro)
Wargames To Go
Come join the new Wargames To Go (and Boardgames To Go) discord server Guess what? This little podcast is now ten years old. I'd been doing my other one about euro boardgames even longer, and in 2013 I decided to branch off this other show about wargaming. I'd started in this hobby as a kid wargamer in 1979. I never completely left it, but my hobby in the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s shifted more to roleplaying, Magic: the Gathering, and then euro boardgaming. It wasn't until around 2010 or so that I finally realized what countless wargamers before me did--that I could enjoy...
info_outline
Wargames To Go 24 - Operation Market Garden
Wargames To Go
Come join the new Wargames To Go (and Boardgames To Go) discord server Times are approximate Introduction (0:30) Operation Market Garden overview (12:00) Nils Johansson transcribed/read interview (16:30) David Thompson & Michael Tiller interview (37:00) Mark's travels, movies, books, games about Market Garden (1:29:00) I'd been saving the famous battles of Operation Market Garden for when I expected to live nearby in the Netherlands. When those plans fell through, I was disappointed for some time, but eventually put that behind me and looked at the stack of Market Garden games...
info_outline
Wargames To Go 23.2 - Spanish-American War (part 2, with Jason Perez)
Wargames To Go
Come join the new Wargames To Go (and Boardgames To Go) discord server For a couple reasons, this episode has been my white whale, almost taking me down. I would certainly understand if any of my listeners gave up on me along the way, thinking the podcast had faded away entirely, or that I wasn't interested in wargaming any more. Not true! Listeners of my other podcast--the longstanding about family strategy boardgames--know that I've still been active. I've even kept the flame of wargaming alive, playing a title here & there, reading history, watching films, and dabbling in online...
info_outline
Wargames To Go 23.1 - Spanish American War (part 1, with Joe Schmidt)
Wargames To Go
Joe Schmidt () Now I've gone back to my usual format where I explore a single topic in games, books, films, and whatever else I can find. The Spanish-American War is similar to a lot of topics I've dived into--it's something I felt like I knew something about, but not too much. Also matching the pattern, it's been a subject I thought would be rather small and self-contained...only to find out it has larger implications and resonances to today's world. I swear, that just keeps on happening. Probably like a lot of people, when I think of the SAW I think of Teddy Roosevelt...
info_outline
Wargames To Go 22.2 - Summer 2021 Magazine Games (C3i and Panzerschreck)
Wargames To Go
Isn't it tiresome when a podcaster starts by apologizing it's been so long since their last episode? So I won't do that. Here's the next one. My plans to spend the summer (now months past!) playing contemporary magazine wargames sort of worked, just more slowly and less completely than I'd originally planned. Whatever--I'm doing this for fun! The truth is, after vaccinations we were able to see some family and do some traveling that had been unavailable during the first year of the pandemic. Wargaming took a bit of a back seat, though I still got some done. Including ON a...
info_outline
Wargames To Go 22.1 - Summer 2021 Magazine Games (1914 Eastern Front)
Wargames To Go
As mentioned in my last episode, I've decided to do something different this summer. Breaking from my usual pattern of tackling a single subject with multiple games, movies, books, etc., now I'm giving myself a break. I'm just going to have fun playing some of the recent backlog of magazine wargames. I'm sure I'll read Wikipedia articles and such to give myself some historic education about the subjects, but I'm not going to get so deep. Where there are easy info sources such as podcasts and youtube videos, I'll probably take those in, too. As long as it's all fun and...
info_outline
Wargames To Go 21.2 - Vietnam Battle of Hue
Wargames To Go
Turns out Vietnam is just too big of a subject for a pair of podcast episodes. I decided to limit part 2 to just the Battle of Huế, saving more games & history for a future exploration. There are several reasons this battle is so well-represented in wargaming. In some ways it's the Bulge/Waterloo/Gettysburg of Vietnam. By reading Bowden's book on the subject and rewatching Full Metal Jacket, I felt I had a decent understanding of the history as-examined by four smaller games. Then I came across a wonderful "then & now" YouTube doc that also helped bring everything to...
info_outline
Wargames To Go 21.1 - Vietnam War (part 1)
Wargames To Go
My next exploration through smaller wargames is about the Vietnam War. This is something that was almost contemporary when I first started wargaming (1979), so that was too close. I stayed away for years, just as I'm not ready to play simulations about our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan now. I need some historical distance in order to process & understand what's going on. Unlike some other topics I've tackled, there are a LOT of books, games, and movies about this subject. Just knowing I'd eventually want to get into it, I acquired a game here, a game there over the years...and...
info_outline
:strip_icc()/pic7823196.png)
/pic7849508.jpg)
One week ago I was at my first SDHistCon. I had a good time, would like to share that experience via this audio convention report...and still there manages to be a slender but worthwhile connection to my Wars of Scotland subject.
/pic7849510.jpg)
For anyone who only found me for the convention report, I start with a brief overview of me & my podcast(s). Then I get into the convention itself, some of the great people I chatted with, and the remainder of the episode is a rundown of all the games I played. I'm covering them in roughly descending order of their wargame bona fides. So the first ones are the most traditionally wargame-y, followed by more & more titles that go from consims to general history games, ultimately finishing with a few light euro-style boardgames.
The first game discussed happens to the one that connects to my current exploration on this podcast, the Wars of Scotland. Border Reivers is a game I could only experience at a convention, so I seized the opportunity. The next Wargames To Go podcast should have a lot more Scotland in it, some of those films I mentioned, and is expected to wrap up this topic. Then it will be time to look ahead to the next one. I've got some ideas.
/pic7849482.jpg)
/pic7849483.jpg)
Thanks to the entire SDHist board that makes this event happen. Harold Buchanon may be the visible face of the organization, but I know he'd want to point out over a dozen board members, plus other advisors, that make it all work.
:strip_icc()/pic7849526.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic7852573.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic7849568.jpg)