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Wargames To Go 26.2 - First Contact Games (Conclusion)

Wargames To Go

Release Date: 03/24/2025

Wargames To Go 26.2 - First Contact Games (Conclusion) show art Wargames To Go 26.2 - First Contact Games (Conclusion)

Wargames To Go

As has happened before, my subject for this podcast episode sort of grew to be larger & more challenging than I was prepared for. As a result, I'm bringing this subject to a "close" before I'm actually finished with the topic. Of course we never really finish a topic in history, but some are more digestible than others. The entire scope of "first contact" between different peoples of the world was not so digestible! Even when limiting it to "New World" interactions in the Americas, it's a never-ending socio-historical challenge. We are still learning, still discovering, still...

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Wargames To Go 26.1 - First Contact Wargames (Introduction) show art Wargames To Go 26.1 - First Contact Wargames (Introduction)

Wargames To Go

Come join the new Wargames To Go (and Boardgames To Go) discord server  Once multiple games about conquistadors in the new world had landed in my collection, I had a dilemma. On the one hand, the 15th-16th century contact between the two halves of our world was one of its most pivotal events. That cannot be denied. On the other hand, the depiction of those events--in history, in entertainment, in culture--has been one-sided and morally suspect (or worse) for the longest time. Could wargaming be any better on this topic? How could that be possible? Be sure to check out the  of...

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Wargames To Go 25.4 Wars of Scotland (Conclusion, part 2 plus GMT Weekend at the Warehouse) show art Wargames To Go 25.4 Wars of Scotland (Conclusion, part 2 plus GMT Weekend at the Warehouse)

Wargames To Go

Come join the new Wargames To Go (and Boardgames To Go) discord server  [If you aren’t particularly interested in the Wars of Scotland, you may be interested in the wargame open house/convention event known as GMT’s Weekend at the Warehouse. I went last month and spend the first part of the podcast talking about that time & games played. THEN it’s on to my specific historical topic.]               Ok, now I’m really finished with Scotland. Like everything I explore for my wargame podcast, these deep dives take over my gaming...

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Wargames To Go 25.3 Wars of Scotland (Conclusion, part 1) show art 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...

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Wargames To Go 25.2 - SDHistCon 2023 show art 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...

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Wargames To Go 25.1 - Wars of Scotland (Intro) show art 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...

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Wargames To Go 24 - Operation Market Garden show art 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...

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Wargames To Go 23.2 - Spanish-American War (part 2, with Jason Perez) show art 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...

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Wargames To Go 23.1 - Spanish American War (part 1, with Joe Schmidt) show art 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...

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Wargames To Go 22.2 - Summer 2021 Magazine Games (C3i and Panzerschreck) show art 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...

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More Episodes

As has happened before, my subject for this podcast episode sort of grew to be larger & more challenging than I was prepared for. As a result, I'm bringing this subject to a "close" before I'm actually finished with the topic. Of course we never really finish a topic in history, but some are more digestible than others. The entire scope of "first contact" between different peoples of the world was not so digestible! Even when limiting it to "New World" interactions in the Americas, it's a never-ending socio-historical challenge. We are still learning, still discovering, still understanding.

When Montezuma Met Cortes 1491 On Savage Shores Mysteries of the Far North The Company Roanoke Mayflower



I haven't learned everything, but I've learned a lot. It's been rewarding. It's something I will come back to in the future, possibly when there are more sophisticated history games that aid my understanding. That's my hope.

Black Robe movie poster Apocalypto movie poster


During this exploration, I was on two YouTube shows by other hosts--one was Joe Byer's What Does THAT Piece Do? show, the other Fred Serval's Homo Ludens show. For this "conclusion," Joe returns the favor by coming onto my podcast to discuss the topic some more. This discussion is the first part of the episode, and I hope you enjoy it.


Cortes: Conquest of the Aztec Empire (XTR) - Front Magazine Cover  cover box Main cover Main cover Mound Builders front cover Navajo Wars cover art - copyright GMT Games 2013 Box front. Cartaventura: Vinland, KOSMOS, 2022 — front cover, English edition (image provided by the publisher) This is the box cover image sent to the printers. "Greenland" will appear in Sept. 2014.
Be sure to check out the Geeklist of games for this topic.



Afterward, I continue on by myself to describe the movies, books, and games that were part of my exploration. Then I conclude by sharing my plans to aim for smaller topics, single episodes about each, and hopefully closer to a quarterly schedule. That means the end of one show (this one) will include a look ahead for what the next one will focus upon. This time, you'll hear me wrap up with some plans for learning about the German invasion of Norway in WW2. I've already got a geeklist with some games listed, and I've recently watched Number 24 on Netflix about the Norwegian Resistance. Pretty soon I've got a vacation planned to Norway where I may learn some more, too.


Cover (Bonsai Games edition) Game box cover art. Graphic design and illustration by Eivind Vetlesen. 9Apr40: Norge angrepet! map magazine cover  Cover Halls of Hegra (Box art)
I have a geeklist for this Norwegian topic, too.


-Mark