Friend or Foe

I posted about these before, in Professional Wargaming . But I just continue to be very impressed with the production quality, interest, historicity and to much of the lessons apply equally to wargaming as warfighting of the videos produced by The Army University Press . Some people may not like the Army doctrine educational aspect. But I love it. When I was in the USN I checked out every manual I could from the library. And when I wa deep into the computer game Combat Mission I read several U.S. Army FM books. Because real life tactics worked in that game. Their latest series France '44 has got me really wanting to break out OCS Beyond the Rhine. First is " The Wet Gap Crossings at Nancy " detailing crossing major water obstacle with mechanized forces. The latest, " The Encirclement at Nancy ", I found more interesting. Detailing encirclement of German forces in and around Nanncy and the German's failed counterattacks.

[xpost from email I received] I've done a bit of online, opposed VASSAL wargaming; live and PBEM .  But, have never gotten into it big time.  I work in front of a computer all day. Much of my free time is spent in front of computer playing video games, reading blogs, writing blogs, coding personal projects, etc. Wargaming face to face, over the paper battle field is one of the few times I can get away from the softly seductive, soul sucking embrace of my monitor glow. An organized ladder like  https://wargameleague.com/  seems like a great idea. Here is some information straight from that site. Go and check them out. WargameLeague.com UPCOMING EVENTS AND NEWS JAN 2020  GMT PBEM : Stalingrad 42, Holland 44, Ukraine 43, Normandy 44, Caucaus Campaign 42-43, Ardennes 44, Next War Korea​ COMPASS PBEM : Bitter Woods, Saipan, Red Star White Eagle, Battle of Ypres MMP PBEM : A Victory Lost, A Victory Denied Avalon Hill PBEM : Afrika Korps, Thunder a...

Professional in that war fighting is your job, aka military. Rather than "playing" for fun, you game to become better at your job. These professional war games really confused me ~30 years ago as a college freshman looking up war games in Univ of Kansas libraries. It's a different world . Yet the commercial war gaming hobby (and RPG hobby ) owes it's existence to military war gaming. I've since found it interesting to peak over the fence from time to time. This recent article on Teaching Professional Wargaming  provided the inspiration for this post. Invicta Youtube channel recently had a series on the US Naval War College. Specifically it's history of war gaming. Extremely informative on how professional war gaming works. Tangential to war gaming but in line with educating professionals, The Army University Press Youtube channel has several excellently produced analyses of famous battles with the objective of highlighting and teaching modern US Ar...

Three day wargame convention in Texas. Party Time, Excellent! I'm super stoked to have paper and cardboard convention within a few hours of home.  ConsimWorld in Arizona is a slog both to get there and spend 8 days gaming. An extremely fun and amazing experience, but still high on the intensity scale. I did finally attend for first time last year. The local  Millennium Con is fine. Only everyone there thinks "war game" means miniatures. After all it's tag line is  "Historical Miniatures Wargame Convention" .  CSW Expo Dallas' is "WargameClassics.CON"  (you know I'm all about the classics ) and the special guest is no less a luminary than  Mark Herman . Who may have miniatures? but is famous for his board games. Of which I have several . CSW Expo Dallas March 6-8, 2020 • Delta Hotels Dallas Allen door prizes • flea market tables • open-gaming • playtesting designer-hosted events • evening seminar • special events and more! ...

Early eighties, Vienna VA, eleven year old me sat in my lair (the basement) thrilling over the three giant boxes my older sister had brought me from a garage sale. I did not know what they were. I had never seen anything like them before. Risk and Stratego were the closest to war games I had seen.  I recognized one as I had recently read my father's copy of  The Hobbit . The others I could tell were something to do with WWII.  The huge gun on one cover reminded me of a movie,  Guns of Navarone  (wrong theater). Had no idea who the dusty dude on the last cover was. Although I have copies of all three now, they are not my originals. Have only retained a moldy mounted map and chits to WotR. Being a teenager, college, military service, several cross country moves; None are conducive to keeping one's childhood artifacts intact.  The following are stock photos. I've played War of the Ring to completion numerous times solo and face to face. Which I real...

Test post, copied from   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_wargame A  board wargame  is a  wargame  with a set playing surface or  board , as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in  miniatures games . The modern, commercial wargaming hobby (as distinct from military exercises, or  war games ) developed in the late  1954  following the publication and commercial success of  Tactics . [1]  The board wargaming hobby continues to enjoy a sizeable following, with a number of  game publishers  and  gaming conventions  dedicated to the hobby both in the English-speaking world and further afield. [ citation needed ] In the  United States , commercial board wargames (often shortened to "wargames" for brevity) were popularized in the early 1970s. Elsewhere, notably  Great Britain  where miniatures had evolved its own commercial hobby, [ citation need...