Where is the Digital Wargame Renaissance?

For several hours over 150 people watched a gentleman wax poetically on the state of table top war games, and occasionally clip the corners on counters. It’s almost routine to watch someone un-box a board war game and loving display the counters, map, even the manual. Twitter is filled with folks gushing over game design, board layout, and how well Verdun is modelled on the table top. So where is the digital equivalent of this? And why is the board wargame seeing such a resurgence?

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Matrix Christmas Sale 2016 Highlights

It’s that time of the year again where we finally get some time off and decide to spend it playing video games. Matrix has released a fairly massive PDF list of what games are on sale, I’ve culled that a bit and provided my own list of what’s worth buying. Now it’s still worth browsing if you’re looking for some oddball era or theater. It’s worth noting that if you buy a game from Matrix, and it’s available on Steam, you can get a Steam key from Matrix. (Note, you actually need to log in at Slitherine’s website to get the Steam Key.)

So, here we are, the Matrix Games Sale List of Good Games.

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Hexes, Counters, and Death Defying Slot Cars

The track is a monstrosity, each section is roughly three foot by three foot, dense MDF, routered lines and copper wires. At each joint is a meticulous melding of wood and slots. I’m staring at the largest slot car racing track I’ve ever seen. Sweat pours off of us as each piece is carefully positioned into a basement. The man overseeing it all, John, is in his early 60’s, a bit plump, and man, he’s really into slot cars.

I’m, well, not. We work side by side for hours but never really seem to click. This guy is into his slot cars, like REALLY into them. So after awhile we talk about the disconnect. Why am I not into them?

Video games.

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Let’s Play Decisive Campaigns : Barbarossa AKA Time To Piss Off The Train Nazi

Decisive Campaigns : Barbarossa is VRDesigns take on the War in the East. Actually, it’s not, it’s just Barbarossa. That’s a huge distinction we need to get out of the way right now.

This is not War in the East.

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This is a different game on the Eastern Front. It models not only the movement of troops and supplies as we’d come to expect but more interestingly it models the political in-fighting and clash of personalities that nearly crippled the German Army in 1941. I recently read Brian Fugate’s book on Barbarossa and I was amazed at how often the Germans almost tantrumed themselves right out of the war. Literally like a bunch of angry school children. There were egos, prejudices, and of course rivalries.

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Battles of the Ancient World I : Review

After listening to Dan Carlin’s latest Hardcore History podcast on the Persian Empire I had a hankering for some phalanx’s and good old fashioned ancient battles. This is an era that gets overshadowed by, well, just about every other genre. How many games do we really need about World War 2 Tank Battles? The niche for ancient battles is pretty narrow, but luckily HexWar has a few offerings for those ancient gods of war.

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Nostalgia : V for Victory – Velikiye Luki

There’s rose covered glasses, and then there’s DOS emulated screens. Memories tend be an odd thing, especially very fond memories of video games past. As we grow, and the games we’ve played grow, how do the old ones stack up?

One of the first war games I ever recall playing was V for Victory : Velikiye Luki. I was probably about 14 years old at the time and had no concept of the history behind the game. For me the Germans were some sort of parody from Hogans Heroes and the Russians just a generic bad guy. But man, I sunk some time into those scenarios.

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Flashpoint Campaigns : Red Storm [Review]

Flashpoint Campaigns : Red Storm Review

was developed by On Target Simulations and released by Slitherine Ltd in 2013.

You take on the role of an all seeing Commander for either the NATO forces, or the incoming Warsaw Pact forces. As the game lays it out, the Warsaw Pact has struck while NATO was woefully unprepared. In fact it looked like the Cold War was coming to an end. Game wise it sets the tone for NATO to be the defender, and also scrambling to hold the border.

Flashpoint Campaigns has one very unique mechanic that elevates this game beyond just another hex and NATO counter game. Orders.

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