Welcome to Wargames To Go, my new blog & podcast that shines a light on small wargames you can play on a weeknight, or take on a business trip.
If you need the feed address, it's http://feeds.feedburner.com/WargamesToGo
After eight years and 138 episodes of my Boardgames To Go podcast (about euros), I've decided to add a companion podcast that focuses on wargaming. Very unimaginatively, I'm calling it Wargames To Go. Longtime listeners of BGTG know that my interest in wargames would occasionally leak into that podcast. I started in this hobby with wargaming back in 1979, with little science fiction microgames like Ogre/GEV and Starfire, but also some historic titles from Avalon Hill (Richtofen's War, Air Force). What can I say? I was in junior high school at the time, and my interests were Star Wars and fighter planes. In fact, the same little hobby store where I'd gone for years to get Revell and Monogram plastic kits was where I found a small pile of wargames. I looked at the flimsy SPI flat packs there (Winter War caught my eye), but I never bought anyway. For one, they were out of my budget. For another, it it didn't fly it wasn't history that interested me. Later, a larger toy store came to town, and it had shelves & shelves of beautiful Avalon Hill bookcase games. Many times I pulled Napoleon or Panzer Leader off the shelf, but it would take years before I matured into a greater appreciation for history.
Although the next fifteen years were filled with RPGs and CCGs, followed by twenty years of German-style eurogames, I never lost my interest in wargames. I played them from time to time, and bought more when I found bargains (especially on old Strategy & Tactics or Command magazines). Most important, my interest in history expanded greatly during this time. The Internet brought consim-l, ebay, web-grognards, Wikipedia, history podcasts, and countless other sources to rekindle my interest in military history and wargaming.
The thing is...I've never been one for the BIG wargames. Definitely not the monsters. I hear stories about games with maps covering multiple tables that are played over an entire weekend. Or else they stay out in someone's basement and a group of friends plays every week for months. I'm sure the depth of experience those wargames offer is something special, but it's just not for me. I guess I still like those old microgames, only on more historic topics. I can throw Waterloo 20 in my bag when traveling and play it one night in my hotel room. Or I can invite a friend over and we'll play Afrika Korps in an afternoon, still with time to have dinner with our families.
With that in mind, this blog & podcast is going to focus on these smaller wargames. There are already other great podcasts that focus on the monsters. Also, the podcast is more of an "audio blog" than a "show," meaning I don't have news or interviews. Instead, I have my own experiences & observations with these games.
==============================
To kick off my first show, I talk about three Battle of Gettysburg games. That's the best place to start for two reasons. First, this summer was the 150th anniversary of this landmark battle, the largest ever fought in the western hemisphere. I'm not the only wargamer who appreciates the extra significance of playing a simulation on such an anniversary. Some of it is as simple as understanding the weather, the heat or cold, the light or dark, that would've happened during the actual event. In the case of Gettysburg, fought during the sweltering temperatures & humidity of a Pennsylvania summer, it's amazing to think of the extreme fatigue (and heat stroke?) those soldiers must have experienced.
Second, Gettysburg represents a turning point for me, personally. As a California kid, I didn't grow up with battlefields to visit, and all of those historic wars seemed far away and old fashioned. Then the summer before my sophomore year in high school--a couple years after I'd discovered science fiction wargames--my family & I took a trip to the east coast. We saw New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC in the traditional, whirlwind tour. In between the last two we swung over to the Gettysburg battlefield. I'm certain I wasn't very interested in anything about the American Civil War, but it was still vacation in a new place. When we got there, it was about the same time of year as the battle...and it was pouring buckets of rain. Hot, summer rains were another foreign concept to a west coast kid! When the rain ended we took a car tour of the battle, with an audio cassette we rented from the visitor center. That was a transformative experience, and I suddenly "got" what was so fascinating about history. Besides the battlefield itself (and audio narrative), the other thing that made the history come alive for me was the old, Electric Map at the visitor center! This amazing piece of 1930s electric (not electronic) technology--though I guess I saw the "new" one built in the 1960s--was a wargame come to life. It really showed how the events and drama of Gettysburg could be understood by this commanding view that included troop movements, key terrain, and the clashes of battle. Wow!
So that's why Gettysburg. For the podcast, I recently played three Gettysburg games. All of them are 2-player games, but only one did I play that way--the others I just solo'd by playing both sides. I'm ok with that. All three are hex & counter wargames, but they are at different scales. The first covers the entire battlefield, the second just the famous action in the south, and the last is strategic or operational scale that covers the troop movements of the entire campaign that may not even "end up" at Gettysburg.
First is Gettysburg '88, the light wargame from Avalon Hill's American Heritage/Smithsonian series that was published in 1988 for the 125th anniversary of the battle. Though often considered too light, or at too high of a scale (divisions) for serious wargamers, it hits the sweet spot for me. Particularly when using the optional rules from The General magazine. There are many what-ifs about famous battles, and for Gettysburg a common one is to wonder if the Union hadn't held its ground on day one while reinforcements streamed in through the road network. Well, in this game I play so badly, we find out. Hint: it's quick. Photos at right could be captioned, "From bad...to worse."
Next was Harvest of Death, a Strategy & Tactics game from that mag's 3W era. I didn't even know anything about this one, but read it being recommended by experienced grognards in the discussions surrounding the anniversary. I dug through my closet and found it, and was very happy I did! This actually has some solo rules, and it plays really well. In a small package (time & space) you get to see Little Round Top, Devils Den, the Peach Orchard, the infamous wheat field and the angle. There in one of the counters is Chamberlain and his 20th Maine. Really something.
Last was another magazine wargame, this time from Command. Across the Potomac is primarily a double-blind game covering the CSA's invasion of the north, with operational troop movements from Virginia to New Jersey. If you're thinking that makes it a rather poor choice for solo play, I guess you'd be right. But again, it came highly recommended from recent discussions here on BGG, and I was drawn to the scale. Some day I'll have to play against a live opponent so we can use cavalry in an accurate way, scouting for the enemy and foraging/raiding.
-Mark
