RIP Dean Essig ~ #TuesdayNewsday

Even with our editorial director goofing off in Florida over Spring Break, #TuesdayNewsday must roll on with the key headlines.

 

We said it before, and we’ll repeat it: #fuckcancer

Wargame design titan Dean Essig has passed away.  It’s hard to overstate what a legendary figure he’d become, given that he was the brains behind several massive wargame series, like Operational Combat Series, Tactical Combat Series, Standard Combat Series, Battalion Combat Series, Line of Battle series, and Civil War Brigade series, among others.  He’s got a cabinet full of CSR’s, and more than a few best-sellers.

 

Gamesurvey.org is over 500 responses, with more continuing to come in.  As we’ve noted in our informal announcements

This study is being conducted as an online survey. The web address for the study is http://www.gamesurvey.org

The survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete, and there’s a bunch of demographic data at the front because the university requires us to collect it. Please note that 20 minutes is a realistic time frame for this, because like most academic surveys, there are a lot of questions, for statistical validity.

Gamesurvey.org is planned to stay open until 15 April 2024

Any and all hobby gamers are welcome to participate and submit their responses.

No survey is perfect, but we’re building on what’s come before and trying to push the field a bit further forward.

Look for more discussion as the survey continues, and we’ll have plenty of wrap-up as we roll along!

 

This week’s releases that you’ll want to know about

• S&T #346 is now shipping; it includes Battles of Andrew Jackson, which Ardwulf un’boxed’ for us last week
• Wargames Illustrated #436 is showing up on sites to order and should ship imminently
• LNLP has managed to sneak Medieval out while everyone was waiting for Blood and Fury
• Panzer Korps 2: Frontlines – Bulge is now available on Steam
• Steve Jackson Games released some new Ogre record cards for damage tracking
• Worthington’s front page says that Gettysburg 1863 and Louisbourg 1758 are now shipping – yay!  The problem?  The text on the front page links to the Kickstarter campaign for Gettysburg: A Time For Heroes.  Further problem?  Although you can find a store link for Gettysburg 1863 to buy that game directly (even though it says it’ll ship in April), there’s no individual game page for Louisbourg 1758.  Seems like a bad idea to make it hard for people to give you money
• Want to give Cyrano the squick?  Grab some of these Chaos Dice for your next game at his table
• The Fallout RPG Wanderer’s Guidebook is now out
• Counter Air is Professor Phil Sabin’s latest small game, available through the Fight Club International site

 

 

Getcher orders in now and then either (a) wait for it impatiently, or (b) forget your ordered it and be surprised later!

• MMP announced they’re open for pre-orders on the 4th ed of Doomed Battalions for the ASL system, and they didn’t launch it at 5pm on a Tuesday!
• The new Big Red One campaign study from Avalanche Press says “coming soon” so it’s not quite ‘released’ yet
• Small Wars: Mohicans is an interesting project on Kickstarter, because you can get it either as a digital or tabletop game
• Here’s a pretty cool set of ACW minis, with some very detailed sculpts, in either 28mm for gaming or 40mm for showing off
• Until The Bitter End – Tanks – Eastern Front is a print-&-play h&c wargame now on Kickstarter

 

Saving money? Spending just as much but getting more for it?

• WDS “Game of the week” is Panzer Campaigns, Budapest ‘45 for $29.95
• A penny for your thoughts games?  Check out the Noble Knight penny sale!
• Warlord Games has British and French Napoleonic paint sets on sale
• Warlord also has almost all of their “2000AD” collection on sale, too
• Invade Syria?  Go back to 1941 with Slouch Hats and Eggshells on sale from Legion Wargames

 

This week’s best written coverage from the wargaming world

• Wargaming Esoterica takes a look at Eylau 1807 from Sound of Drums (translated)
• Brian Train talks about adapting his QUICK to a lighter-weight version for the PPCLI
• Stuart takes a deep dive into GCACW and Stonewall Jackson’s Way II in particular
• Pushing Cardboard talks to Vez about Panzer North Africa
• Avalanche Press has an article about an alternate history of the Byzantine Empire

 

The best videos this week from our wargaming friends

• Moe checks out War Diary #25
• My Own Worst Enemy is playing CSA America’s Civil War
• HissyCat gives you a look at one of the Postcards From The Front
• ZillaBlitz goes back back into France ’40
• Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream talked about the best of S&T from the SPI years

 

 

Various news & notes from the business end of the gaming world

• ICv2 reports that Miniature Market has been purchased by a couple of (now-foremer) Asmodee folks
• VUCA Sims now have a dedicated US web storefront
• Matrix Games are looking for some digital map-makers for Armored Brigade II

 

 

It’s been a busy week for the regiment; here’s what you might’ve missed!

• Saturday Night Fights ~ The Battle of Quatre Bras for “General d’Armee 2”
• Mentioned in Dispatches Season 12 Ep 7 ~ Fort Circle Games
• No cold case ~ Case File 02: Fiery Angels for the Blade Runner RPG
• 5 Questions With… Dave Townsend, Designer
• #UnboxingDay!
  • The Seven Days of 1809 by OSG
  • When Did Rommel Get His Goggles? From Japan in 2024, apparently
  • S&T #346 & Andrew Jackson’s Battles
  • Battle of Sekigahara by The Historical Game Company
  • Spectre by Modiphius Games
  • The Last Hundred Yards by GMT Games
  • Pyrates by White Dog Games
  • Operation Roundup from Against The Odds Magazine
  • Space Lion by Solis Game Studio
• This week in our forums
  • This Day in History
  • More info on Millenia from Paradox
  • You guys all suck
• Gameplay this week
  • Firebase for “Charlie Don’t Surf!”
  • Action at Galmanche (2) for “I Ain’t Been Shot Mum”
• Upcoming Dragoons Events (and don’t forget to check the event calendar for everything else)
  • Wargame Days at The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC ~ 7 April and 5 May
  • Next #UnboxingDay¹ will be 18 April 2024
  • Next virtual event is Connections Online, 15-20 April 2024
  • Next confirmed live event is Buckeye Game Fest, 29 April – 5 May, 2024

 

Don’t forget to check our consolidated event & convention calendar for more!
You can also submit your own events for our calendar here.

• 4-7 April 2024 Circle DC (Washington DC)
• 26-28 April 2024 Conscripts! 2024 (Kleineibstadt, GE)
• 2-5 May 2024 BuckeyeGameFest (Columbus OH)
• 16-20 May Compass Expo(Meriden CT)
• 19-23 June 2024 Origins (Columbus OH)
• 25-27 June 2024 Connections (Carlisle PA)
• 8-11 August 2024 SDHistCon East (Newport, RI)

 

Focusing on the practitioner world ~ don’t forget about our dedicated area in our forums for the wargame professionals!

• MORS is offering a Certificate in Cyber Wargaming, 1-5 April and in May they have the Gaming Cyber and Information Operations Course coming up
• Russian deep strikes are becoming more effective, and it’s a real-world example of how doctrine and TTPs can change even during short stints in a war, which can be a challenge for wargames that treat combatants as static based on the ‘start conditions’ of the game
• The next GUWS webinar is Wargaming in the Brazilian Navy on 2 April, followed by Cole Wehrle talking about Perspective and its Consequences in Historical Game Design on 23 April
• PaxSims has a guest piece about The School of Wargaming for Management Learning and Training
• Peter does an extended/advanced demo of Take That Street

 

Something neat from outside the wargaming world we thought was worth sharing

 

That’s all for this week!
Be sure to drop by our forums and join the fun, and next Tuesday we’ll drop some more news on you.

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Thank you for visiting The Armchair Dragoons and mounting up with the Regiment of Strategy Gaming.
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On Tuesdays, the wargamers convene,
For news on each strategic scene,
With updates in tow,
They’re ready to go,
In battles on both tables and screens!

1. 3rd Thursday of the month