After the hootenanny around GMT’s cancellation of their Scramble for Africa game, there was some introspection, soul-searching, and, well, let’s face it, a bunch of flame wars over (pick any two): political correctness run amok, GMT selling out, just another leftist censorship campaign, the slippery slide into no wargames ever for the rest of our lives, snowflakes ruining everyone’s fun, Eurogamers telling wargamers what to do, if I don’t get to play Nazis then I don’t want to be a wargamer, etc, etc, etc.
Things died down (we thought).
Then here comes the New York Times, with a remarkably thoughtful piece that pretty accurately describes the changes going on in wargaming right now (increasing diversity in the audience, leading to increasing questions about how we handle the subject matter) and now the hootenanny graduated into a full-blown kerfuffle that ultimately included at least one guy on social media making physical threats to those with whom he disagreed.
Moreover, it was painfully obvious that maybe 15% of the social media bloviators had actually read the article, instead of just reacting to what was a dreadful Buzzfeed-quality clickbait headline.
So here’s a super-sized special edition (1:40!) of the podcast wherein a couple of pretty thoughtful guys (Rex & Matthew) join us to talk about the latest blowup in the culture wars as they visit the wargaming world. Rex, no stranger to our podcasts, has joined us to talk about Aftershock and “SWEAT” in past episodes, among other things. Matthew was a co-editor of Zones of Control and is a frequent attendee & panelist at Connections.
The articles / discussions mentioned either directly or obliquely in the podcast? Here’s some of them, but hardly all.
- GMT’s original cancellation announcement
- Robert Zacny’s column on Vice about the German Army
- The New York Times column
- BoardGameGeek blog post wherein the author compares treatments of slavery in different games
- Our own column about the original GMT controversy
- Discussion about the Battles Magazine #5 “Nazi Love” column
- BGG poll about which sides/conflicts people most enjoy playing
- WargameHQ covering the original hootenanny
- Examining the social media firestorm after the hootenanny
- How colonialism haunts board gaming
- Diversity in the professional wargaming ranks
- Daily Kos weighs in
- Facebook thread about a student reported to school authorities for playing wargames
As always, thanks for listening 🙂
You can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site.
Thanks for listening! We’d love to have your feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…
With the recent release of Matt Caffrey’s book On Wargaming, Brant enlists Brian Train (Game Theorist Designer) and Dr James Sterrett (the Director of Simulation Education at the US Army’s Command & General Staff College) to talk about some of the seminal books about wargaming, including Perla’s The Art of Wargaming, Dunnigan’s Complete Wargames Handbook, Sabin’s Simulating War, Koster’s A Theory of Fun For Game Design, and the Zones of Control anthology, among others.
So we talk about the books – what we like and don’t like, and how Dr Sterrett incorporates them into his curriculum at CGSC. We also discuss a variety of other sources about wargaming, and game design in general, and somehow manage to never mention McGonigal (and thank goodness).
About 2/3 of the way through, Brian Train makes note of the fact that there are plenty of links we should be sharing, so here they are:
- Greg Cotikyan: I Have No Words & I Must Design
- UK MoD Defence Wargaming Handbook
- MIT Press’ Critical Play
- Complete Wargames Handbook (PDF)
- Why Wargaming Works (PDF)
- History of Wargaming Project website
As always, thanks for listening 🙂
Enjoy the continuation of Season 2, and you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site.
Thanks for listening! We’d love to have your feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…
Following up on an earlier episode of Mentioned in Dispatches, Doug & Jim are back to join guest Rex Brynen in talking about all those non-military considerations during armed conflict, as we cover games ranging from A Distant Plain to The Creature That Ate Sheboygan.
So if you’re curious about how block-by-block fighting in Mosul affected the city, what game lets NGOs use nukes, Canadian government zombies, and/or what flavor firefighters are, this is your podcast!
As always, thanks for listening 🙂
Enjoy the continuation of Season 2, and you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site.
Thanks for listening! We’d love to have your feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…
This episode of Mentioned in Dispatches was recorded at The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC, as noted game designer & writer Jim Werbaneth joins the show.
Favorite games of the American Civil War, a preview of seminars at this summer’s Origins, and GMT’s COIN games are part of what we cover, along with some favorite battlefields, the current state of Line of Departure magazine, and headaches in higher education..
click images to enlarge
And here’s Jim in front of the famous “Wall of ASL™”
And a view of the game racks as we describe them on the show
Enjoy the continuation of Season 2, and you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site.
Thanks for listening! We’d love to have your feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…
A special guest this week on Mentioned in Dispatches as Friend-of-the-Regiment Anthony Gallela joins Brant & Mirth to talk all manner of games.
We kick around what was played at PAX, what’s coming up at Huzzah! and KublaCon, and things we’ve seen at Origins, Manifest, and Historicon. But mostly, we riff on game collections, pre-painted minis, old-fashioned army men, GI Joe as a game, and shelves vs tables for game storage.
Thanks for listening!
Enjoy the continuation of Season 2, and you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site.
Thanks for listening! We’d love to have your feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…
The second season of Mentioned in Dispatches is the gift that keeps on giving! Need proof? THE RETURN OF THE BISON!
That’s right, our good buddy Craig is back with some thoughtful ideas about learning wargames, learning from wargames, and learning about wargames. Oh, and Mirth’s a little tipsy again. Yeah, we know.
Enjoy the continuation of Season 2, and you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site.
Thanks for listening! We’d love to have your feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…