Moe is back! He’s taking a break from “Moe’s Game Table” to visit with us about, well, honestly… nothing in particular. So, we end up talking about game complexity, auto racing, shared systems & battles, joining forces for some wargaming content, work from home boundaries, and what’s stacked up in our gaming backlogs. Monster games you’ll probably never play? Screwing up the rules on a game for 6-year-olds? Representational vs actual terrain? Werewolves at Gettysburg? C2 with Luke Hughes? Look, we cover a LOT of ground here!
Thanks to Moe for joining us around his crazy work-from-home schedule, and check out his excellent YouTube channel and go talk to him on Twitter.
If you get a chance, please go hit the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair! We need some more reviews before iTunes will start recommending us in their podcast engine, so every rating helps!
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Insurgent Catan? 7 Wonders meets Game of Thrones? Aftershocks aplenty? And how is the game industry today like rock & roll in Almost Famous?
Podcast rookie Ian (Rocky Mountain Navy) joins Brant & Jim to talk about some of the intellectual property issues in wargaming (and broader tabletop gaming), inspired by the recent events with some military officers filing for a patent on a game that looks a lot like Catan.
So yes, we cover all of the above, and a few others, and here are the links to prove it!
- The original article about “Insurgent Uprising”
- Twitter threads talking about the game from Tom Russell and Tabletop Lawyer
- Tabletop Lawyer’s analysis of the IP issues
- Paxsims discussion of patenting a tabletop game
- Michael Peck’s article about GEMSTONE and others
- Original Wayback Machine link was here, but’s now been excluded from web.archive.org by the publisher
- Here’s a useable link to read the article
And here’s the link to our guest Ian’s very active Twitter feed, as well as his blog.
If you get a chance, please go hit the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair! We need some more reviews before iTunes will start recommending us in their podcast engine, so every rating helps!
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Tom Russell stops by for a chat about all things Hollandspiele. We talk about the genesis of the company, some of their business model, the kinds of niche games they target (and what they avoid), and how they handle “inventory”. Doug also joins us to chime in on some of the work he’s done with Hollandspiele, and some of the events we’ve had at conventions with them.
You’re getting a candid look behind the curtain with one of the more unique niche publishers in the hobby, so enjoy it!
If you get a chance, please go hit the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair! We need some more reviews before iTunes will start recommending us in their podcast engine, so every rating helps!
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And it turns out, we (sort of) lied – you can get Hollandspiele games off the shelf! Here’s a few at The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC, with pictures taken before the current lockdown
Rex Brynen takes some time out of his academic pandemic survival preparations to chat with us about megagames as a whole, but with a specific focus on a recent one that was (conveniently!) played in a former Canadian government nuclear command bunker and dealt with….
wait for it…
international response to a global pandemic!
And of course, Tim Horton’s factors prominently into the crisis response.
Rex also takes the time to talk with us about planning megagames, what sort of subjects make for good ones, and adopting them to distributed play. Looking for more information about megagames?
- Paxsims has a whole bunch of articles about them
- Youtube video on “what is megagaming?” and whole channel about them, too
- If you want more info on Rex’s Brynania game, there’s plenty to be found at PaxSims, too
If you get a chance, please go hit the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair! We need some more reviews before iTunes will start recommending us in their podcast engine, so every rating helps!
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Graciously taking time out of their military and academic schedules, we have Dr James Sterrett and CPT Red Powell returning to us from Ft Leavenworth, Kansas, to talk about the wargame design track as a part of the MMAS program at the Command & General Staff College.
- Dr Sterrett has previously talked with us about the MMAS program on our podcast.
- CPT Powell dropped by our site last Fall to discuss his studies.
- Dr Sterrett & I have previously had dueling columns about “games” vs “sims” (around the 58-minute mark or so)
This time around, we talk about how CPT Powell ended up in the program. He also shares a variety of details around his project, which involves building a battalion-level team of leaders, and then testing that team in a tactical environment. Our summation doesn’t do it justice; listen to him explain it!
CPT Powell also gives us the low-down on his involvement with the US Army Esports team, and the recent WH40K event in Las Vegas. And to answer the question we asked on the podcast, yes, you can but your own replica Army Esports team jersey. You can also connect with the Esports team here on their Discord server.
There’s also a callout to Luke and the gang over at Burden of Command and the similarities between his game, and what CPT Powell is working on.
If you get a chance, please go hit the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair! We need some more reviews before iTunes will start recommending us in their podcast engine, so every rating helps!
For a consolidated list of the professional-focused podcasts, see this thread in our forums
If you get a chance, please go hit the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair! We need some more reviews before iTunes will start recommending us in their podcast engine, so every rating helps!
We appreciate you checking out Mentioned in Dispatches! Please leave us some feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…
Jim is back as he & Brant talk about alt-history and the differences between that, sci-fi, and general nuttiness.
We talk about A Very British Civil War, Mississippi Banzai, Deadlands, Roarke’s Drift, BattleTech, Cactus Throne, Space 1889, Bioshock & Fallout, France 1940, Dust, and so many more.
Oh yeah, and as promised, a few of the videos from the now-semifamous game of Persian Incursion at Origins, with Jim in command (note, these were a side-story at the end of the podcast, and not really connected to the main thrust of the discussion around alt-history games)
If you get a chance, please go hit the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair! We need some more reviews before iTunes will start recommending us in their podcast engine, so every rating helps!
We appreciate you checking out Mentioned in Dispatches! Please leave us some feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…