Annnnnnnnnnd, we’re back! Brant is joined by fellow Dragoon Jim/Cyrano, and regular guests Gary/Ardwulf & Liz from Beyond Solitaire, for a discussion inspired by Liz’s comments last year about “what’s in the Wargaming Canon of those games that you expect people to have played if they’re claiming to be a wargamer”
So we brought some smart people together, and let Brant crash the party since he runs the console, and tried to figure out what games we would’ve expected wargamers to have played at some point — not their favorites, or the most influential, or the most popular — if you’re trying to earn that Grognard Merit Badge.
Give the show a listen for the rationale behind the choices, especially since some of them were merely exemplars of wider series/families of games; there’s four different Commands & Colors series games in the table below, but as explained it’s really about picking out the era of interest to you and then giving it a whirl.
We even explain why we left some particular choices off the list, so don’t go ballistic until you hear it all!
Title
Publisher(s)
Original Date
Kriegsspiel (1824)
Original Prussian Kriegsspiel
1824
D‑Day (exemplar of old AH flat-box designs)
Avalon Hill (original)
1961
PanzerBlitz (or swap in Panzer Leader / AIW)
Avalon Hill
1970
Napoleon (4th edition)
Columbia Games
1974
The Russian Campaign
Avalon Hill / Jedko
1974
Third Reich
Avalon Hill
1974
Wooden Ships & Iron Men
Avalon Hill
1974
Blue & Gray Quadrigame (exemplar of SPI quads)
SPI (original)
1975
Frederick the Great
SPI / Avalon Hill
1975
Napoleon’s Last Battles
SPI / Decision Games reprints
1976
War in Europe
SPI / Decision Games reprints
1976
OGRE
Steve Jackson Games
1977
Squad Leader
Avalon Hill
1977
Republic of Rome
Avalon Hill / Valley Games remasters
1978
Ambush!
Victory Games
1983
Empires in Arms
Australian Design Group / Avalon Hill
1983
RAF (exemplar of Butterfield designs)
West End Games7
1986
Battle Cry (part of C&C series)
Avalon Hill
1999
Hammer of the Scots (exemplar of block games)
Columbia Games
2002
Memoir ’44 (part of C&C series)
Days of Wonder
2004
Empire of the Sun
GMT Games
2005
Commands & Colors: Ancients (part of C&C series)
GMT
2006
Here I Stand
GMT Games
2006
Maria
Histogame
2009
Pax Pamir (exemplar of Pax series)
Sierra Madre / Wehrlegig
2009
Commands & Colors: Napoleonics (part of C&C series)
GMT Games
2010
Dawn of the Zeds (exemplar of States of Siege series)
Victory Point Games
2010
Cuba Libre (exemplar of COIN series)
GMT
2013
Enemy Action: Ardennes (exemplar of Butterfield designs)
Compass Games
2015
Napoléon 1815
Shakos
2022
There were some other things mentioned during the show, so here’s some / most / almost all of them
The Virgin Queen UnboxingLuftwaffeStarship Troopers the AH wargame, and Starship Troopers the ‘satirical’ movieAnd yes, Ardwulf was constructing and testing a plastic speedcoaster for his marble collection in the background.
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