"Mentioned In Dispatches" with the Armchair Dragoons

3 March 2023

A full house on this episode, as Brant, Mike, Michael, and Wayne Hansen get together to discuss solo wargaming, and yes, we’re aware of the irony.

So let’s bring together the guys from My Own Worst Enemy and Solosaurus to join our guest and talk about the solo wargaming experience, tower defense games vs narrative procedurals, games that claim solo compatibility but really aren’t, and how much agency the player has in a game.

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Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.

24 February 2023

Brant, Rocky, and Moe talk about where & how the theme matters in sci-fi wargaming, and at what point (if at all) you aggregate your forces too high to really “feel” like a sci-fi game.  We start off with Hammer’s Slammers and Star Fleet Battles and the recent Alien games and then wander around all sorts of laser guns, jet packs, transporters, and more.

So how much do the graphics matter?  How much do the toys matter35?  How much does the pre-existing media license matter?  How much do these endless questions matter?

What do you think?  Give us a shout in the comments at the end of the page, or in our forums.

Also, we didn’t make a big deal about it last Fall when it happened, but we did open up some additional slots on our various Patreon tiers, so if you want to hear yourself name-checked on the podcast, this is your chance.

Please trot on over to the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!

Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.

17 February 2023

Another first-timer for Mentioned in Dispatches, celebrated game designer Cole Wehrle joins Brant and Jim to talk about all sorts of historical wargaming, and a wide variety of other things, too.

Inspired by this Twitter thread about his view on Napoleonic wargames, we reached to Cole about joining the podcast, and then spent almost half the show not talking about them!  Never fear, though, with GOTY Cyrano in the house, we got back on track and covered plenty of Zuckerisms.

So come for Cole holding court on his designs like John Company and Arcs and Oath, and of course, the war-in-the-petting-zoo that was Root, but stay for his thoughts on the Bavarian Campaign, telescoping scales of command, the Russo-French alliance landing in Ireland, and more.  If you’re interested in that Discord server that Cole talked about, you can find it here.  And yes, there really was an article about Orange Crush is Foreign Policy.

Please trot on over to the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!

Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.

10 February 2023

With Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro’s ridiculous mishandling of the Open Game License since the new year, gaming omnivores who cross between RPGs & wargames have had plenty of ‘entertainment.’  BUT it also go us to thinking “what would an open game license or system reference document for wargaming look like and are there use cases that could serve as an example of how an open rules system might work?”  Don’t know what “the OGL” is?  Don’t worry; we explain it.

Well, Brant & Gary are never short of opinions, but in this case they were a little short of expertise.  So we brought in Chris Pramas of Green Ronin Publishing to join the conversation.  Chris worked at WotC back when the OGL was first put in place, and Green Ronin was one of the first companies to publish content under that license.  In the 20 years since, his company has published OGL compatible material, created their own game engine, and an accompanying process for creators to release their own content for it, and signed on to one of the OGL alternatives currently being developed by the non-WotC members of the industry (Paizo’s ORC license).

What do you think, listeners?  Are there some legs here?  What are some examples of game systems that have crossed eras, scales, or genres that could make for an open system upon which others could build?

Oh, and the usual references

Please trot on over to the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!

Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.

2 December 2022

Now that we’ve done it a second time, it’s officially a “tradition” – the Holiday Wargaming Wishes that our crew bestows upon the wargaming world are here, as we wrap up our Fall season.

Brant & Mike are joined by Bryan & Mike37 as we discuss the games we played in 2022, the conventions we attended, the sales where we didn’t buy anything, and all of those magic wishes we’d love to make if the Hallmark movies were actually documentaries.

Oh, and the mandatory references….

Please trot on over to the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!

Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.

25 November 2022

Brant & Jim corner Ardwulf into answering a bunch of questions about the changes to the Charles S Roberts Awards, and the crew also pontificate on awards and industry recognition as a whole.  Yes, this one’s running a little late; you’ve been sleeping off turkey dinner anyway.

What categories?  How to split them?  How to combine them?  How to rewrite the charter for the CSRs?  How to decide where games fall on the Revolutionary Calendar?  What to do with miniatures rules?  What goes in the “Narnia” category?  Does Ty Bomba even listen to Mentioned in Dispatches?38  What about all those other awards?  What is “The Process” that Gary keeps referring to?  Enjoy our penultimate episode of season 9, as you relax off your Thanksgiving leftovers.

Please trot on over to the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!

Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.

18 November 2022

Following up an earlier couple of podcasts that covered dice, and game mods, Brant & Rocky are here to talk about all sorts of game accessories, and other enhancements that aren’t necessary for game play, but definitely make it nicer.

We talk all about tables, dice towers, tweezers, counter sleds, map covers, box inserts, and more.  There’s a lot to cover and plenty we missed because we only have an hour(ish) in an episode.  Obviously there’s plenty more to talk about, but here are the at least some of the links to the things that we covered, and remember if you point the audience to something cool, make sure to give us a link!

Please trot on over to the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!

Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.

11 November 2022

Another first-time guest for Mentioned in Dispatches, as award-winning designer David Thompson joins us for a discussion about solo wargaming, both the ones he designs and the ones he plays.

Of course, we can’t talk solo wargaming without the lead Dragoon of the solo wargaming world, so BBMike, of My Own Worst Enemy, is here to tell us why everything we think about solo wargaming is wrong.  We talk about playing dedicated solo games, solo play of multiplayer games, the various mechanics of solo wargaming, and also a bit about solo RPG gaming.  David also spills the beans and lets us know about some of his upcoming projects, while simultaneously telling us that he can’t tell us about them.  So sit back and relax, or take the dog for a stroll, and enjoy hanging out with the David, and the Dragoons for an hour or so.

Please trot on over to the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!

Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.

4 November 2022

We’re joined this week by Tim Densham of Catastrophe Games, as we discuss his company, their recent games, what’s coming up, and the lessons he’s learned as a publisher over the last few years.

So let’s talk about Gallipoli, and playing the entire Eastern Front in one sitting, and the history behind the games, and why they’re not all “wargames” but rather “historical games”.  Tim explains how his experiences working with Academy Games helped shape his business approach, and how his deployments to Afghanistan helped shape the design of Zurmat and let’s all make fun of how bad at the business side of things Brant was.  Oh yeah, and Tim needs some graphics / arts folks, so if that’s your thing, shoot him a line!

Please trot on over to the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!

Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.

28 October 2022

One of the great events of the wargaming calendar each year is the GMT Weekend at the Warehouse.  The great folks at GMT Games open the building up for a few hundred of their closest friends and spend all weekend gaming, and of course – shopping directly in the warehouse!

So we invited a couple of Weekend at the Warehouse attendees to join us and make us all jealous about the great time they had.  Justin (Justegarde on Youtube) and Grant (from Pushing Cardboard) regaled us with the tales of great games, great friends, and great discounts, as well as traveling great distances.  Prototypes, 8-player throwdowns, games from other publishers, the taco truck, and GMT’s reserve stock in the warehouse are all part of the discussion, but if we list every game we talked about, then Tolstoi wouldn’t have anything to do for his listener’s guide to the episode!

Justegarde’s videos

Pushing Cardboard coverage

Please mosey on over to the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!

Thank you for joining us for  Mentioned in Dispatches and checking out the official podcast of The Regiment of Strategy Gaming.