The Canadian Wargamer

Mike and James are joined by our friend and wargaming dignitary Don Perrin to take a 360 degree view of the wargaming hobby in the midst of "the churn" of where we are as a society - "churn" being the vortex of technological, social, political and economic flux that we're all caught up in.   I think out conclusion is surprisingly optimistic, but have a listen and tell us what you think!

More about our guest, Don Perrin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Perrin

Things that we referred to in the podcast:

Sitrep Podcast:   https://www.youtube.com/c/SITREPPodcast

4P Press:  Early modern naval wargaming rules and cool and obscure ship STL files: https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/18619/4P-Press

Ecorcheurs Hundred Years War Rules and Figures: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grippingbeast/ecorcheurs

Bad Squiddo Women of WW2: Resistance: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badsquiddogames/antifascist

Contact Us!

Canadian Wargamer Podcast on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/canadianwargamerpodcast/posts/248303724609871/

Mike:  [email protected]

James: [email protected]

In this episode James and Mike chat with Canadian wargamer and games designer Mike Hoyt.  Mike has been throwing dice since he was a kid and now brings his professional military expertise as a Canadian Armed Forces design to serious games design.   

Battlespace Publishing:   https://www.battlespacepublishing.ca/about

Mike's contributions to the CWP Digital Library:

As we reached Episode 30 of the CWP, James and I had a terrifically enjoyable chat with Andrew Dobson.   Andrew is one of Canadian wargaming's rising stars, and is the proprietor of Dobbies Hobbies, a 3D printing factory licensed to produce a wide variety of models from a wide range of suppliers.

We love Andrew's energy and his enthusiasm for the potential of 3D printing.  Andrew also has an interest in Canadian military history, which explains our final march past.    This interview was recorded in June, and we're sorry that it's taken a long time to get it to your ears.  Andrew, we would have loved to go with your Sabbaton choice, Cliffs of Gallipoli, but we were worried about the copyright implications, so there's a link below.

Dobbie's Hobbies website: https://www.dobbieshobbies.net/

Andrew's Three Book Choices:

William Trotter, Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finish War of 1939-1940, https://www.amazon.ca/Frozen-Hell-Russo-Finnish-Winter-1939-1940/dp/1565122496

JL McWilliams and.R James Steele, The Suicide Battalion: One Remarkable Battalion's Journey Through the First World War, https://www.amazon.ca/Suicide-Battalion-J-L-McWilliams/dp/1913518175/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?crid=JHYMT1HZHHNF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9NJfn0CyxqRrk5Dyvxrv993CoyTNQEl8VzcieBgLF4mJaYaijN5E043FFjWgxCHYuNnPA02EQMfOs2q5I-7ScA.89IiEKah1I-48QCG1b-JGcB9dP3fzy_X7K_15cg7e6I&dib_tag=se&keywords=suicide+battalion+CEF&qid=1752762024&s=books&sprefix=suicide+battalion+cef%2Cstripbooks%2C67&sr=1-1-fkmr1 

Nicholas Jellicoe, Jutland: The Unfinished Battle, A Personal History of a Naval Controversy. https://www.amazon.ca/Jutland-Unfinished-Personal-History-Controversy/dp/1848323212

Our march out, Punjab, Quick March of the Saskatchewan Dragons: https://youtu.be/ImnfYl35A_o?si=R7pSyNmLa9w8bl55

Sabbaton, Cliffs of Gallipoli: https://youtu.be/PvoYEtyQ9A8?si=NoWuBj3GtwYoPSiC

It's a special Hands Across The Border episode with our favourite Yank, Jay Arnold, the Veteran Wargamer.  After a brief skirmish in which Jay tries to annex us, we talk about podcasting versus gaming, what Jay as a soldier looks for in a wargame, and of course, lots of Quar talk during which I went and made a sandwich.   Here's links to what we mentioned in our chat.

Jay’s work in Professional Military Education: Joseph “Jay” Arnold | U.S. Naval Institute

Jay’s Veteran Wargamer Podcast:  The Veteran Wargamer - Podcast - Apple Podcasts

Scotland Yard (1983 game) Scotland Yard (board game) - Wikipedia

Not Jay YouTube Channel (Jay’s Brother):  Scotland Yard (board game) - Wikipedia

Cascadia Tile Laying Game:  www.alderac.com

Command and Colours Ancients:  www.commandsandcolors.net

Space Cadets by Dice Duel (2012) Space Cadets | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

Sebastian Bae, Littoral Commander:  Littoral Commander: Indo-Pacific | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

Too Fat Lardies, What A Tanker: What a Tanker Rule Set | TOOFATLardies

Little Wars TV YouTube Channel:  (1516) Little Wars TV - YouTube

Fist Full of Lead: Fistful of Lead: Reloaded 2nd Edition - Wiley Games | Wargame Vault

Sam Mustafa, Lasalle Second Edition:  Lasalle — Sam A. Mustafa

Forest Dragon Miniatures:  Forest Dragon

Galaxy’s Edge Books:  Galaxy's Edge Series by Jason Anspach

Quar and Joshua Gualtieri, Quar - Western Iron — Wargames Atlantic

Elegoo Saturn 3 Printers:   Saturn Series 3D Printers – ELEGOO CA

Jay’s Book Picks:

Joseph Springer, The Black Devil Brigade: The True Story of the First Special Service Brigade in World War Two. https://www.amazon.com/Black-Devil-Brigade-Special-Service/dp/0935553509

John Keegan, The Face of Battle. The Face of Battle - Wikipedia

Jason Anspach and Nick Cole, Legionaire, First Book in the Galaxy’s Edge series.  Legionnaire - GALAXYS EDGE

Mike and James have a great chat with Winnipeg's Byron Mudry, a lifelong gamer who also takes us behind the scenes in his MDF terrain business.  We also talk about the vibrant gaming scene on the Canadian prairies, and his love of wargaming Canada's storied First World War history.  Byron also schooled us about Trench Crusade and other games that the cool kids are playing.

Byron's business: https://northernlightsterrain.com/

Other things we mentioned

Legions of Steel (Canadian early competitor to Space Hulk):

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2091/legions-of-steel

State of Play podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5qFCUIbuAnuZI00KTaHUSg/videos

Analogue Hobbies (Curt Campbell's Blog):

http://analogue-hobbies.blogspot.com/

Fawcett Avenue Conscripts (Winnipeg gaming club):

Brutal Cities (Australian MDF terrain company):

https://brutalcities.com/pages/about-us

PrairieCon, Brandon MB's Annual Gaming Convention:

https://www.prairiecon.com/

Friendly Fire Manitoba Gaming Event:

https://friendly-fire-manitoba.com/

Legions IV Hire Gaming Store, Winnipeg:

https://www.legionsivhire.ca/index.php

Burrows and Badgers:

https://www.oathswornminiatures.co.uk/c/4553237/1/burrows-badgers.html

Gaslands: The Game:

https://planetsmashergames.com/gaslands/about/

Trench Crusade:

https://www.trenchcrusade.com/

Books that Byron Recommend:

Brave Battalion: The Remarkable Sage of the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) in the First World War, by Mark Zuelkhe:

https://www.zuehlke.ca/brave-battalion.html

Gallant Canadians: The Story of the Tenth Canadian Infantry Battalion, 1914-1919, by Daniel G. Dancocks:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2660649-gallant-canadians

Eric Flint, 1632 Series:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1632_series

Old Solomon Levi: Regimental March of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles:

https://youtu.be/-4CdDPAKJ58?si=oOwg5BUFnAxvGcgg

Not an episode per se, we just hit record for two hours while we tried to play Midgard using Zoom.   May or not be your cup of tea, certainly nothing slick and polished, but that wouldn't be us, would it?  Might amuse you while you're painting or lying on a gurney in the ER.

After a very long hiatus, Mike and James emerge briefly from hibernation to chat with Irish warmer and friend Conrad Kinch.  CK publishes an irregular blog, Joy and Forgetfulness, and writes a regular column for Miniature Wargames. We recorded this just after Christmas, 2024, but due to his incorrigible slothfulness, Mike is only now finished editing and uploading this.

CK's blog:

https://joyandforgetfulness.blogspot.com/2021/03/?m=0

Hello, is this thing on?  Does it still work?

Yes, in the spirit of all things Easter, this podcast has risen, or at least, roused itself from its slumber.  In this catch-up issue, James and Mike get together on air for the first time since last October.  No interesting guest, just us.    In a little over an hour, we talk about:

Hot Lead, which took place just before Easter and of which James is justifiably proud of his team.   You can find his wrap-up of this year’s show at his blog:  https://rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com/2024/03/hot-lead-2024-lots-of-pictures-and-video.html

Some further Hot Lead bits in this segment:

We talk about naval wargaming, and the new WW1 rules by local boy Andrew Dobbie:  https://www.dobbieshobbies.net/

Model Builders Supply was not at Hot Lead this year but they sell great terrain (I love their trees) and you could buy the business!  Check it out:  https://modelbuilderssupply.com/

Also thanks to Hot Lead we got morbid and talked about war-games estate sales, since you can’t take it with you:  http://madpadrewargames.blogspot.com/2024/03/an-estate-sale-rules-haul-and-bit-of.html

In the middle of the podcast, we talk about 18th century wargaming, starting off with Mike’s report on his first attempts with Henry Hyde’s horse and musket rules, Shot, Steel and Stone.  For more on Mike’s thoughts, see: http://madpadrewargames.blogspot.com/2024/03/first-thoughts-on-henry-hydes-shot.html

We also discussed other 18th century rules we want to play more of, including Keith Flint’s Honours of War which gets good reviews from everyone who’s played it:  https://www.ospreypublishing.com/ca/honours-of-war-9781472808097/

As well as Twilight of the Soldier Kings which I think is available for purchase on Amazon.   

If you have thoughts about these rules, let us know please.

We also talk about ancient Romans, books vs PDFs (James is a print guy), James’ charming obsession with the Quar and Mike’s eagerness to try General D’Armee 2 from Reisswitz Press.

Finally we look ahead to some upcoming war-games shows in Ontario:

Ragnarok is more RPG and SF focused than Hot Lead but it’s in nearby Kitchener and worth supporting, April 20 and 21.   See https://www.ragnarokxp.com/

Our friends in Hamilton are organizing a more war-games oriented event in Niagara Fallson Saturday May 4:  https://allevents.in/niagara falls/dice-days-at-the-niagara-military-museum/200026103613028#google_vignette

We leave you with a quiz:  

Who is the best movie Napoleon?   

Is it:

Ian Holm (Time Bandits)

Ian Holm (Time Bandits)

OR

Ian Holm (Time Bandits)

Cheers and thanks for listening.

Write to us:

Mike:  [email protected]

James:  [email protected]

Blogs:   

www.madpadrewargames.blogspot.com

www.rabbitsinmybasment.blogspot.com

On Bluesky:

madpadre.bsky.social

jamesmanto.bsky.social

I'm embarrassed to say that James and I recorded this chat on August 10, and then I totally forgot about uploading it in the business of my day job.  So here we are, two whole months later and I owe big apologies to James and to you dear listeners, all two of you.

I vaguely recall that we talked about James' Quar fixation, the forthcoming Napoleon movie, and God knows what else.  So I'll be as surprised listening to this as you will be.  Hopefully we all enjoy it.

Wendy de Wolfe is a Canadian Armed Forces veteran, fine artist and freelance graphic designer, and wargamer with a particular interest in kriegspiels.   For the past year, she's ben running a large Napoleonic kriegspiel set in 1806 in which James and I were among the players, only to recently discover that James was the Prussian CinC.  It was terrific fun.    

In this Now It Can Be Told episode, James and I had a terrific time chatting with Wendy about this particular game, what we didn't know at the time, and how the game went.  Wendy talks about managing a game of this scale as the referee, and offers some thoughts on what how to run a KS for those interested in such a venture.   She also discusses her experience as a combat veteran and how her military service has influenced her gaming and game design.

Notes About Our Guest:

https://wendydewolfe.com

http://wendydewolfe.blogspot.com/

Wendy's report on her KS game:

https://youtu.be/jN388s17nD0

https://youtu.be/g23MaOtqMHg

James' report on Wendy's KS game: http://rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com/2023/06/rabbitman-lost-in-fog-of-war.html

Wendy's Contributions to the CWP Virtual Library:

Donald E Graves, Redcoats and Grey Jackets, The Battle of Chippawa (Dundurn Press, 1966)

Marc Milner, Stopping the Panzers (University Press of Kansas, 2017)

Other Things What We Mentioned:

Andrew Field, Grouchy's Waterloo: The Battles of Ligny and Wavre (Pen and Sword 2017)

Zombiesmith and Quar: https://zombiesmith.com/

All Things Quar: https://rhyfler.com/

Ottomans by The Assailt Group: https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product-category/renaissance/ottoman/

Event Horizons hobby store, Midland, ON: https://www.eventhorizonhobbies.com/

Warlord Games, Black Powder: https://us.warlordgames.com/collections/rules-books/black-powder

Warlord Games, Hail Caesar: https://us.warlordgames.com/collections/rules-books/hail-caesar

Upcoming Gaming Events in Ontario:  https://mustcontainminis.com/ontario-miniature-gaming-conventions

Our Guest Wendy's Choice for PlayOut Music:   Light of Foot, Dismounted March of the Royal Canadian Dragoons: https://youtu.be/9f_HaWp_llk