Wed, 31 July 2013
Record amount of downloads for Guns, Dice, Butter today. Must be the references to Red Dawn. Hats off to our two panels. Also, interesting story on BBC site today: AUG 1: 2013: BBC: WWIII Queen's speech' script revealed Link to survey of Third World War wargames and media survey: games http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1731928/herr-dr media http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1731927/herr-dr ...and the website Brian referenced: http://gamethenews.net/ ...and a link to AARs of monster wargames: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/52996/i-want-the-beast-session-reports-reviews-of-heavy
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-- posted at: 8:15pm CDT
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Sat, 15 June 2013
Summary stats from various GDB listener surveys on Boardgamegeek (BGG). Some very interesting stats: > The percentage of listeners that have been in the wargame hobby less than 5 years is now 43% - vs about 20% that we had in 2012. I wonder if GDB is just attracting a higher percentage of rookies within in the hobby, or, if the hobby is actually beginning to add significant new users. > The average GDB listener buys about 1 game a month...$838/yr...33% indicating that they are purchasing more games in 2013 (vs 2012), 51% staying about the same and only 17% cutting back on game purchases; so, on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 indicating more purchases in 2013 and a 1 indicating less) the net is 3.2 - moderate growth in 2013. > 53% of listeners have more than 5 preorders currently and 70% have utilized Kickstarter to purchase games > 97% of listeneers indicate they plan to continue to listen to GDB...with 46% describing themselves as nutcase fans ... and over 2/3rds have listened to all GDB episodes :-) > 50% indicate they've purchased games after hearing them discussed on GDB, while another 35% indicating GDB has had an impact on their game purchases > Number one choice for the next panel discussion is one focussing on wargames to be published in 2013. Episode VI July 2012 - we did a panel on games published in 2011 and 2012. Episode VIII Sept 2012 we did a panel on "games in the pipeline". So, maybe after the summer con's, that would be a good subject to tackle. So far in 2013, a list of wargames that have caught my eye include: Iron and Oak (ACW naval), Rebel Raiders on the High Seas (ACW naval), Guns of Gettysburg, War of the Suns, In Country: Vietnam 1965-75 S&T), Norway 1940 (World at War zine) and Democracy Under Siege (DTP) > Second choice? American Civil War panel (we've been planning that one for awhile - hope to have sooner than later). THANK YOU for the great feedback!
Category:Data
-- posted at: 12:44pm CDT
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Mon, 19 November 2012
Link to a couple of files regarding Berg's catalogue of games: ...and a link to history of Rome podcast: 179 episodes of incredible story telling: http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/ Mr.Duncan tells the story of Rome, from its beginning to its demise. Each episode is about 15-20 minutes. If you love Roman history, this is your podcast.
Category:Data
-- posted at: 9:04am CDT
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Wed, 19 September 2012
A few links to items disussed in Episode VIII The epic WWI Op/Europa type game... http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/111/der-weltkrieg-simulation-series Enrico's recommendations... The Thomas Jefferson/A.Burr game... http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/100169/hero-of-weehawken Bustin heads with/against the brownshirts... http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5024/der-fuhrer Marty's Afghan game by Volko and Brian Train: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/127518/a-distant-plain Ballons! ....
Category:Data
-- posted at: 10:14am CDT
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Thu, 19 April 2012
I've kept a chart of Card Driven Wargames (CDWs) up to date the last few years. By CDWs, I mean those games that trace lineage to either We the People or Parths of Glory. I updated that chart today. The link to it is at the bottom of this post. Paths of Glory brought me back into the hobby. Shortly after that, while attending WBC, I stumbled across Mark Herman and his game For the People...and I was firmly hooked on wargaming and WBC again. During WBC 2002, I met a few players that had a similar strong interest in CDWs. Three of us (Rob Hassard, Keith Wixson and myself) lamented over some BBQ and beer that WBC was only held once a year (August) and wondered whether or not we could have a mini-WBC in dead middle of winter just for the play of CDWs and consumption of BBQ (Andy Nelson's, of course). I then discussed with Stuart Tucker; long time GM of the game Hannibal and board member of WBC at the time (Stuart is blueblood Avalon Hill). Soon, Stuart and I approached Don Greenwood, who tossed his support behind the idea and Winter Activation Meeting (WAM) was born (Jan 2003). Stuart and I also were able to enlist Don's support for the pre-cons at WBC that permitted play of the longer wargame tourneys, begining with Paths of Glory and Hannibal, while allowing wargamers to still get their entire fill of WBC during the week. So, our bar talk eventually paid off: an expanded venue for the games we love to play within the big tent called WBC: http://www.boardgamers.org/ Since then, we've held 10 WAMs and quite a few pre-cons. Great times, always. Keith Wixson and Teri Coleman now lead that mini-con and tribe. We are all looking forward to WAM XI in Jan 2013. The most recent WAM report is here: http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/wam12.htm ... and there is a WAM discussion board on consimworld.com (in the Conventions folder). We'll be discussing CDWs often on Guns, Dice, Butter and having Mark Herman on that Episode 1 was a great way to kickoff the podcast. One other point regarding CDWs: they would be great on the iPad and similar devices. One reason for the Second Golden Age of Wargaming are CDWs; in that they get played A LOT on line using tools like Vassal and Cyberboard (among others) and the online site ACTS and Wargameroom.com The play of cards on a iPad is a natural and would be a great way to pull in new gamers to the hobby. Think about it: we spend most of our time looking at our "hand of cards" (easily viewed on a iPad). And, the art on the cards helps the immersion experience. I can't think of a better way to expand the hobby; hopefully, someone or some company will get our CDWs (and new ones developed to maximize those devices) on the new devices sooner than later. Anyways, the link to the CDW Evolution chart: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1292931
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-- posted at: 10:53pm CDT
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Fri, 6 April 2012
One item I discussed on the Episode 2 was a series of posts on BGG with designer Harry Rowland. They occurred in December 2011 when Mr.Rowland was selected as the featured wargame designer of the month. I've always been a BIG fan of Mr.Rowland's work: Empire in Arms, World in Flames, Days of Decision, etc. I posed the following question to Mr.Rowland: That brings up a question; How you [Mr.Rowland] would rate the relative chances (from favored to win vs didn't have a snowball's chance of winning) of the losing side to have actually won the conflict - both the relative order and a categorization of that chance: Link to Mr.Rowland's response: http://gunsdicebutter.libsyn.com/rowland-on-historys-losing-sides-pdf And a link to forum where Mr.Rowland entertained and responded to a long series of questions from wargamers on BGG: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/694008/bgg-wargame-designer-of-the-month-harry-rowland/page/1
Category:Data
-- posted at: 10:52am CDT
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Fri, 6 April 2012
Those of you that know me from BGG (Boardgamegeek.com), know that I periodically conduct analysis of the BGG data regarding wargames. Consequently, I've now uploaded (or linked to) some of that work to this website. The first file contains my analysis of wargames from 1958-2008. This work was initated when I began to wonder how wargames had evolved: by subject type, mechanic, etc. BGG is a GREAT resource for the hobby, so, I utilized the data there to compile a short analytical piece. It is located on a few places on the net (grognard and wargamer), but, thought I would also place it on this website. The link is here: http://gunsdicebutter.libsyn.com/gamedata-pdf Finally, I've upload one chart as a sample of many contained in my gallery on BGG. The chart is of wargames by complexity (game weight) vs historical plausibility (BGG survey response) and sized by the reported number of owners (as reported on BGG). http://gunsdicebutter.libsyn.com/game-weight-vs-historically-plausibility-sized-by-number-of-owners-pdf
Category:Data
-- posted at: 8:34am CDT
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