by A new year 📆 means some new tweaks to #TuesdayNewsday, but always the same bedrock news you’ve been counting on for years ➡️
New year, new Newsday! You’re going to start seeing some evolutions of the news this year, starting this week as we update some of our sources, processes, and templates. A few of the tweaks:
- Updated cover graphics! We got a few snide remarks about some of 2025’s, uh, colorful covers, so we’ve dialed back a bit and updated the look and feel some while trying to retain the distinctly “Dragoons” vibe
- New releases: a bit more detail about each new release instead of just a title and a link, so you know what you’re clicking into; grouping some of the storefronts
- Pre-orders & crowdfunding: same as above, to help with some decision-making; updated some of the sources we check
- Sales: we’re tracking a couple of different places to make sure we don’t miss anything!
- The Dragoons: Our usual links to our articles, put now also mining our archives since we’ve got a deep well of great content to share
- Around the Web: Updated a bunch of our sources, including shifting a few out to other parts of the news; added some YT channels
- Industry News: Separated out design content and consolidated that with some other blog sources
- Conventions & Events: Updated our convention listings, and will be loading a ton of them into our event calendar on the site, too; keep in mind that in the news, we’re only going about 6 weeks out (at most) because otherwise this part of the news would be huuuuuge
- The Pros: Updated a bunch of sources and moved some other blogs into this group; also pulled some sources out that weren’t doing much good
You’ll see some other things come & go as we count down to our events like Connections Online and the Fall Assembly, as well as a few monthly things that we’ll include every few weeks.
What do you think? Let us know in our comments below!
When you talk about people who were literally1 there “at the beginning” there are few people with a better claim than Tim Kask, who passed away last week. He was the first full-time employee at TSR, and was the first editor of Dragon Magazine. His name is all over the credits from TSR starting in the early 70s, and you can find him on credits well into the 2010s. He was frequently one of the auctioneers at GenCon, and his YouTube channel was a must-view for many in the RPG space.
Some notes on his passing:
- Jim Wampler’s post (first report for most people) and Matt Forbeck’s note
- D&D Beyond thread
- HMGS/GaryCon attendee
- The Other Side
- EN World
- Tribute thread on Reddit
Re-running this one as it was right before the holidays when we brought it up: Origins badges are now on sale. Event registration hasn’t opened up yet, and we still need to get all of our events submitted, but you can go ahead and get your badges now to join us from 17-21 June at the Wargame HQ. Hotel blocks are already verschnügled though, as all those gamers, well . . . gamed the system to get reservations they maybe shouldn’t’ve.
Details about the upcoming 2026 ArmChair Dragoons Digital Convention
We’re under 2 weeks, and we’ve got badges still available!
Among the talk shows we’ve got this year:
- 3 award-winning historians with talks about Pearl Harbor, the Plains Indian Wars, and the WW2 East Front
- A couple of Georgetown Wargame Design students presenting their class projects
- A special ACDC version of Starfleet Tactical
- The NSDMG team talking about wargaming the new political realities of Europe
- The even-numbered-year Armchair Dragoons Keynote
Reinforcements have landed—fresh games and goodies await!
- Wargames Illustrated issue #457 is now available
- Berlin: Fall of the Reich, 1945 — the next game in the Solitaire Area Movement Series — is now shipping from Revolution Games and it’s $10 off during the launch at the moment
- High Flying Dice released Depths of Courage 9: Operation Source covering a British mini-sub attack on the Germans in Norway in WW2
- This week on Wargame Vault
- Psychonics is a sci-fi expansion for a different black powder game and yeah, we’re not kidding
- TIGERS & BEASTS: Counterattack at Staszow and Stopnica, Aug. 1944 from Perry Moore & Firefight Games
- Grim Tactics is a minis-agnostic sci-fi game
- New releases on Steam
- ShellMobile: Titan Rampart is a humans-vs-aliens sci-fi battler
- War and Politics is an early access game of grand global strategy, but reviews indicate more “early” than “access”
- Ace of Space aims for full buzzword-complaince as “a roguelike deckbuilder blending strategic card play with autobattling mechanics”
- The Wargaming Company starting the year off with a bang, and a bunch of minis for their ESR game, and whatever other Napoleonics you’ve got in mind
- Prussian Revolution-Early War Force Pack: Division
- French Early War Force Pack: Corps d’armée
- French Early War Force Pack: Vielle Garde Impériale
- Prussian Revolution-Early War Attachment Pack: Infanteriebrigade
- French Early War Attachment Pack: Division de Grosse Cavalerie
- French Early War Attachment Pack: Division de Cavalerie Légère
- French Early War Attachment Pack: Division de Cavalerie
- French Early War Attachment Pack: Parc d’Artillerie
- French Légère Command in Shako with Side Plume
- Prussian Revolution-Early War Attachment Pack: Leichtes-Brigade
- Prussian Revolution-Early War Attachment Pack: Leichtes Kavalleriebrigade
If you love supporting cool projects, this week’s lineup has you covered.
- Worthington launched The American Revolution + Washington’s Secret Service games on Kickstarter, with a goal of $1776
- Compass Games launched The Great Hunger, about Ireland in the 19th century
- Hide, Stone, and Bone is a “paleolithic skirmish wargame” on pre-order with Osprey
- It’s not exactly the reincarnation of the Devil Pigs, but the designers are back with a new company and launched Heroes of the Pacific on Backerkit today
- RISK G.I. JOE: Special Missions on pre-order from Renegade
- On Military Matters will be back next week with their newsletter
- This week on Kickstarter
- Let’s hope that Survive Nuclear Apocalypse is just a lark and doesn’t become current-events gaming
- Oh, come on . . . Sugarland is a “Run your own Stripclub” solo gamebook and, yeah, we’re just gonna stop there . . .
- Man, the new Mork Borg-powered Cultists & Cubicles hits close to home for a lot of us
- And this week’s hopeless campaign is Warfront Nations, that’s only got $10 toward a $12k goal and -zero- buzz
- The Bolt Action and Achtung Panzer! ones are out of stock, but Warlord’s other mystery boxes are still on pre-order
Time to stretch your defense budget—here are the current deals!
- WDS ‘Game of the week’ is Civil War Battles: Chancellorsville for $29.95, on sale until Sunday
- This week’s discount from Dice Envy are their 10-pc mystery sets and they’re 15% off and no code needed
- Easy Roller Dice have a BOGO deal on 7-piece sets right now with coupon code BOGO26 at checkout
- Tales of the Valiant is one of the bundles launched for the new year over at Bundle of Holding
- Noble Knight has copies of Pacific Fleet (3rd Edition) starting at $125, and if you’re feeling really spendy, they’ve got Battle Above the Clouds starting at $765 and that’s not a typo
- Miniature Market has Italy ’43 on sale this week at $9 off, and Stalingrad ’42 (2nd Edition) at $28 off
- It’s only $5 off, but still, Armageddon War is on sale at Flying Pig Games
- Acies has all of their in-stock games on sale around 40% off
- Seljuk: Byzantium Besieged, 1068-1071 in on sale at Gamer’s Armory for about 15% off
- Can’t get cheaper than “free”! You can log in and claim these thru THU 8 January
- Total War: Three Kingdoms (Ancient China)
- Wildgate (space dogfighting)
The year just started! Here’s what we published over the last two weeks
- Battle Lab ~ Gatekeeping vs Inclusivity in Wargaming
- First Impressions of Battleplan from Matrix Games
- Scenario Galleries of Battleplan from Matrix Games
- 2025 Armchair Dragoons Year In Review
- 2025 Mentioned In Dispatches Year In Review
- Your 2025 in Wargaming, Part 1 – The Initial Stats
- Not #TuesdayNewsday — New Release Montage Collection — 2025 Edition!
- AARs
- From The Armchair Dragoons Archives
- Back on 7 May 20, we published First Impressions of Shadow Empire from Matrix Games from the Armchair Dragoons PAO desk
- On 8 May 23, we live-streamed CO23 D1S4: Wargame Manuals and Handbooks – A Sampling as a part of Connections Online, on our YouTube channel
- Limited gameplay over the holidays!
- This week in our forums we’re talking about Terra Invicta
- This week in our merch shop, the basic Dragoon polo – nothing fancy – lets you show off some regimental pride while still looking classy
The Best Thing We Saw On Another Site This Week Was
When Exercises Are Too Polite to Be Useful
One of the clearest signs an exercise is too polite—and too abstract—is the absence of consequence.
Decisions rarely foreclose options. Delays rarely create downstream impacts. Plans never fail because they are never truly applied. Missteps are corrected quickly by facilitators or peer intervention.
In real incidents, consequences are not optional.
Choosing one priority delays another. Waiting for clarity costs time. Following a plan exposes gaps. Deviating from it creates new risk. These dynamics are inseparable from response—but they are often entirely missing from traditional tabletop environments.
Without consequence, exercises cannot generate feedback. Without feedback, improvement remains theoretical.
Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream covered GMT’s p500 games
Another fun video
Various news & notes from the business end of the gaming world
- Whither the CSW forums? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
- Some great advice in this thread for people who run gaming spaces — cafes, stores, conventions, etc
- This week, Scott Thorne’s column offers some 2026 predictions; he also scores his predictions from last year
- BoardGameWire looks into the Diamant d’Or, the prize created for more complex/heavy boardgames
- Rascal asked the community to pitch in for their Best of 2025
- ICv2 has a reader survey asking about their content
- If you mess with the staff at Victory Roll Cafe, the owners might come at you off the top rope, literally: co-owners Jeff & Dory Parker are also pro wrestlers with AEW3
- Milton Griepp of ICv2 has some predictions for 2026 across the broad swath of geek culture
- Decision Games has a “Deluxe Editions 2026” survey asking which games you’d like to see make the jump from the magazine archives into a new boxed edition
- Pushing Cardboard recaps the email that Mark Miklos sent out with some 2026 plans for the Battles of the American Revolution series, and we have a feeling Mark might pop up around here at some point this Spring, too
- Washington state official overseas elections, and . . . D&D?
- Lock’n Load Publishing relaunched their website – especially the store – and your opinion of it will likely mirror your opinion on the use of AI in games
- Big update from Sound of Drums on their upcoming games & shipments
- Get Hired! Ghost Story Games has a posting for a Design Manager
Hasbro needed to add vector movement, fuel tracking and thermodynamics to this, right @nyrath.bsky.social?Also, stealth in space doesn't work…
Articles, advice, and ideas for those of you on the creative side
- Skelton Code Machine talks about tracking ammo and thankfully never mentions Phoenix Command
- Part 2 of Dan Bullock’s design diary about Penitent (BGG)
- Geoff Engelstein looks at everything heading into the public domain in the coming year
- Early turns vs later turns
- Matthew Dunstan’s Game Design Lessons from 2025 (Video)
Calling all Indie Game Designers! Do you have a great #PrintandPlay game sitting on your hard drive waiting to be discovered? It’s time to get it onto players' tables.We (Florian Fiedler & I) are curating the first #PnP Bundle, and we are looking for hidden gems to include.🧵
— Chris Backe (@chrisbacke.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T15:39:04.315Z
Don’t forget to check our consolidated event & convention calendar for more!
You can also submit your own events for our calendar here.
Our Next Armchair Dragoons Events
- Wargame Days at The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC ~ February 1 and March 1
- Next real-world/live event is Buckeye Game Fest (Columbus OH), 12-15 March 2026
- Next virtual event is the ACDC4, 16-18 January, 2026
Upcoming Conventions & Events
- 8-11 Jan Midwinter Gaming Convention (Pewaukee WI) <– THIS WEEKEND!
- 9-11 Jan OrcaCon (Seattle WA) <– THIS WEEKEND
- 15-18 Jan Niagara Boardgaming Weekend (Niagara Falls NY)
- 15-18 Jan Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo (Philadelphia PA)
- 15-19 Jan CascadeCon (Bellingham WA)
- 16-18 Jan ConQuest Ventura (Ventura CA)
- 16-18 Jan Marscon (Virginia Beach VA)
- 16-18 Jan The ACDC (Armchair Dragoons HQ Online)
- 16-19 Jan AdamCon, Woodlawn, OH
- 17-19 Jan Siege of Augusta Con (Augusta GA)
- 22-25 Jan Bellota Con (Badajoz Spain)
- 23-25 Jan MMP Winter Offensive (Bowie MD)
- 30 Jan-1 Feb Captain Con (Warwick RI USA)
From January 30th to February 1st, Snafu DT will attend the SquareBASH! Convention at Gatwick… We kindly invite all our btitish fans to get there and meet us, we will run some demos of our latests games… Tarqui, Bollebank, Nothing Left to Bomb and 12 Hours at Maleme!
— Team Snafu & SDT (@snafustore.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T12:03:29.270Z
Focusing on the practitioner world ~ don’t forget about the dedicated area in our forums for the wargame professionals!
- Wargaming Beyond the Battlefield (USNI)
- Last week, Wargaming Weekly wrapped up 2025
- Hasbro’s Secret Weapon for Training Its Next Leaders: A Board Game (WSJ)
- as noted above— When Exercises Are Too Polite to Be Useful (LinkedIn)
- Recent Wargame By The PRC Reveals Extensive Dual-Use Infrastructure Throughout Latin America (SWJ)
- We Grow Strategists Too Late: Why Army Leaders Must Fail Early (USMA)
- Wargaming World War Three: how and where the next global conflict could actually unfold (Telegraph)
- Chinese military simulates battles near Mexico and Cuba in growing sign of Beijing’s global ambitions (Daily Mail)
- Upcoming MORS courses
- Certificate in Wargaming 26–30 January 2026
- Certificate in Homeland Security Gaming 3–5 February 2026
- Gaming Emergency Response to Disease Course 10–12 March 2026
- Gaming Weapons of Mass Destruction Course 31 March–2 April 2026
- This week, Mick Ryan talks about Venezuela, as you might expect
- The next GUWS webinar is Wargaming AI—Representing AI-Enabled Military Systems in Games on 19 January, and then Integration of Wargaming and Modeling & Simulation on 9 February and Decision making under uncertainty in educational gaming on 23 February
- PaxSims Simulation & Gaming miscellany on 6 January 2026
- Games of War conference in Gdansk, 24 February 2026
- Get Hired! Goldbelt Nighthawk has a posting for an Exercise Designer
Something neat from outside the wargaming world we thought was worth sharing
That’s all for this week!
You can chat about the news in the Intel Dump in our discussion forums and next Tuesday we return with another update for you
Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and riding with The Armchair Dragoons.
Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web.
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