by Ready for the latest in wargaming? Then you’re in the right place! #TuesdayNewsday is here to cover the best from tabletop, computer, and professional wargaming. Let’s dive into the news that’s shaping this week in wargaming.
This past week was UK Games Expo, and while one day we’ll get our own correspondent over there, for now, you’ll have to make do with us sharing other people’s coverage of the show that brought in about 42,000 attendees
- BoardGameWire has a big wrapup of it all situating the event within the global gaming ecosystem
- Punchboard’s report focused on author Adam’s personal walkthrough of the event
- Lots of photos from BoardGameAddictUK
- Cole’s thread, including some travel pix with his brother
The figures for UK Games Expo 2025 are out, and its record breaking once again!Uniques – 42,000+Total Attendance – 72,000+Massive thank you to everyone that came to the show and made it so memorable.Bring on our anniversary show 202529th-31st May 2026
— UK Games Expo (@ukge.bsky.social) 2025-06-01T15:13:25.729Z
Given all of the federal gov’t shenanigans back when they were still planning SDHISTCON East, the committee elected to pivot to a digital con, and it’s this weekend
This is only about 60% of the schedule. Much more at the link
You go, girl!
new front page image for the Hollandspiele site in anticipation of June
— Amabel Holland (@amabel.bsky.social) 2025-05-31T02:55:32.068Z
Hitting the shelves (and webstores) near you now!
- Strategy & Tactics #353, with Ukraine Battles 2014: Ilovaisk & Debaltseve as its game, is now shipping
- CSL has said that their Afrika Army Korps game is now shipping
- No Such Blood is a new one from Homegrown Designs, available through Blue Panther, covering the ACW battles in Belmont, MO and New Market, VA
- High Flying Dice releases A Useless Fight that covers the the ACW naval battle at Trent’s Reach in January of 1865
- Ghost Division is the new DLC for Panzer Corps 2: Elite
- MicroProse has released Dagger Directive into early access for your modern FPS needs
- Wargames Illustrated #450 is now shipping
- Looks like The Trials of Task Force Faith from Le Franc Tireur is in stock with The Gamer’s Armory now, for you ASL-in-Korea needs
- From Warlord Games, Iron Coffins – Achtung Panzer! Supplement With Stanley Christopherson Special Miniature
- SENET Magazine #19 is out
- Timed for UKGE, Osprey released the following
- A couple of new bookgames available on Amazon
- Cold War: Restless in Peace
- World War II Solitaire: Echoes Of War (Allies) in both left-handed and right-handed editions
- World War II Solitaire: Echoes Of War (Axis) but only in a right hand edition
Time to get those orders in now and then either (a) complain that it’s 2 years late, and/or (b) be surprised when it gets here sooner than you thought
- Compass Games has Trench Raid on Kickstarter
- Fortress Games has launched 2 new games on the same Kickstarter campaign: The Armada covers the Spain v England naval conflicts, and Secession 1861 covers the US Civil War
- You can pre-order Spain at War from SGS, which should be shipping pretty soon
- The new Luck of Draw card-driven system is designed for solo play with a bunch of stuff from Two Hour Wargames and is on Kickstarter
- Packing Heat: Fast and Brutal Squad-on-Squad Action is a minis-agnostic rules set that’s on Kickstarter now
- Free League has a pair of Dragonbane books on Kickstarter and blew through their funding goals in about 10 minutes
- A big-ass global map for you to connect your Axis & Allies 1940 Europe and Pacific games together is now on pre-order with Renegade
- Against The Odds #63, with Trying Men’s Souls as the included game, is now on pre-order
Looking for a deal? Getting more bang for your buck?
- WDS “Game of the week” is Panzer Campaigns: Kursk ‘43 for $29.95
- The latest On Military Matters newsletter includes pre-orders for some Stargrave minis and a couple of books in The Napoleonic Archive
- You know those “Game Master’s Guide to . . . ” book you’ve seen all over B&N and Target and such? Humble Bundle’s got a big deal on those right now
- Alternative Armies will throw in a “planetary archivist” mini for free with every order unto 26 June
- Franklin 1864 is $15 off at Miniature Market
- There’s a couple of recently-arrived copies of the original SPI-era Battles for the Ardennes at Noble Knight
- We’re telling you about this one from The Dietz Foundation ahead of time, b/c it’ll be gone before we get back around next Tuesday
We’re close to what is known as ‘the day of days’. If you head to the Foundation store on June 6, we have a special coupon for Order of the Day. Type in DDayAnniversary and get $15 off (that makes it $25 rather than $40)!!
It’s been a busy week for the regiment; here’s what you might’ve missed!
- Saturday Night Fights ~ D’Erlon’s Assault Part II for “Lasalle 2”
- Overview of Lock ‘n Load Publishing’s Glory and Empire: First Victories
- Field Of Glory: Kingdoms Rajas And Tribes DLC, A First Look
- Origins 2025 Countdown – Exhibitor Spotlight
- Wednesday War Stories ~ The Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916 – or – When “something wrong with our bloody ships today” makes for a bloody good game
- AARs
- Gameplay this week
The Best Thing We Saw On Another Site This Week Was
Wargaming in the US Military: Ludic Militarism and the Production of Warfighters by Aggie Hirst
While Politics of Play focuses upon gaming within the military, my fieldwork also drew into focus the roles and effects of games in the lifecycle of warfighters before and following service. Here, some unexpected applications and sites of resistance arose. During an interview, former Army Captain Steve Machuga made the remarkable statement: ‘videogames saved my life’. On returning home following his two tours in Iraq, he explained, suffering with PTSD caused in part by narrowly escaping a suicide bombing, Steve turned to games to manage his isolation, ongoing trauma responses, and suicidal ideation. As he put it to me: ‘I was finding on trash days, Tuesdays, I was having trouble leaving the house because that is a popular place for insurgents to hide explosive devices.’ Turning to videogames as a distraction, Steve found that they alleviated his symptoms, reducing his agoraphobia and creating a community of ‘nerd goodness’ that he credits with having enabled his recovery. Steve found that he was not alone among veterans turning to games for relief. As another veteran put it: ‘when the screaming in my head starts, I just pop on a game.’
Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream talked about the Battalion Combat Series, among other things
Various news & notes from the business end of the gaming world
- ICv2 reports that Tabletop Tycoon has acquired a handful of games from CMON, mostly Eric Lang designs
- WDS has updated Spring Awakening ’45 to the latest Panzer Campaigns 4.05.3 engine, plus 22 new scenarios(!)
- S&T Press has a survey about their lesser-known Strategy & Tactics Quarterly magazine
- SGS has updated their Afrika Corps game to a v1.5 engine, which Win 10+ only
For those intereseted, here's a Defiance production update from co-designer David Dockter (@herrdr8.bsky.social):
— GMT Games (@gmtgames.bsky.social) 2025-05-30T15:35:15.331Z
- Federal court pauses the tariffs; another federal court pauses the pause
- Tariffs are affecting tangential connections to the gaming world, too, as comic/toy shops (that frequently cross over with games) are feeling the effects
- Fledgling companies are getting hammered by the uncertainty
- CNet’s big overview of the situation
Don’t forget to check our consolidated event & convention calendar for more!
You can also submit your own events for our calendar here.
- Wargame Days at The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC ~ 6 July and 3 August
- Next confirmed live event is Origins Game Fair, 18-22 June 2025
- Next planned virtual event is the ACDC1, 16-18 January, 2026
Other Conventions & Events
- 7 Jun SDHISTCON 2025 Second Front (Online) <– THIS WEEKEND!
- 18-23 Jun ORIGINS (Columbus OH)
- 20-23 Jun LibertyCon (Chattanooga TN)
- 20-23 Jun Southern Fried Gaming Expo (Atlanta GA)
- 11-20 Jul Consim World Expo (Tempe AZ)
- 11-14 Jul Human Wave (Washington DC)
- 11-14 Jul Twister Lords (Midwest City / OKC)
- 16-21 Jul Historicon (Lancaster PA)
- 26-4 Aug World Boardgaming Championships (Seven Springs PA)
- 31-4 Aug GenCon (Indianapolis IN)
There’s a bunch of coverage in other places online, too
- The “official” BGG Origins Game Fair 2025 Preview
- The Origins 2025 – What are you bringing? What are you playing? geeklist
- The BGG discussion thread, which is a shell of what it was 7-8 years ago
- The virtual flea market
- The Boardgame Mechanics preview podcast
- Steve Mayne’s preview on Medium: part one and part two
Origins 2025 Coverage
Wargame HQ Events ~ War College Previews ~ Wargame HQ Previews ~ Exhibitor Spotlight ~ All The Wargaming Events ~ The Final Countdown ~ Setup & First Games ~ The Charles S Roberts Awards ~ The View From Above ~ WHQ Gameplay ~ AAR for A&A Arnhem ~ Random Tidbits ~ The AAR ~ Exhibit Hall
Focusing on the practitioner world ~ don’t forget about our dedicated area in our forums for the wargame professionals!
- INDOPACOM is integrating AI into their current exercises
- The winners of the USMC wargaming competition last month at Modern Day Marine
- Naval Postgrad instructors Jeff Appleget and Jeff Kline penned Every Commander A Wargamer: Reforming Wargaming Education For The Fleet for CIMSEC
- Meanwhile, West Point published Make Them Fight! If You Want A More Lethal Military, Have Generals Compete In Wargames
- The next GUWS webinar is tonight! LARPing and Learning: Achieving Educational Objectives at CNN Academy followed by Playing the Past to Understand the Present on 10 June and An Historian’s View of Contemporary Wargame Design on 17 June
- PaxSims has the climate & security game jam info
Rapid mapping today for a megagame this weekend on the 1994 North Korean Famine. Still some tweaking to do, but it's not half bad for 2 1/2 hours of work. Half the battle here is finding the right base maps to work off of, which is a real pain with North Korea sometimes.
— Evan D'Alessandro (@evandalessandro.bsky.social) 2025-06-02T18:13:16.955Z
Something neat from outside the wargaming world we thought was worth sharing
Wow!
That’s all for this week!
Be sure to drop by our forums and join the fun, and next Tuesday we’ll drop some more news on you.
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