by The week’s most interesting developments are queued up 📋—all systems go ➡️
Anytime Amabel drops a new video that’s a deep dive into the history of a game, it’s going to be good
Brant was a guest on the Meeple 2 Meeple podcast that released today; Spotify link here
The presses have been working overtime 📰—here’s what emerged ➜
- Great Northern War is the latest WDS release to their Steam store1
- Flying Fortresses: B-17 Missions Over Europe is now shipping from Worthington Games
- 3 Crowns Games released Colossus Stumbled covering the 2nd Battle of Kharkov in May of ’42
- Wars Across the World: Quadesh 1274 is a new DLC from Avalon Digital that just released for Wars Across the World
- Slitherine released the Russian Guard DLC for their Broken Arrow game on Steam
- The Last Days in Arnhem on Steam is only in free demo mode right now, but is pretty impressive for an indie release
- MicroProse released Deck & Conn today; it’s a space ship sim that takes a lot of Cold War flavor to space
- This week on Wargame Vault
- Coffeebreak Wargame: Complete Collection is a set of games across different genres that all play on a small 8×8 grid
- Rogue Hammer Strike Leader from Nordic Weasel gives you man-to-man fantasy battle action
- Murky Seas is a set of Napoleonic naval rules that can be used with ships of different scales
- PicoArmor does more than just 3mm units, as you can get Roman Villas and a Hull Castle, too
- Senet Magazine #24 is now available
- Other new releases on Steam
- h/t Mal over at the Ardwulf’s Lair Discord for bringing Angels Fall First to our attention after we missed its original July release
- Hard to tell if Maestro’s Cold War is trying to rip off Twilight Struggle of the older Balance of Power, but either way you get to make “strategical” decisions in the game
- The new Cold War Battles looks an awful lot like LNLP’s World at War ’85 series gone digital; we’re sure it’s a coincidence, right?
- Star Trek Adventures 2e Allies & Adversaries sourcebook is now available in PDF with the hard copies shipping later in September
- Death on the Styx is a new hardcover RPG campaign from Kobold Press
- New Dungeon Club Packs from Dice Envy will get your entire group outfitted
- Steve Jackson Games released GURPS Template Toolkit 5: Quick and Pointless as a PDF for the new GURPS 4e Basic Set
New projects have begun their journey 📍—follow along below ➜
- VaeVictis #188 is on pre-order; the included game is Operation Licorne 2002-2011
- This week’s newsletter from On Military Matters includes their exclusive printing of Bloody Big Peninsular Battles! as well as a bunch of 15mm figs for By Fire & Sword II
- Osprey has Oathmark: Second Edition on pre-order
- Polish 7TP Tank Company Starter Force (Limited Edition) on pre-order for Flames of War over at Battlefront
- Free League has a new Forbidden Lands expansion – Alderland – on pre-order, with instant PDF access
- This week on Kickstarter
- We’re breaking our own rules and including the upcoming Kickstarter campaign for The Nights of King Ludd from The Dietz Foundation, who apparently hate us2 and decided to launch it on Wednesday
- Pincer: A Gentleman’s War had a high goal and will likely clear it; it’s a colonial-era 4x-y map-&-minis game
- And this week’s hopeless campaign is Rawr: The Deck Building Game that we told you about when it launched; 3 days left and only 43%
- Chaosium launched their Backerkit campaign for Time Without Tide: Mirth & Misery in a World of Fog, which builds on the world of the previous Sunless Sea series of browser-based digital games; there’s a free PDF quickstart you can check out, too
- Warlord Games is on the pre-order prowl again, with some Bolt Action! boxes around their upcoming Armies of France 3rd ed launch
- Compass Games has a bunch more of pre-order now
- Combat! Vietnam
- Atlantic Sentinels: Deluxe Convoy Target Deck System
- Absolute Victory, Deluxe 2nd Edition
- Balance of Powers, Deluxe 2nd Edition
- Viking Dawn
- Carrier Battle: South Pacific
- Raiders of the Deep: U-boats of the Great War, Deluxe 2nd Edition
- Tunnel Rats, The Vietnam War Underground
- Against the Reich, Deluxe Edition
Discount hunters, this is your briefing 📋—proceed below ➜
- WDS ‘Game of the week’ is Squad Battles: Red Victory for $29.95, on sale until Sunday
- Noble Knight has copies of Battle for Andromeda starting at the bargain-basement price of $225
- Miniature Market has RISK G.I. JOE: Special Missions on sale this week
- GMT has Waterloo: Napoleon’s Last Battle on sale for $55
- Compass Games has Brothers at War: 1862 for $15 off
- Legion Wargames has Blenheim 1704 and A Splendid Little War both on sale right now, among others
It was a light week for the Dragoons as we all crammed in the last of our vacations and the start of the new school year
No one did their “elevator pitch” homework from last week!
- Wednesday War Stories ~ Battle of Britain in September: Sea Lion Postponed, the Blitz Begins
- U.S. Army War College Wargaming & Professional Military Education Symposium
- Saturday Night Fights ~ “Valour and Fortitude”, 4.0: The Battle of Friedland
- CCS Nerd Yard Sale – Raleigh NC
- #CNXONL26 Why soft factors are hard and a simple answer
- From The Armchair Dragoons Archives
- Back on 29 Jul 21, we dropped Classic Reviews – Bootleggers! by Michael Eckenfels
- On 27 Apr 23, we released GAMA Expo 2023 Convention Center on our YouTube channel
- Gameplay this week
The Best Thing We Saw On Another Site This Week Was
Embrace the News: FITNA- The Global War in the Middle East from Wargames & Whisky, mainly because they close their reviews with an assessment of the accompanying libations
Now look, we’re not going to solve the Middle East in one go, but there is one whiskey that brings enough heat for this game: Nulu Toasted Rye, a five year single barrel Louisville whiskey that spends its final months in a freshly toasted oak barrel. Those extra months give this whiskey, with subtle cinnamon and brown sugar notes, a greater depth and sweet undercurrent, and a robust, spicy, black peppery heat that lingers long after each sip. If you’re skeptical of ryes – and at least one of us is – this one is not the average bottle, and it’s well worth a spot in your collection. If it’s too hot for you, then you can’t handle the Middle East! Admit defeat, and add a drop of water to help open up and mellow the flavor.
Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream (theoretically) covered researching the Bronze Age for wargaming
Various news & notes from the business end of the gaming world
- This week, Scott Thorne’s gets specific with some questions for publishers from his POV as a store owner
- BoardGameWire talks about Solis Game Studio stepping up into distribution as they grow and evolve
- Rascal details all the new regulatory headaches that publishers are dealing with from the EU’s latest packaging regulations
- Of course the Diamond settlement couldn’t be that easy, as ICv2 reports that Sparkle Pop (current warehouse owner) is pitching a hissy fit about product that isn’t theirs but they’re trying to hold for ransom
- Dwarf Fortress’ creator says the industry’s in shambles over AI and layoff-happy CEOs: ‘Everyone I know, their bosses are slowly getting psychosis’
- Handing out C&D letters from lawyers to people making cheat mods for Call of Duty MW 4
- Jamey Stegmaier talks about Admirable Goals vs Successful Crowdfunding
- Congrats to Graal Miniatures on the launch of their company this past week
- And yes, it does appear that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, even from those who would never admit to doing so . . .
- Company Updates
“The game comes with solo rules, but those I’ll leave for you to discover… on your own”.Shortest video ever!
— Watch It Played (@watchitplayed.bsky.social) 2026-08-30T19:34:24.283Z
Articles, advice, and ideas for those of you on the creative side
- Skeleton Code Machine talks about Rolling and locking with Yahtzee mechanisms
- Cardboard Edison has a series on publishing contracts
- A New Colorblind Coding System: ColorSym
- Tabletop War Gamers, how much do you like/dislike dice?
- Minimalist TTRPG Game Jam on itch.io right now
- Avoid the most common pitfalls which cost game designers money!
Yep. Anyone that thinks board game designers are "raking it in" have no concept of how little game designers make.
— Mike Berg, We 🧡 Games (@weheart.games) 2026-09-01T17:43:16.011Z
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 ~ September 134, October 4, and November 1
- Next confirmed live event is The Armchair Dragoons Fall Assembly (Cary NC), 9-11 October 2026
- Next virtual event is The ACDC 15-17 January 2027
Upcoming Conventions & Events
- 3-7 Sep DragonCon (Atlanta GA)
- 4-7 Sep Gateway 2026 (Los Angeles CA)
- 5-9 Sep World Series of Board Gaming (Las Vegas NV)
- 18-20 Sep Southern Front (Morrisville NC)
- 24-27 Sep 6ᵉ Open de France des Jeux d’Histoire (Bordeaux France)
- 27 Sep Revolutionary War Historic Miniature and Board Game Day (Ft Belvoir VA)
- 4-11 Oct ASLOK (Cleveland)
- 9-11 Oct Armchair Dragoons Fall Assembly (Cary NC)
- 22-25 Oct EssenSpiel (Essen Germany)
- 5-9 Nov Compass Fall Expo 2026 (Meriden CT)
- 6-8 Nov HMGS Fall-in! (Lancaster PA)
- 6-9 Nov SDHistCon Summit 2026 (San Diego CA)
- Event previews coming up this week
- Check out the registration site where you can see the latest schedule, including some new events with designer Mike Nagel!
Focusing on the practitioner world ~ don’t forget about the dedicated area in our forums for the wargame professionals and the separate “practitioner” category for articles on our site
Wargaming News & Articles for the Pros
- Rebuilding the U.S. Air Force for Multi-Theater Conflict – Insights from the Mitchell Institute’s 2026 Airpower Wargame (Air & Space Forces)
- The Lithuanian wargame handbook is now available, so long as you speak Lithuanian
- I spent a day learning about wargaming, and I’ve not stopped thinking about it since (LinkedIn)
- Embrace the News: Ukrainian Crisis (Wargames & Whisky)
- Wargaming Outer Space (The Space Advisory Podcast)
- Analysis indicates US Navy should shift from teaming manned and unmanned force components (Janes) discusses a lot of wargames that provided insights for the analysis
- AI Is Revolutionizing Strategic Decision-Making (HBR)
- PaxSims latest article covers Sixteen Games That Made Me a Wargamer
- Get Hired! SPA has a posting for a Wargame Analyst and, uh . . . we might know someone who could help with that
Wargame Events of Professional Interest
- The next GUWS webinars
- 1 September — Joint Wargaming in Denmark <– TONIGHT!
- 22 September — Build Excel War Gaming Tools
- 6 October — After AlphaZero: Human-Machine Teaming from Games to the Battlefield
- 20 October — Wargaming in the French Army: Duel Tactique
- Upcoming PGS/MORS events
- 22–25 September – Wargaming Emerging Technologies Workshop
- 19–23 October – Certificate in Wargaming
- 3–5 November – Designing Tactical Games Course
- 17–19 November – Gaming Space Operations Course
- 7-11 December – Certificate in Cyber Wargaming
- Upcoming wargaming events of interest
- 11 September — Playing the nation: Identity, culture, and power in video games, register here
- 19-20 September — Connections Suisse, more info here
- 19-20 September — Iron Tide virtual wargame/exercise (Taiwan Straits scenario), register here
- 18 October — Designing Historical Games for Classrooms – A Practical Guide for Educators, register here
Fight Cub Friday – Kriegsspiel at #CGSC Army University. The original Mission Command #wargaming for our students. Experiential learning for the win!!!
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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