by New toys? Check. Updated sims? Check. Big events? Check. Must be #TuesdayNewsday! 🤠
We’ve relaunched the Armchair Dragoons morale store with a new provider, since our previous one was having trouble shipping out orders on time. You can find our new shop over here with our basic line-art logo in black or white on a variety of colors. We’ll be rotating some of the product mix over the next year, including some limited editions. But for now, we wanted to get relaunched for you to snag something cool to throw under the tree for Christmas.
 |
 |
There’s more than just these items in the store, but here’s a sampler for you
GAMA’s appointed an interim director, following John Stacy’s announcement that he’s stepping down.
There’s a report from ICv2, and no doubt one coming from BoardGameWire, plus an email to GAMA members, about the appointment of Dr Zaria Davis. But you know what there isn’t? Not a damn word on GAMA’s webpage (most recent news release is from the summer) or GAMA’s social media pages.
So the only place you can point someone for the news is a third-party news site, since GAMA hasn’t made an official press release available to the public 🧐
“GAMA has a team of incredibly talented individuals along with GAMA Vision 2035, a 10-year strategic vision to guide our path. The board has brought Zaria Davis in as interim executive director to ensure we keep moving forward during this transitional stage,” said GAMA Board President Nicole Brady. “She will be helping the organization build on our existing procedures with a primary objective of ensuring a strong foundation for when we hire the new executive director. We are incredibly excited to tap into Zaria’s knowledge and expertise.”
Details about the upcoming 2026 ArmChair Dragoons Digital Convention
2026 ACDC event submission is still open, and registration will open this weekend.
We’re currently over a dozen events, with at least 4 more talk shows to line up as we finalize the hosts. We’re expecting at least another dozen or so events as folks get past the holidays and look at their January schedules.
We pulled the sale section up to the top with all the holiday sales this week
These discounts are marching in formation—ready to join your collection
- WDS ‘Game of the week’ is Panzer Campaigns: Stalingrad ’42 for $29.95
- 🎄We don’t normally announce a lot of sales ahead of time, but Free League’s Black Friday Sale only runs 28 Nov – 1 Dec, so it was “announce it now” or “we missed it”1 and you can save at least 40% on almost everything, and some stuff up to 80% off
- 🎄Emberglow’s Black Friday Deals are up on their website for their dice and other tabletop accessories2
- Easy Roller Dice’s Black Friday sale is live and you get 30% off with coupon code FRIDAY at checkout; spend at least $35 and they’ll thrown in a pair of 7pc sets, too
- 🎄Battlefront has their Black Friday sale right now, with 10%-30% off everything
- 🎄Ares Games’ Black Friday sale has $50 games marked down to $11, and plenty of similar deals
- 🎄Europa Simulazioni has a holiday sale with savings ranging from €3-€8 with coupon code XMAS at checkout, including the newly-reprinted Caporetto 1917 (see above)
- 🎄RBM Studios are holding a Black Friday sale through 1 December with coupon code RBM at checkout
- 🎄Avalanche Press’ Black Friday Sale has started, and you can save 30% with coupon code CAROLE at checkout
- Noble Knight has copies of Battles for the Ardennes starting at $49
- 🎄Battle Honours 3D has a site-wide minis sale running through 1 December
- 🎄Columbia’s build-your-own bundle is back, where you can get 3 games for $150
- 🎄Columbia’s also got a build-your-own-hardcover-Harn-bundle, where you can get 3 books for $150
- Decision Games’ monster game sale deal of the month3 ends on Monday
- 🎄Mantic Games’ Black Friday sale includes discounts from 20%-50% off select games, with a bunch of dice games in there
- 🎄Green Ronin’s got a deal on their gift cards, where you pay $35 for a $50 card, or $70 for a $100 card
- Combat Mission Cold War: BAoR is on sale at GOG for 60% off
Brand-new bits and battlefield surprises await—check out the latest!
- There was no way that Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War wasn’t going to be the lead game in our new release section
- High Flying Dice Games released A Gallant and Efficient Fight: The Battle of Hamel
- Europa Simulazioni has new copies of Caporetto 1917 back in stock, and if you check out the ‘sale’ section below you could save a few shekels
- Slitherine & Matrix also released some new DLC on Steam for existing games
- Warlord Games has a new John Stallard’s Epic Jacobite Army
- GURPS Gun Stats from Steve Jackson Games
- The VI∙VIII∙X Hackssential Rules are on DTRPG and they’re different in that the players don’t even know the full gamut of the rules, and only learn what’s possible as the game unfolds
- Microprose finally released Cleared Hot
- Fortress Games’ last Kickstarters arrived at the warehouse, so you can now order
- Stellaris: Infernals Species Pack is now on Steam
- There’s no universe in which you’re not immediately clicking over to Steam to get in on the Duckoleon early access is there?!
- UMS: The Early Battles of WWII is on Wargame Vault
- 🎄Black Oak Workshop’s Christmas Train dice set isn’t on sale, but it’s damn adorable
- Some new stuff from Renegade Game Studios
- Wargames Atlantic has some new boxes of minis for you
Behold: the next wave of “shut up and take my money!”
- Compass Games put Crossed Rifles: Cold War on pre-order
- This week’s newsletter from On Military Matters includes some magazine pre-orders, the usual minis sets, and some Osprey books that you can reserve in advance
- A new edition of 7 Ages from ADG is on Kickstarter
- The old Milton-Bradley Gamemaster-series Shogun – that was later renamed Samurai Swords after some legal wrangling – has been reborn as the Ikusa Samurai Swords 40th Anniversary Edition that’s on Gamefound from the fine folks at Renegade Game Studios
- Pre-orders open for ALEA #43, with the Brunete 1937 game, but only at the Draco site, not on Ludopress’ own site
- The Hooded Man is on pre-order from Osprey for your “medieval outlaw” role-playing4
- NUTS! Publishing has Guerre Eclair on pre-order, for your 1940 WW2 wargaming
- GMT’s monthly newsletter announced 3 p500s
- Conquest and Tragedy (allows you to combine Conquest and Consequence and Triumph and Tragedy)
- Plantagenet 2nd printing
- Triumph and Tragedy 4th printing
We type so you don’t have to—check out what we covered this week
- Armchair Dragoons Reviews Berlin 1945: The Fall of the Reichstag
- Mentioned In Dispatches S15 E10 – On Target Sims and Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War
- Saturday Night Fights ~ “Charlie Don’t Surf!”: RAWHIDE
- Relaunched our store! (see the top news story)
- AARs
- Gameplay this week
The Best Thing We Saw On Another Site This Week Was
Reviews like this one are why Dan Thurot is probably the best mind covering our hobby today
As I sit there, playing this unnamed game, I feel all three Jobs within me, refusing to resolve into a single entity. I am precise. The rules are my tool, the format my language, the victory conditions my sole aim. I am breakable. The magic circle is failing on all sides, the shame of murder bleeding into my fingertips, the safety of play no more secure than a blanket before the bullet. I am defiant. Suffering must be stopped. I must spit this bloody mouthful back into the face of whomever inflicts it, or I am nothing. I think these things while I play an untitled card game, and tear its cards to shreds, and wonder what I will take with me when it is done.
Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream talked about house rules, but after spending most of the show on the GMT update
Various news & notes from the business end of the gaming world
- Wargame Design Studio celebrated their 4th anniversary, and give you a wrap-up of the last several years
- This week, Scott Thorne talked about a few things that publishers & distributors can do to make retailers’ lives easier
- BoardGameWire has a good interview with designer Kevin Wilson
- Rascal asks “What Does Session Zero Of A Protest Look Like?”
- ICv2 reports that Asmodee’s sales were up for the most recent quarter, buoyed by TCG sales
- The latest GMT Games monthly update notes that Candice Harris is joining the GMT marketing team
- There’s now a VASSAL module for Brian Train’s O, Canada
👀New project sneak-peak-arama👀Who would you ally with?
— NUTS! PUBLISHING (@nutspublishing.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T15:00:56.695Z
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 ~ December 7 and January 4
- Next confirmed live event is BuckeyeGameFest, 11-15 March 2026
- Next virtual event is the ACDC6, 16-18 January, 2026
Upcoming Conventions & Events
- 6-7 Dec Everwinter (Boston MA)
- 15-18 Jan Niagara Boardgaming Weekend (Niagara Falls NY)
- 16-18 Jan ConQuest Ventura (Ventura CA)
- 16-18 Jan Marscon (Virginia Beach VA)
- 16-18 Jan The ACDC (Armchair Dragoons HQ Online)
- 17-19 Jan Siege of Augusta Con (Augusta GA)
- 23-25 Jan MMP Winter Offensive (Bowie MD)
- 22-25 Jan Bellota Con (Badajoz Spain)
- 30 Jan-1 Feb Winter War Con (Champaigne IL)
- 30 Jan-1 Feb Captain Con (Warwick RI)
- 30 Jan-1 Feb SquareBash ’26 (London UK)
- 4-8 Feb Game-on Con (Bellevue WA)
- 5-8 Feb Cold Wars (Los Angeles CA)
Back home tired but delighted after a wonderful 4-days trip to Zaragoza to attend the top notch Batalladores 2025 convention masterfully organized by @clubbatallador.bsky.social So impressed, and not a little jealous, by the super dynamic ConSim community in Spain.
— Morgane Gouyon-Rety (@morganegr.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T22:01:44.203Z
Focusing on the practitioner world ~ don’t forget about the dedicated area in our forums for the wargame professionals!
- U.S. Ran a War Game on Ousting Maduro. Venezuela Fell Into Chaos. (NY Times)
- Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response in a Large-Scale Contingency Operation Wargame (CNA)
- Wargaming: the surprisingly effective tool that can help us prepare for modern crises (The Conversation)
- Can a tabletop game explain why America lost the Vietnam War? (Military Times)
- Taiwan War: 2 U.S. Carriers Sunk, PLA Navy In Shambles; CSIS Wargames Say Japan Holds The Key To Victory (The Eurasian Times)
- Marine interns develop ‘Whack-A-Drone” C-UAS training game (Unmanned Airspace)
- Why should students care about historymaking in videogames? (Historical Games Network)
- The International Defence Esports Games are coming in 2026 but we can’t tell you when because the damn website neglects to include possibly the most vital piece of info; but hey, there’s some sort of ‘launch event’ that was held on back on 21 November, so maybe they announced the date then and didn’t bother to update their site 5 days later?
- Game On for Soldiers (Simulation News) <– talks about video games for training
- MOD showcases integrated wargaming expertise at NATO’s Premier Concept Development Conference (gov.uk)
- How Europe Can Defend Itself with Less America (CSIS)
- New lab offers generative AI for defense wargaming (Military Times)
- Several upcoming courses from MORS
- Certificate in Homeland Security Gaming 3-5 February 2026
- Introduction to Wargaming Course (UK) 9-11 February 2026
- This week, as you’d expect Mick Ryan’s ‘Big Five’ focuses on the Ukraine “peace plan”
- The next GUWS webinar is Games for Conflict and Resolution on 2 December, followed by Idiosyncracy in Motion on 9 December, and then Army Analytical Wargaming on 5 January
- PaxSims announced the date for Connections North (14 March)
- Get Hired! Johns Hopkins APL has an National Security Analyst internship posting for Summer 2026
- Get Hired, too! LMI is hiring for a Wargaming Specialist to work with USTRANSCOM at Scott AFB, IL
Something neat from outside the wargaming world we thought was worth sharing
That’s all for this week!
Be sure to drop by our forums and join the fun, and next Tuesday we return with another intel 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.
You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events.
Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.
Footnotes
- and since, unlike MMP, they gave us warning ahead of #TuesdayNewsday, we’re running with it
- they are the partner than makes our awesome dice trays
- 20% off 1 game, 25% off 2, and 30% off 3 or more
- we all know it’s Robin Hood, right?
- and yes, he includes us, but we didn’t pay him, we swear!
- Armchair Dragoons Digital Convention
