Surveys & The News ~ #TuesdayNewsday

Join us for #TuesdayNewsday and stay ahead of the pursuit curve in the wargaming world

 

OK, so last week we asked you what you thought about #UnboxingDay, and we were a bit surprised with the results, since there were several outcomes that were all roughly even.

The simple question was whether or not to keep #UnboxingDay, which has been running 1/month for several years now

If you voted to keep it, we asked what your preference was for the format, which got these results, but again with a pretty small number of responses.

So there were only 31 responses, but of those 31, only 40% of you voted to keep #UnboxingDay around.  So we’re going to put it on hiatus for the rest of the year, and then check again in 2025 to see if folks want it brought back, and if so how we’ll handle it.

 

In about a week, we’ll be migrating the main Armchair Dragoons site, along with our forums, to a new physical server.  Expected downtime is no more than 2 hours or so.  This is a technical update that’s probably a year overdue, so it definitely needs to happen this Summer.

We’ll give folks plenty of warning through our social channels (Mastodon, Facebook, Twxtter, Instagram, Threads) and on the site before we make the move, but we’ll be dark for a bit while we pack up the digital boxes and cruise around the corner in the data center to some newer/snazzier hardware.

 

TRIGGER WARNING: VAGUEBOOKING AHEAD

If you’re looking for engagement, one of the best places to start is from a point of factual accuracy.  If you can’t even bother with correctly restating openly-published, verifiable information – or worse, you intentional ignore it, distort it, and misrepresent it – then you won’t get any engagement from the broader public.  Nor should you.
Moreover, denigrating those that provide you insufficient attention due to your tenuous grasp of reality is guaranteed way to keep that attention off of you, which of course is often the only reason you’re doing it in the first place.

And if you think this statement is about you?  (1) it’s probably not, and (2) maybe you should re-examine why you think it’s about you and consider adjusting course.

 

Hitting the shelves (and webstores) near you now!

• VUCA’s pair of “invading Russia is a bad idea” games have both started shipping
  • 1812 – Napoleon’s Fateful March
  • Traces of Hubris
• Hollandspiele released Crossing the Rubicon, an expansion for Ides of March
• La Bataille de Wavre, June 18, 1815 is now available from Clash of Arms, but you’ll need Ligny to play it
• Steve Jackson Games started shipping GURPS Meta-Tech in both PDF and physical formats
• Alternative Armies’ new “Gremlin” ACV sure looks like it belongs in a Hammer’s Slammers game
• Wargames Atlantic launched a new “Grand Battles Scale” (aka “10mm”) with the first 2 starter armies having 200-300 figs in each box
  • Samurai
  • Ashigaru

 

 

Time to get those orders in now and then either (a) gripe that it’s not here already, and/or (b) be surprised when it gets here sooner than you thought

• You might’ve thought the series was dead, but Band of Brothers: Stalin’s Favorite brings back Worthington’s well-regarded¹ squad-level system and might lead to a revival(?)
• The most supremely awesome library / gaming chair has now launched on BackerKit; put it on your Christmas list
• NUTS! Publishing has a couple of 2nd editions of some of their modern-ops wargames on pre-order
  • Urban Operations
  • Phantom Fury
• Traveller RPG: The Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society 3 is bringing you a bunch of new articles from recent creators, in a set of digest-sized books in a shared slipcase, with stretch goals to add books (and therefore increase the size of the slipcase)
• There’s a whole bunch of Bolt Action! sets in winter uniforms on pre-order, tied in with some upcoming Battle of the Bulge lines
  • Bolt Action – Fallschirmjäger (Winter) The Complete Starter Collection
  • Bolt Action – US Army (Winter) The Complete Starter Collection
  • Bolt Action – Battle Of The Bulge Starter Set With Fallschirmjäger (Winter) Platoon
  • Bolt Action – Battle Of The Bulge Starter Set With US Army (Winter) Platoon
  • Bolt Action Starter Set – Battle Of The Bulge
• Free League has Moria – Through the Doors of Durin, the next expansion to The One Ring RPG, on pre-order
• Evil Genius Games has just launched The Armory on Gamefound, to give you a full book of gadgets & weapons for their 5e/Everyday Heroes modern role-playing
• It’s really hard to believe that Disney/Lucas has hammered these guys with a 17-ton lawsuit over the obvious Ep1 podracing ripoff, right down to the character models, in this game
• By the time you’re reading this, Black Oak Workshop will have released their new Kickstarter campaign for their next wave of “kitty clacks” dice

 

Saving money? Spending just as much but getting more for it?

• WDS “Game of the week” is First World War Campaigns – France ‘14 for $29.95
• Oh lawdy-be – Cyrano’s going to ape-shit when he sees the new “hive mind” dice from Dice Envy, but you can save 10% with coupon code BUZZ at checkout
• Eagle-Gryphon Games are closing out Defenders of the Realm and so it’s all on sale
• Attack at Dawn: North Africa is a part of the Steam sale, through 11 July
• Decision Games’ sale-of-the-month?  Any 3 in-stock folio games for $59
• Miniature Market’s got Undaunted North Africa on sale for $35
• Someone go check out Mounted War on Steam (it’s only $3!) and let us know what you think
• This is the last week of GOG’s Summer Sale

 

This week’s best written coverage from the wargaming world

• Rocky is still fighting through Air & Armor and playing the game, too
• Brian Train is heading to CSW Expo
• A nice wrap-up of Origins from wargame designer / convention newbie Matthew Denton
• Avalanche Press has an article about their alt-history Kingdom of Hawaii scenario pack that requires parts of games from both the SWWAS and GWAS lines
• Matrix Games adds to their “Armory” series with Pikes Part 1

This is sooooooo accurate

 

The best videos this week from our wargaming friends

• Now that it’s released, Bill Molyneaux plays through his game on The Battle of Wyse Fork
• Continuing his tour of foreign-language publications, Justegarde looks into Para Bellum Mag #12, with Campo Santo 1743
• HissyCat digs into RAF: Battle of Britain 1940 from Decision Games
• Zilla starts out playing Kingdom Dungeon and Hero on the PC
• Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream talked about everything except “The Evolution of Series Wargames” for the first 75-80 minutes before getting around to the topic at the end of it all

 

 

Various news & notes from the business end of the gaming world

• Fort Circle owner Kevin Bertram takes a deep dive into what did/n’t work in the Kickstarter campaign for Hunt for Blackbeard
• BoardGameWire reports on how Petersen Games (Cthluhu Wars) was recently bailed out
• Wargame Design Studio posted their “2nd Quarter Review” with a wrap-up of company info over the past several months
• Rascal news asks about the motivations behind WotC’s history of D&D
• So that Ardwulf and Molotov Cockatiel can ignore it all over again² , here’s the archive.org link to Up Against The Wall, Motherfucker!

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Friend-of-the-Dragoons James Buckley recently surveyed the wargaming world about their “media habits” and which blogs they regularly read.  There were probably a few other big ones that could’ve been included as default options, but we’re still pretty stoked that over a quarter of the replies included us, which is very humbling, and a pretty solid third-place showing.

 

It’s been a busy week for the regiment; here’s what you might’ve missed!

• Continued Origins Coverage!
  • Origins 2024! Games on Tables
  • Origins 2024! Costumes
  • Origins 2024! Convention Photos
• Saturday Night Fights ~ The Epic Battle of Zama for “Commands and Colors: Ancients”
• History to Wargame – Operation Attila: The 1974 Invasion of Cyprus
• First Impressions: A Dutiful Fight: The Battle of Châteauguay, October 26, 1813
• Gameplay this week
  • Advance to Smolensk for “O Group”
  • The Fourth Battle in Our “Battle for Armageddon” Campaign
  • Jan & Peter are still playing Field of Glory: Kingdoms

 

Don’t forget to check our consolidated event & convention calendar for more!
You can also submit your own events for our calendar here.

Upcoming Dragoons Events

• Wargame Days at The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC ~ 4 August and 8 September³
• Next planned virtual event is the ACDC⁴, 17-19, 2025
• Next confirmed live event is The Fall Assembly, 11-13 October 2024

Other Conventions & Events

• 12-14 July 2024 Human Wave (Washington DC) <– THIS WEEKEND!
• 12-20 July 2024 CSW Expo (Tempe AZ) <– THIS WEEKEND!
• 20-28 July 2024 WBC (Seven Springs Resort, PA)
• 8-11 August 2024 SDHistCon East (Newport, RI)
• 15-18 August 2024 HistoriKC Fest (Kansas City MO)
• 20-22 September 2024 Southern Front (Morrisville NC)
• 27-29 September 2024 Czech Consim 2024 (Prague CZ)
• 11-13 October 2024 Armchair Dragoons Fall Assembly (Raleigh/Cary NC)
• 17-20 October 2024 GMT Fall Weekend at the Warehouse (Middle of Nowhere CA)
• 6-11 November 2024 Compass Game Fall Expo (Meriden CT)
• 7-10 November BottosCon (New Westminster BC)
• 8-11 November 2024 FoxCon (Dallas TX)

 

Focusing on the practitioner world ~ don’t forget about our dedicated area in our forums for the wargame professionals!

• One of the biggest barriers to joining the professional wargaming world are the hiring organizations that want candidates to already have a security clearance, because they’re either (a) too time compressed, or (b)⁵ too cheap to drive the process themselves, so yes, it’s great to see this wargaming analyst position in Dumfries, VA doesn’t require you to come in with a clearance, but it’s the only one of the four current positions with Group W that doesn’t require one
• Defense math in the Baltics – can LC: Baltic get here already!?
• If it’s “financial warfare” then there should be a way to wargame it, right? Here was one attempt a few years ago
• Pulling tanks out of storage – good idea?  bad idea?  Russian idea?
• The next GUWS webinar is TODAY with Jorit Wintjes talking about Kriegsspiel – Past and Present, followed by Using Analogue Serious Games To Plan Cities Collaboratively on 6 August; again, it’s Summer, they’re a little more spread out

 

 

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’ll drop some more news on you.

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Thank you for visiting The Armchair Dragoons and mounting up with the Regiment of Strategy Gaming.
You can find our regiment’s social media on Mastodon, Facebook, Twxtter, YouTube, and even Threads, if we could ever get an auto-post to it.
(We have an Instagram page and it’s really just a placeholder & redirect to our articles.)
You can support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, also, 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.

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1. and comic-fonted
2. we shared this back in April, too
3. pushing back a weekend bc of Labor Day holiday
4. Armchair Dragoons Digital Convention
5. much more commonly