February 8, 2025

Your 2024 in Wargaming, Part 3 – Your Biggest Stories

Brant Guillory, 24 January 2025

At the end of 2024, we conducted our second annual year-end wargaming survey, and collected your responses throughout the month of December.  After spending some time looking at the stats on your gameplay, and decision-making, we wrap up our analysis of 2024 with a quick romp through what you thought were the biggest stories in wargaming in 2024

These are the stories that were mentioned by multiple respondents across the survey, and we also grabbed a few of our friends to offer their thoughts on the stories as well.

 

Big Story #1 – Deaths in the Wargaming World

The overwhelming response for “biggest story of 2025” was, unfortunately, a crappy one – the loss of a bunch of wargaming industry icons.

  • The loss of Dean Essig
  • The passing of Dean Essig
  • The passing of Dean Essig
  • The passing of Dean Essig
  • Dean Essig
  • Dean Essig passed away.
  • Dean Essig passing away
  • Dean Essig!
  • Dean Essig’s death.
  • Dean Essig’s passing
  • Death of Dean Essig
  • Death of Dean Essig
  • Death of Dean Essig
  • The losses of Dean Essig and Mark Ruggiero
  • The passing of industry icons (ie Dean Essig, Bobby Factor, Mark Ruggiero)
  • Designer deaths, unfortunately
  • The passing of Mark Ruggerio
  • Marc Ruggierro Passing away
  • Mark Ruggerio – Didn’t know him personally, however I think a lot of people were paying attention, and cared about how he was doing.
  • Mark Ruggerio’s cancer battle and death.
  • Mark Ruggerio’s story and his fully public journey touched me the most in the past year.
  • Mark Ruggiero’s battle with cancer and his impact on the hobby
  • Several high profile players and designers passing away.
  • The gamers we lost this year

Gary Mengle, the host of Ardwulf’s Lair and Chairman of the CSR Awards Committee

Much as it pains me, the biggest wargaming story of 2024 is undoubtedly the loss of so many prominent members of our community; Dean Essig, Mark Ruggiero, Peter Perla, Ted Koller, Bobby Nunez, Bill Wood, Tom Oleson, John Alsen, and others. Their contributions to our hobby and community will not be soon forgotten, and their memory will live every time we play a wargame.


 

Big Story #2 – NAC Wargames & The Iron Cross Controversy

NAC Wargames released The Other Side of the Hill this year, which was a game in which the players were vying for supremacy as the lead minion in the Nazi war machine in WW2 until Adolf Hitler.  It was a game that attracted a lot of attention both in and out of wargaming circles, but reached a bit of a boiling point when NAC also handed out “awards” to Kickstarter backers that were intentionally designed to resemble the Nazi Germany-era Iron Cross.  There was a variety of digital ink spilled in the subsequent discussions.

  • NAC and marketing using iron cross and the deep divisions on if it was nothing or completely insensitive.
  • NAC hands out fake nazi medals to promote Other Side of the Hill
  • There was a bit of controversy about the release of a game in which players play Nazi military factions in WW2 (The Other Side of the Hill)
  • The Iron Cross Drama
  • The one about that thing given out at a con that had questionable meaning.
  • NAC’s Iron Cross handout is in similar territory — again, backlash is at least as much a story as the initial event/material/whatever.

Brant Guillory, Editorial Director of Armchair Dragoons

Leaving aside the content & topic of a boardgame in which players are trying to be the most successful Nazi  – the rollout and public engagement on the part of the publisher left a great many wargamers dumbstruck.

There was the Nazi medal “awarded” to Kickstarter backers (sans swastika to avoid arrest at Essenspiel, most probably).  Yes, the Iron Cross has been around as a German military award for a long time, but at only one point in history was that share, and that color scheme for the medal and plumage used, and that was under the Nazis.

But there was also the social media post promoting their upcoming trip to Essenspiel featuring Joseph Goebbels, which was deleted within 24 hours after attracting a predictable firestorm of dueling comments.

Those pointing out that the publisher was acting in poor taste were accused of trying to whitewash / erase / deny history, among other imagined sins.  No one saying that the Nazis can’t or shouldn’t be portrayed in a wargame.

Questionable game content, plus Nazi medal, plus Goebbels social media appearance collectively goes beyond “it’s just a game” or “low testosterone” or whatever dismissive pejorative was thrown about.

The ultimate question becomes two-fold: (1) why is it necessary to glorify the Nazis to promote a wargame by awarding a Nazi medal to customers and using Goebbels to promote a public appearance, and (2) why is necessary for some members of the wargame community to defend the glorification – not just the appearance – of Nazis in the promotion of a board game?

Given this game’s already challenging subject matter that equates player success with the success of the Nazi regime, it’s hard to believe they’re using Nazi war criminals in social media posts to promote the game, and giving out trinkets whose shape, color, and presentation are obviously designed to intentionally mimic Nazi awards. Clearly the publisher thinks that supporting this game makes you worthy of award from der Führer, and it was disappointing to see how many others rushed to agree with them.


 

Big Story #3 – Foreign Publishers, Small Publishers, Non-Traditional Publishers

We’re starting to see more publishers from outside the US gain traction across the wargaming world, and players everywhere are becoming more aware of the variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and approaches these new designers & publishers bring to the table.

  • Continued rise of smaller, often foreign, publishers.
  • Increasing number of publishers for historical/wargames.
  • The number of games released by European game companies.
  • The number of updates to games from the 1970s and 1980s.
  • The number and diversity of new wargame publishers is really the big story of the last few years.
  • The proliferation of new games seems to be accelerating
  • Publication of the Japanese version of Admiral’s War

Jan Heinemann, International Kriegsspiel Society, and Let’s Play History

Since the dawn of the new millennium the number of historically themed games published per year, wargames and other sorts of games are almost always on about an equal level since then, has seen a significant continuous upward trend, whereas yearly publication of new historically themed games had stayed on about the same level between 1975 and 2000, with wargames clearly having being in the lead. The diversification of themes, mechanics, designers and publishers over the past 24 years clearly shows. It seems that those which have emerged in Europe and established themselves over that period now gain more attention and reputation in the US, too.


 

Big Story #4 – Online Treatment of Lock ‘n Load Publishing

Quite some time ago, Lock ‘n Load Publishing successfully crowd-funded 3 games: Blood & Fury (in the World at War ’85 series), Ju-87 Stuka Ace, and First Victories: Willington versus Napoleon.  However, as the shipping delays continued to mount, there was a portion of the customer base that turned toxic in their treatment of LnLP as a whole, and owner David Heath in particular.

  • The ugliness over Lock n Load’s Gamefound for their Napoleon, Stuka and World at War ’85 games.  Completely uncalled for nastiness from the community directed at Dave Heath.  Shows the dark side of the hobby.
  • LnL’s problems
  • The unfair treatment of the game company Lock’n Load, because there games where delayed. It was kinda rough what they had to endure!
  • The alleged demise of Lock ‘N Load Publishing re: World At War 85: Blood & Fury

Maurice Fitzgerald, host of Moe’s Game Table

It was rather disheartening to see a small but very vocal group of people act as they did towards Lock ‘n Load Publishing, along with David Heath and his family with regards to the slowness of three game projects they published through Gamefound. Currently, Blood & Fury has been shipping to customers and many have received their copies already, while Ju 87 Stuka Ace and First Victories: Wellington vs Napoleon will be shipping once Blood & Fury is completed.

Yes, the projects ran longer than anticipated and yes, LnL could have and should have done better with their communication to backers. David has owned up to that fact and accepted fault multiple times for it. However, that does not give anyone the right nor justification to try and dox David or his family, or to slander him with false accusations of absconding with the money and leaving the customers without their products. Doxing especially can have very dangerous outcomes for people. Complain, fine. Dox and slander, no. That’s the type of petty, infantile shit you see in hobby boardgaming that’s been sadly creeping into our wargaming community and it needs to stop, now.

Grow up or get out of the wargaming community if you’re going to act like that. Those actions and attitudes are not welcome here.


 

Big Story #5 – The Continued Use of Wargames by the Professionals

While wargaming has long been a tool in the professional’s kitbag, the past year saw a wider awareness of those games amongst the hobby audience.  This was the result of a few factors, including the crossover popularity of the Littoral Commander game (soon to become a series) and the popular YouTube video that discussed some of the ways the pro’s use wargaming.

  • Expansion of wargaming in US military Professional Military Education circles
  • The explosion of commercial gaming in the U.S. (and allied) military was a big story, led by Sebastian Bae’s Littoral Commander: Indo-Pacific Commander and its many adaptations.
  • Littoral Commander, p500 games
  • Microprose to produce the digital version of Littoral Commander.
  • The discussion around Quinns’ Wargaming youtube video.

Ian Brown, Retired USMC Major, wargame practitioner, and designer of the forthcoming Maneuver Warfare card game:

Don’t call it a comeback, it’s been here for years—but it’s definitely a resurgence. The use of commercial wargames as military teaching tools has been on the rise for some time, and 2024 saw continued growth and overlap between commercial and military gaming. The Army and Marine Corps arguably lead the pack in this, with commercial games used educational institutions like Army Command and General Staff College and Marine Corps Center for Learning and Faculty Development, as well as even humble games like chess being used in the operating forces. For wargamers in uniform, it’s an exciting time!


 

Big Story #6 – Wargaming a “Live” Conflict

GMT has put a game on p500 that models early battles of a war that is still underway in Ukraine.  This definitely raised some eyebrows.

  • Mark Herman’s emerging title on the war in Ukraine raised important ethical questions about the role of games in, and deriving pleasure from, exploring real time conflict. I think games have a valid rule to play but it’s interesting that they’re held up to a different standard than we might apply to a theatrical production or short story about an ongoing war.
  • Wargaming a live conflict (like GMT Defiance)
  • Interest in wargaming cutting edge and future military capabilities like what we’re seeing in Ukraine and contemplating for the future.

RockyMountainNavy, Armchair Dragoons Contributor and Grognard-About-Town

Wargaming topics of recent wars or wars-to-come is as old as…Dunnigan. In the Wargames Handbook Dunnigan wrote, “Games on wars not yet fought have proven remarkably accurate…We are dealing with some powerful predictive techniques here, and the techniques are powerful because they are constantly honed on historical situations” (Dunnigan, Wargames Handbook, Third Edition, p. 141). Wargaming on recent wars can be a very sensitive subject. I strongly recommend all look at the extended discussion of the Little Wars TV episode on Fallujah for one of the better takes on the subject.


 

Among the other notable ‘themes’ we saw in the replies were these:

Big Story #7 – Hitting You Wallet

  • cost increases in our hobby
  • GMT price increases
  • Inflation

Big Story #8 – Flying Pig’s Big Success

  • Chickamauga Kickstarter (by Flying Pig Games).
  • Flying Pig’s Rock of Chickamauga Kickstarter
  • The enormous popularity of A most fearful sacrifice which led to the superfast Kickstarter of The Rock of Chickamauga, which of course is the most awaited game for me in 2025.

Big Story #9 – Rally The Troops Platform for Online Play

  • Impact of Volko Ruhnke and Rally the Troops site.
  • new releases on RTT

Big Story #10 – Books From Prominent Wargamers

  • Mark Herman & Rodger MacGowan books
  • Mark Herman’s book as a whole

 


Much like some of the lists of games & designers in our earlier survey summary articles, the full list of all of the replies is posted in our forums where you can see everything people listed (including everything here), grouped roughly by general categories

What about you?  Is there a big story you think this group missed?  Was there something you mentioned in the survey that wasn’t included here1?

Any predictions on what you think the biggest story of 2025 might be?  Tell us below, or pop into our forums and sound off!


2024 YEAR-END WARGAMING SURVEY
THE 2024 SURVEY ~ OVERALL STATS & 2024 OVERVIEW ~ FAVORITE GAMES & OTHER HABITS ~ OPEN RESPONSES


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Footnotes

  1. if so, it’s likely you were the only one to bring it up

Brant G

Editor-in-chief at Armchair Dragoons

View all posts by Brant G →

One thought on “Your 2024 in Wargaming, Part 3 – Your Biggest Stories

  1. Deaths: Gosh I miss Peter Perla. He was a kind, intelligent and above all patient soul.

    LnL: what the h-e-doublehockeysticks is wrong with some people… since they are presumably paying customers, with addresses and families, it might be tempting to doxx back. But no.

    Professional gaming: 2024 was a good year for that, I agree! I rather doubt the new SecDef-apparent will have much truck with it, though.

    Games on wars still underway: well, you know what I think and do about that.

    Rally The Troops: is pretty neat. Hope to see many more games come to this.

    Books: Hey, I am still waiting for my copy of Mark Herman’s book! And unfortunately the Euro War Games anthology must have just missed your cut-off; hope people will remember it in 10 months when they fill out their stories… it is a really good book. I would also add Maurice Suckling’s very good 2024 book Paper Time Machines.

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