CNX ONL Videos Released, Steam War Sale, and more! ~ #TuesdayNewsday

It’s time for your weekly dose of wargaming news! From new releases to military simulations shaping the defense industry, #TuesdayNewsday brings you the freshest updates from the world of strategy gaming. Let’s dive in!

Connections Online is in the rearview mirror, and our AAR has been released.  And with that AAR, we’ve made all of the videos from the conference public, so you can go watch what you missed.

The consolidated playlist is here

WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ Dietz Foundation Spotlight
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ Matrix Pro Sims Spotlight
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ Fight Club Spotlight on Games
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ Group W Spotlight
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 Extended: Professional Wargames on Demand
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D1S1: Welcome, & A Machine That Passes the Tactical Turing Test
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D1S2: Wargaming the Far Future
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D1S3: Wargaming AI
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D1S4: Measuring the Value of Situation Awareness
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 Extended: Modeling Intelligence and the Information Domain in Wargames
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 Extended: Professional Wargaming in Hungary
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D2S1: Gaming Neglected Aspects of the Operational Environment
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D2S2: Recent Books on Wargaming
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D2S3: Using AI In Wargames
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D2S4: Kriegsspiel Dice or Why there is no Luck in Wargaming
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 Extended: Battlegroup Wargame System to Battlegroup Clash: Baltics
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D3S1: Wargaming the Future in PME
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D3S2: Creating Future Scenarios for Modern Wargames
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D3S3: Fight Club International – A Different Approach to Wargaming
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 D3S4: Concluding Remarks, & Reviving Dune — How the AH classic game came to be reborn
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 Extended: Liftoff! 2.0
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 Extended: Wargaming in Civic Education
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 Extended: National Security Decision Making Game
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 Extended: Neustart: The Blackout-Simulation
WATCH ON YOUTUBE ~ CO25 Extended: Liftoff! 2.0 Demo

Similar to last year, we did ask why people who did not attend made that decision.  Please choose any/all relevant reasons, and you can even add your own at the end.

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Here’s a very cool opportunity for those of you in the Olde Country, supporting a charity called ACVC Hub in the Glasgow area.  One of the local members, Stewart, sent this along for us to share

{ACVC Hub} supports Veterans with PTSD in and around Glasgow (and hopefully all over Scotland soon) by giving them a safe space to do various craft based activities, from pottery to wood carving to model building. Veterans can sit on couches and chill with a cuppa and just talk, they can talk part in the activities, and they can join in with the various gaming and hobby clubs who’s hire of the centre helps pay the bills.

One of the Clubs has been doing fundraising events for the Hub for several years now, a couple of years ago we did the Big Borodino Bash – a series of events including a 24 hour paint-a-thon to get as much of a Russian army painted as we could, a 28mm refight of Borodino with 18 players (more were booked but alas, the West Coast of Scotland had a massive storm that October weekend) taking part, and then finally we had an auction to self off the models we had painted and ones donated to the cause. Over the course of it all we managed to raise over £5000 for the charity.

We are doing another one this year, and doing a similar formula, but want to make it even bigger and better! This year, 26th & 27th of July is Saturday Night Leipzig – we are fighting the Battle of the Nations! Same sort of idea, we’re having a paint-a-thon, we’re doing the game and the auction, and we’ll host an evening of Talks and Debates on the campaign.

• Facebook Page
• Donation link
• Homepage

Steam’s Wargames Fest sale runs through 5 May, and includes just about anything with “war” in the title, plus a bunch of other stuff, especially from people like MicroProse and Slitherine.  Here’s a big list you can check out and scroll thru for titles

This week’s tariff ridiculousness . . .

• There’s more on the lawsuit here
• Meanwhile, Hasbro has changed their sales expectations for the year, in part b/c they don’t think a lot of their product are in danger of being hit by tariffs
• Last week we linked to a sale from Boardlandia’s site, and by the end of the day, they’d closed up shop
• There are plenty of pundits expecting the tariffs to come down at some point, including Scott Thorne writing for ICv2, although probably not back to the original level.  However, in order for that to happen, you’d expect some negotiations between the US and China, which President Trump says are happening and which the Chinese have said are categorically not happening.

Hitting the shelves (and webstores) near you now!

• Hollandspiele released Sykes–Picot from designer Brooks Barber, who also had some interesting new deisgns on the tables at Circle DC, too
• Blue Panther now has SPQR: The Battle of Alesia solitaire game from The Art of Wargames available
• Mike Lambo’s latest, Battles of the American Civil War August 1862 – April 1865: A Solitaire Wargame Expansion, just released on Amazon
• The new Nations & Cannons: The American Crisis release can be had by digital download right now, with pre-order print copies to follow, and you can save 10% with coupon code AMERICA250 at checkout
• Paradox has released Crusader Kings III: Khans of the Steppe to expand your game
• The Flying Pigs got a couple of games pushed out the door
  • A Most Fearful Sacrifice 2nd Edition Reprint
  • Old School Tactical V1: Stalingrad expansion Reprint
• New stuff from Wargames Atlantic, for The Baron’s War
  • Barons’ War Second Edition
  • Barons’ War Second Edition Deluxe Set
• A couple last-chance/new releases from Warlord Games
  • Konflikt ’47 Defiance Book
  • Konflikt ’47 Resurgence Book

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

• Osprey has Pacific Command on pre-order, for minis wargames in WW2
• You can pre-order Nightfighter Command from War Diary Magazine for shipping next week
• The Song for War Kickstarter relaunched last week and is way closer to funding than they got in the entire campaign last time; it’s a great game and you should totally jump on this one
• Another batch of pre-orders from Warlord Games
  • British & Canadian Infantry (Winter) Platoon
  • M3 Grant Medium Tank and M3 Grant Armoured Platoon
  • Armies Of Great Britain New Release Bundle
  • Crossing The Rhine’ British & Canadian Infantry (Winter) Starter Army with Armies Of Great Britain book
  • ‘Crossing The Rhine’ – British & Canadian Infantry (Winter) Starter Army without the book
  • Armies Of Great Britain book, with Capt. John Henry Cound Brunt VC MC Special Miniature

Looking for a deal? Getting more bang for your buck?

• The GMT titles that Playdek has adapted are part of a 60% off sale during the Steam War Games Fest thru 5 May
• Don’t forget that GMT’s loyalty sale is still running; save 25% on anything in-stock (incl gift certificates!) w/ coupon code GMT25 at checkout
• WDS “Game of the week” is War Over Vietnam for $29.95
• This week’s sales from On Military Matters are here
• Easy Roller Dice are convinced that what your mom wants for Mother’s Day is a set of pink fire glass dice, which you can get at 50% off with coupon code MOM50 at checkout
• Roma Victrix: Campaigns of the Roman World on sale at MM for about 10% off
• GOG has a Star Wars strategy bundle for less than drive-thru lunch
• HALO: Flashpoint minis game on sale at Amazon
• Looking for a copy of the old 3W Light Division?  Noble Knight has a few, and pretty cheap
• Does “free” count as “on sale”?  Here’s a bunch of freebies from Catalyst Game Labs

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

• Saturday Night Fights ~ “Et Sans Resultat!” with the designer!
• Connections Online 2025 After Action Report
• Armchair Dragoons Takes Aim at Gunfight Royale
• The week’s battle! Battle of Abensberg April 20, 1809
• In our forums, JD is digging into Off the Line and talking about the mechanics of the game
•  AARs
  • The Destruction of Vimayapura – Part 3
  • How (Not) to Win the Battle of Guttstadt – Part 3
• Gameplay this week
  • “Longstreet” 1862 — Dalinore vs. OJ
  • Probe at La Cambe for “I Ain’t Been Shot Mum”
  • A “Longstreet” 2 x 2 in 1862

The Best Thing We Saw On Another Site This Week Was

Foreign Intervention in Baltic Empires: Part One By Brian Asklev

No game on early modern power politics and war would be complete without Louis XIV! In Baltic Empires, the Louis XIV card reflects the massive impact on the Baltic scene of the Sun King’s many wars against his English, Dutch, and Habsburg rivals. His effects are two-fold, and one of only a handful of multi-category cards (Immediate and Permanent effects in this case). Upon getting Louis in your court the strong French armies will cause an abrupt diversion of Habsburg attention away from the Baltic and towards the borders with France, as represented by the removal of all independent units in the Habsburg Lands at that time. As with George Rooke above, the impact of this effect is largely situational. His other effect, representing the substantial subsidies Louis offered Sweden to maintain a large army at all times (so France’s German opponents would always have to watch their back), is a permanent effect.

This week’s best written coverage from the wargaming world Clio has a long and interesting article about Hindenburg thru the lens of one of the Weimar games Rocky does a deep dive into Order of the Day: Normandy Brian Train gives you the lowdown on The Urban Calculus, a combo wargame/toolkit for exploring city conflicts Meeple Mountain has a review of Comancheria Avalanche Press has an article about cruisers and capital ships on in the Pacific theater of WW1

The best videos this week from our wargaming friends My Own Worst Enemy has A Look At The New Counter Trays From Cube4Me Justegarde has First Victories – Wellington vs. Napoleon first impressions Beyond Solitaire Podcast 194: Mark Herman on “Wargames According to Mark” Zilla has a Relic Wars First Look & Overview Live Cardboard 7 – WWII North Africa

Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream talked about the kinds of content people enjoy on YouTube

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

• The Alliance / Diamond bankruptcy follies continue, as it turns out that Alliance Entertainment is now suing Diamond (again) around the failed sale of their game biz.  Why?  Turns out that Diamond lied to everyone about their distributor agreement with WotC, which was not being renewed.  Again, these companies are not wargame-heavy at all, but the loss of Diamond’s game distro biz is one fewer outlet through which wargames can find their way to your FLGS.
• BoardGameWire has more info on the whole Diamond/Alliance fiasco here, too
• The Russian gov’t has seized / shut down Lesta Studios, who used to be a part of World of Tanks publisher Wargaming, over their ‘support’ for the Ukrainian in their ongoing war; Wargaming (the studio) completely bailed out of Russia/Belorussia a few years ago after the invasion
• Another Decision Games survey, this one about the “Renaissance of Infantry”
• Big update for Rule the Waves 3 from Matrix Games is now available
• WDS has a big update for Squad Battles: The Proud and the Few

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 ~ 4 May and 1 June
• Next confirmed live event is BuckeyeGameFest, 1-4 May 2025  <– RIGHT NOW!  Featuring QUAD FEST!
• Next planned virtual event is the ACDC¹, 16-18 January, 2026

Other Conventions & Events

• 28 Apr-5 May The War Room at Buckeye Game Fest (Columbus OH) <– RIGHT NOW!  Featuring QUAD FEST!
• 1-5 May Buckeye Game Fest (Columbus OH) <– THIS WEEKEND!
• 2-5 May Gaming Hoopla (Milwaukee WI)
• 8-12 May PAX East (Boston MA)
• 9-12 May PunchedCon (Coventry UK)
• 15-19 May Compass Games Spring Expo 2025 (Meriden CT)
• 16-19 May CanGames (Ottawa ON)
• 16-19 May HexaCon 2025 (Rangiora NZ)
• 23-27 May Kublacon (Santa Clara CA)
• 23-26 May Strategicon: Gamex (Los Angeles CA)
• 30 May-3 Jun ConCarolinas (Charlotte NC)
• 18-23 Jun ORIGINS (Columbus OH)

You’ve seen the list of Origins events we’ve got for this Summer.  Starting tomorrow, we’ll have our Wednesday countdown articles as we get closer to the convention.

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

• NATO Nation Overwhelmed by Russian Missiles in War-Game Simulation from Newsweek
• Fight Club presentation from the designer of Down Range for the USMC
• Some notes on analyzing urban warfare wargames (PDF)
• Strengthening Unity of Effort in the Atlantic: Lessons from Wargaming; it’s from CIMSEC, but give it a chance anyway
• The next GUWS webinar is Modeling Urban Warfare: how can we model the complexity of urban space? on 6 May followed by Cobalt Rocks: Wargaming Seabed Operations on 20 May
• Start updating those US Army orders of battle again

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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