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Podcasts

Wild Weasel #2

Timeline

News: 6:10

Tom Chick: 14:57

A good map is hard to find: 31:48

Links to items mentioned

Sekigahara P500 by GMT Games

A good video on Sekigahara by ACoupleofMeeple

Holdfast: North Africa 1941-42 Kickstarter

Operational Studies Group’s Peninsular War II preorder

Europa Simulazioni’s 1813: Napoleon’s Nemesis

Decision Games

High Flying Dice Games

Ironbottom Sound III from Revolution Games

Tom Chick’s website, Quarter to Three

U.S. Civil War by Mark Simonitch, published by GMT Games

RSS feed: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:205935006/sounds.rss

Subscribe on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wild-weasel/id1084588727?mt=2

Discussion

20 Responses to “Wild Weasel #2”

  1. Enjoyed listening again. I would like to hear your top 10 solitaire games. I only buy games that are solitaire only or high solitaire playable. Not a lot of players with similar interests and my days off in Las Vegas.

    Posted by Cyrus | March 2, 2016, 12:48 am
  2. I’m a wargame neophyte, having only dabbled in the COIN series and a few PC games (Korsun Pocket and Unity of Command). Still, my interest remains high, and I appreciate your cogent coverage of the wargame space on your podcast. Many thanks.

    On the topic of High Flying Dice Games’ naming schemes: “Long Cool Woman” is likely a reference to The Hollies song “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP94PlEtsEQ

    It’s a British take on CCR-esque swamp rock, if that’s your thing.

    Posted by Drew | March 2, 2016, 10:57 am
    • Thanks, Drew! I guess the name on the game cover is correct, and the name on the page underneath it is just a typo. Although I’m not sure how The Hollies figure into an attack on a special forces camp in Vietnam in 1971, unless it is just from a chronological standpoint.

      Posted by Bruce Geryk | March 2, 2016, 3:23 pm
  3. My comment though was not really aimed at the thematic differences but what the term “wargame” conjures in expectation, such as victory through the use of military force–and only—military force.

    Twilight Struggle, while it may abstractly represent the various fires that sprang up during the Cold War, does not have you pushing panzers, a CRT or ZOCs. Yes, it does give players an insight into the global struggle of freedom versus communism, but I just can’t see calling it a wargame. Churchill, which was mentioned this week, while a good game, would be another example.

    Of course, maybe I’m being too pedantic and stuck in the ’70s.

    Loved the map talk. A well designed map, full of subtle effects like what you were discussing, can make a huge difference in gameplay. Yet, I think a lot of gamers take their maps for granted.

    So, how about your top five wargame maps?

    Posted by Scott R. Krol | March 3, 2016, 1:24 am
    • Heh, Churchill has you conducting offensives on six different fronts in two different theaters of WWII – how is that not a wargame? 🙂

      I think you’re holding onto a definition of wargame that was more representative in 1979 than it is today.

      Great idea for a top five list! I’ll have to get thinking about that.

      Posted by Bruce Geryk | March 3, 2016, 9:05 pm
  4. Bruce, it’s interesting to note about your limited knowledge of Mark Simonitch’s designs. You referenced France ’40, which is his latest in the series of games I unofficially know as the ‘XX series. Games using this set of rules also includes Ukraine ’43 (quite popular among certain circles), Normandy ’44, and Ardennes ’44 (which typically gets touted as one of the better Bulge games out there). I don’t recall if other of Simonitch’s titles like Decision in France, The Legend Begins, or The Caucasus Campaign also use this same game mechanics (each game does bend to the need of the game so it’s not a true game rules system). Anyway, it does imply that our hobby covers a wide breadth of both historical topics as well as game systems/publishers. And while games on the Ardennes or Normandy may be a turn off for some – because of the feeling that their subject matter may be trite, others welcome new games that re-examine subjects that are perceived as… trite.

    On the subject of “what is a wargame?”, technically I don’t care about that gray line. Twilight Struggle, Churchill, Talon, Starship Troopers, Memoir ’44, X-Wing, and Axis and Allies are pretty much wargames. I’m just going to play what I like. If Settlers of Cataan had the meeples fight each other over sheep, it might be a wargame…

    Posted by Carl | March 3, 2016, 3:45 pm
    • Thanks for the clarification, Carl – I should really check out the ‘XX series, especially France ’40, since I love games that try to model that particular campaign. And I just finished Alistair Horne’s “To Lose a Battle.”

      I don’t get worked up about game “classification,” either. But I thought it would be helpful to define it for the purposes of the podcast – after all, I am calling it a “wargame podcast” – so that people knew what to expect. I think I’d get some complaints if I called it a wargame podcast and then spent all my time discussing Call of Duty!

      Posted by Bruce Geryk | March 3, 2016, 9:12 pm
      • On the French campaign, I also recommend Doughty’s “The Breaking Point” as well as “The Blitzkrieg Legend”. There’s also the popular OCS title by MMP of the same name which covers the topic very well. The Blitzkrieg Legend and France ’40 are the more recent topics on the subject and hence have the most recent research and insight into the campaign rather than the stereotype that the French got outflanked through the Ardennes.

        Best wishes,
        Carl

        Posted by Carl Fung | March 4, 2016, 10:09 am
      • Ted Raicer’s “Case Yellow” from GMT is another excellent France ’40 simulation.

        Posted by David Hoeft | March 19, 2016, 8:38 pm
  5. I’ve subscribed! Your format is great. You touch a bit on game releases and drop names of a couple of “hidden gem” companies making me wish I had pen and paper handy while I drive home. But, I just listened to them again when I got home, making notes a bit safer and probably more legible. You’ve an easy voice to listen to, also. So far, I’ve been pleasantly impressed with the content and length (perfect length for my commute home). I look forward to hearing the next podcast.

    Posted by Dan Webb | March 4, 2016, 12:17 am
  6. Hi there

    What is your email address, please?

    Mark

    Posted by Mark Jessop | March 5, 2016, 11:05 pm
  7. Bruce –

    Another delight.

    I’m afraid your podcast is going to be very expensive for me and not make my wife very happy!

    A request: Please list all of the games you mention in the podcast, if possible.

    Tonkin? Looks interesting from the BGG description.

    I’m reading Hell in a Very Small Place -whoosh, what a story and wonderfully told.

    Have you read Fall’s Street without Joy? Based on the Wikipedia description, it sounds like it could be a fascinating game as well as a book.

    Thank you also for the reference for The Hunter Killers. It is next in my queue. I’m passing information on it to my mom’s family as no one really knew what my uncle’s mission was when he died in Vietnam.

    (I attended his funeral at Arlington in the mid 1990s when his body was recovered and found out he flew a F105G – Maj. Robert Brinckmann – so your podcast has some extra resonance.)

    Posted by Steven Davis | March 8, 2016, 1:27 pm
  8. Bruce:

    High Flying Dice Games has some unique Vietnam titles. Have you ever played any of theses games? I was curious how well they play considering its a smaller game company.

    Posted by David Skordinski | March 12, 2016, 9:11 am
    • I have been meaning to try out some of the more unusual Vietnam games from HFD, but the only one I got a chance to try was City of Confusion, which has its problems. I’ll let you know when I play more.

      Posted by Bruce Geryk | March 14, 2016, 8:31 am
  9. Bruce: just chiming in with positive feedback to encourage more WW. I’ve enjoyed the content of the first two episodes and appreciate the brevity as well. Thanks!

    Posted by T.L. Cubbage | March 16, 2016, 8:05 am
  10. Bruce,
    I’m enjoying the podcasts, please keep them coming. I’d also like to say thanks for one of your book recommendations from a while back, Shattered Sword, which I finally got around to recently. It was a great read, with a lot of information about the Midway operation that I had not run across before. I particularly enjoyed the authors’ account of the unsuccessful Japanese damage control efforts after the American attacks and their explanation of how the Japanese carrier design and operational procedures had left the vessels more vulnerable to critical damage. If I recall correctly, the board game Flat Top and computer game Carriers at War had made the Japanese carriers more “brittle” but I had never really understood why.

    Posted by Kevin | March 19, 2016, 6:27 pm
  11. Enjoyed ‘Wild Weasel’ 2- especially the confessions of Tom Chick. Another recommendation for him would be “Enemy Action: Ardennes” from Compass Games, another brilliant design by John Butterfield. I expect he would enjoy the innovative systems throughout the game- I found it to be very compelling, challenging and it did a better job than just about any wargame I can think of making me think like a front commander- having to decide where and how to use limited resources against an unpredictable and unknown foe.

    Posted by David Hoeft | March 19, 2016, 8:47 pm
  12. I just listened to this podcast (yes, I am way behind the times but working to catch up) and was struck by a comment you made about the frustration that can occur when reading a book that lacks maps. I suspect you are already very familiar with these, but the Landmark series (first publication was The Landmark Thucydides) does an excellent job curing exactly this frustration. I think they have been wonderful editions of several classic texts.

    The podcast is wonderful, and I am looking forward to catching up to the current edition.

    Posted by Peter Smith | September 23, 2017, 11:50 am

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