Little Wars FM

Games Workshop released Warmaster in 2000 as its first epic scale, mass battle game set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. But did you know Warmaster was supposed to be released two years earlier? Or that the inspiration for Warmaster's iconic command and control system came from a trip Rick Priestley took to Gettysburg battlefield? Today on Little Wars FM podcast, Greg connects with the author and creator of Warmaster, Mr. Rick Priestley himself, to learn about the origins of the game and pry for insider information about what happened to it. Why did Games Workshop delay the game, deny it a big starter box release, and then fail to fully embrace the concept? What about the short-lived Battle of the Five Armies boxed set that used the Warmaster rules years later?

In upcoming podcasts and interviews we'll talk to members of the Warmaster community today, over a decade after Games Workshop abandoned the game. A thriving fanbase of players still enjoys Warmaster and a free, updated version of the rules is available for download. We'll be exploring all of this and much more. Our thanks to Rick for generously taking so much of his time to join us for this chat!

Today on Little Wars FM we're joined by Gary Blevins of Board Game Nation. Last year Gary produced a viral YouTube sensation with his multi-part video series recapping the 2023 Axis & Allies World Championship. Not only did he film and edit a series, he played in the championship and advanced to the finals. Did he win? We won't spoil the ending, but we will spoil the topic of today's podcast! 

Gary discusses the challenges of presenting board game recaps in a compelling, edited format. The format of his series inspired our own first foray into board games on Little Wars TV--our popular Shogun episode. So join us for a fantastic discussion about board games, YouTube, and how to keep viewers hooked!

Our thanks again to Gary for joining us. Check out his channel, subscribe, and go get addicted to his Axis & Allies World Championship Series.

For our club-versus-club Thermopylae wargame against Mark's Game Room, we used Men of Bronze as the rules for our land battle. Today, the author joins Little Wars FM for an in-depth discussion. Eric Farrington is the author of multiple game systems and he talks to Greg about his past and future projects. Eric also reflects on working with Osprey Games as a publisher and how their development process works. You can follow Eric's wargaming hobby updates on his blog, Blood & Spectacles, where he is extremely active.

As a reminder, you can also visit us at Little Wars TV for access to our modified quick reference sheet for Men of Bronze, where we adapted the original rules for mass battle combat. You can find that PDF on our "Free Stuff" page under the Thermopylae episode notes. Our thanks to Eric Farrington for coming on the podcast to talk about his wargame design process!

Greg talks to author and game designer Mark Backhouse about a 2013 article written in WSS Magazine called "Hail Agrippa." That article is freely available here, from WSS. A decade ago, Mark turned to Warlord Games' "Hail Caesar" rules when seeking out a mass battle, ancient naval system. With a few modifications, he turned the popular land-battle system into a trireme-smashing, quinquereme good time!

In this interview, Mark talks about how he modified an existing game and what philosophy he brings to projects like this. He also discusses his own rule development and what he's working on next! Mark is very active posting wargaming content to social media and is also a prolific author in Wargames, Soldiers, & Strategy. You can find more "Hail Agrippa" coverage in the latest summer issue of the magazine, where Mark & Greg co-authored a 6-part ancient naval campaign for the Philippi Campaign. 

We hope you enjoy Episode #51 of Little Wars FM! And if you missed our Actium wargame on YouTube, be sure to visit Little Wars TV and watch the tabletop game. Did Antony and Cleopatra rewrite history? You'll find out!

Little Wars FM officially turns 50! Our Patreon fans voted on the topic for our 50th podcast, and here it is. Miles and Ed chat with the International Kriegsspiel Society about all things Kriegsspiel. They'll go into the origins of the game, which was first released in 1824 by a Prussian staff officer, and track the evolution of the rules since the 1800s. Today, members of the society run Kriegsspiel events online. This enables players from around the world to join, as well as providing modern tools for fog of war and limited communication. If you want to see a short recap of an event that Miles and Ed both played, there's a YouTube AAR available. The IKS YouTube channel also has much longer videos, like this complete playthrough of Perryville (it's well over 2 hours long).

We've talked about the possibility of filming a Kriegsspiel for the channel one day. Is that something you'd find interesting? There are no miniatures or gorgeous 3D terrain...it's just maps and blocks! But the fog of war element makes these events exciting every time. Have you played in a Kriegsspiel-style game in person or online? And are you interested in joining one of the IKS events sometime? If so, we'll leave a link to those fine folks right here! We hope you enjoy episode #50 of Little Wars FM!

Plenty of miniature games for air combat exist--Check Your Six and Wings of Glory are played in our club--but they do have their limitations. Something both of those rule sets share in common (along with most others) is that they are dogfighting games. As a player, you control a plane. Maybe two or three at most. You're in the cockpit trying to out-turn, out-dive, and out-maneuver your opponents in the sky. 

Today, we're joined by Mark and Carl of Mark's Game Room to talk about a new air combat miniature game with a very different spin. Their new game, Fire in the Sky, doesn't have a few planes zipping around--it features dozens of fighters flying as entire squadrons. This is a much higher level scope than your typical miniature game. Greg sits down with Mark and Carl to discuss air combat on the tabletop and some of the innate challenges of gaming dynamic dogfights in miniature. We hope you enjoy the discussion about all things air combat! There's even a bit of chatter about the new Masters of the Air series on Apple Plus. What do each of these guys think of the series? Stick around and find out.

Today on Little Wars FM, we interview a legendary American game designer, Frank Chadwick. Frank's wargaming roots go back decades and include major titles like Volley & Bayonet and Command Decision. He remains very active developing new games, including an operational World War 2 game he's finishing now. Greg talks to Frank about that new project, his design philosophy, and how he writes wargames. Specifically, there is a focus on Volley & Bayonet, which we used for tabletop battle resolution in our 1813 campaign.

Visit Little Wars TV on YouTube to watch our 3-part Napoleonic campaign and see Volley & Bayonet in action! Frank Chadwick and Greg Novak originally released this classic big battle system in 1994. Our club plays Volley & Bayonet for multiple horse and musket conflicts, including Napoleonics and the American Civil War. You can learn more about the game and find free downloads on the official blog:

https://volleyandbayonet.wordpress.com/introduction/

With the Little Wars TV 1813 campaign concluded, we check in with two expert Napoleonic historians for their reaction. Who won our campaign? Would Napoleon's tactical and operational success change history and keep him on the French throne? Professor Alexander Mikaberidze and Dr. Zack White offer a surprising take on our game, blending historical insight with wargaming for a fascinating chat. They also talk about the historical 1813 campaign and why Napoleon allowed himself to be boxed in at Leipzig. 

We want to thank both of our guest historians. You can find Professor Mikaberidze's latest book on Field Marshal Kutuzov on Amazon, among other vendors. And you can listen to great historical analysis from Dr. Zack White on his podcast, The Napoleonic Wars Podcast. Check it out at the link below:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-napoleonic-wars-podcast-aka-the-napoleonicist/id1503208643

In the aftermath of our Spring 1813 Napoleonic campaign, Napoleon and Tsar Alexander meet for a heated negotiation. Many issues are on the table as both sides jockey for advantage in the Fall. Will any cities be swapped? Will Napoleon evacuate his stranded fortress garrisons? Can the French tempt Austria into remaining neutral? What about the lesser German states and the Saxons? To mediate our talks, we're joined by two expert Napoleonic historians. Professor Alexander Mikaberidze and Dr. Zack White join the show to lend historical background and take an active role mediating our wargame. 

Be sure to join us on YouTube in the weeks ahead for the conclusion of the 1813 campaign to see how our version of events unfolds in the Fall season! Napoleon may have suffered a major defeat historically, but our wargame is not destined to follow the same path. Subscribe and join us!

We also want to thank both of our guest historians. You can find Professor Mikaberidze's latest book on Field Marshal Kutuzov on Amazon, among other vendors. And you can listen to great historical analysis from Dr. Zack White on his podcast, The Napoleonic Wars Podcast. Check it out!

Little Wars FM is the companion podcast to our YouTube channel, Little Wars TV, which we started over 5 years ago! A lot has changed on YouTube since then. What's it like to start a new wargaming channel now, in 2023? Our friends at Mark's Game Room are finding out! Mark and his crew have appeared on our channel in the past and we're thrilled their club decided to take the plunge and start a historical wargaming channel. Today we talk to Mark and Carl about the process, their strategy, and what they see as the future. If you like what you hear, be sure to pay them a visit and subscribe to YouTube's newest wargaming channel! We wish these guys nothing but success sharing their love for the hobby.

Today's episode aired on June 6, 2023 as a Patreon exclusive for our supporters. If you want early access to our entire podcast library, visit us at http://www.patreon.com/littlewarstv 

This week on Little Wars FM, we return to the topic of wargaming campaigns. In Part 1 we talked about linear, or "ladder style" campaign systems. Today we tackle map-based campaigning like you saw in our YouTube Pyrrhic War campaign. Miles, Tony and Greg reminisce over some of the club's most successful map based campaigns...and some of the least successful. What are the pitfalls to avoid? What unique challenges and exciting opportunities do "open sandbox" map campaigns present for miniature wargaming?

In the second half of this podcast, we interview Mark Backhouse from across the Atlantic about some of his campaigning experience. You may know Mark from his prolific articles in Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy magazine or as the author of the recent ancients rules Strength & Honour. 

In Part 1 of our series "How to Design Wargaming Campaigns," we talked to Henry Hyde. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more knowledgeable historian of our miniature tabletop hobby than Henry! In Part 1, you heard just a few brief segments of our much-longer and wider-ranging chat with him. As promised in that episode, we're releasing the full version of the conversation between Miles, Greg, and Henry. 

If you're interested in running a campaign of any sort with your friends, it's a conversation we think you'll find most interesting! The timing of this topic was great for Henry, because he only recently completed a massive book on this exact subject. Several of us own copies here in the club. You'll hear more about the book, what it includes, and how it's organized throughout today's extended podcast.

We'll be back in the near future with Part 2 of our campaign series to talk in detail about map-based campaigns. We've had a lot of experience running those in our club....sometimes with great success. Other times...not so much. We'll talk about lessons learned and how you can avoid some of our worst campaign pitfalls in that upcoming podcast. Finally, we'd be remiss not to offer one final THANK YOU to Henry Hyde for being such a fantastic guest. You can keep up to date with his latest wargaming adventures at Battlegames.

This week on Little Wars FM, we dive into a juicy topic--miniature wargaming campaigns. Our Pyrrhic War campaign this summer was a huge success, both within the club and on YouTube. But if we're being totally honest...we've had our fair share of duds when it comes to tabletop campaigning. It's not easy to design a good campaign experience that's balanced, winnable for both sides, and can be played to a satisfying end.  

We're thrilled to welcome Henry Hyde of Battlegames (and the recent tome, "Wargaming Campaigns") and Travis of Tabletop CP. We suspect you all know Travis's YouTube channel quite well! We talk about specific case studies, examples of past campaigns, and what lessons you can implement to avoid our mistakes. Today's podcast episode focuses on a specific style of campaign--the "ladder" or linear campaign. In this format, tabletop battles progress in a scripted (or somewhat planned) path. This links your tabletop encounters together in a string of battles, where each influences the next. This style of campaign is a lot easier to play (and design) than the open sandbox of a map campaign like the Pyrrhic War. Next time on the podcast, we'll turn our attention to map-based campaigning.

This week on Little Wars FM, Josh and Dieter review "Fistful of Lead: Reloaded" from Wiley Games. The first edition of this Wild West skirmish game debuted almost 20 years ago but the "Reloaded" update appeared in 2016. The Old West rule review round up will continue in future podcasts, as Josh and Dieter continue their hunt for the perfect Wild West shootout game. They compare multiple systems, discuss pros and cons, and give you all the information you'll need to draw your own conclusions about which game is right for your group. 

If you'd like early access to all LWFM podcasts, as well as exclusive episodes not available publicly, join us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/littlewarstv. 

This week on Little Wars FM, Josh and Dieter review Gunfighter's Ball from Knuckleduster Miniatures. This is a Wild West skirmish game written by Forrest Harris and Brian Martin in 2018. And it's just the first of several stops we have coming on our Old West rule review tour! In future podcasts Josh and Dieter will return to compare other popular tabletop miniature systems. Grab your six shooter, put five beans in the wheel, and let's ride into the West!

If you'd like early access to all LWFM podcasts, as well as exclusive episodes not available publicly, join us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/littlewarstv. 

Do you remember the early days of COVID lockdowns, when there was a sudden surge of interest in virtual tabletop gaming? Tabletop Simulator, Vassal, Roll20, and old-fashioned web cams suddenly felt indispensable. Even conventions tried to adapt with new virtual formats. 

That was two years ago, which makes this a good time to ask, "What happened?" Are those virtual platforms still popular? Are you using them as much as you used to? What will virtual tabletop gaming look like in 5 or 10 years? Today we're talking to an expert in the field--Jim Owczarski of Armchair Dragoons. Jim is a prolific scenario designer for Tabletop Simulator, adapting all manner of traditional miniatures games, including several you've seen on Little Wars TV.

After you listen to today's podcast, we encourage you to check out Jim's active blog updates on Armchair Dragoons and see photos and video of some virtual games!

If you listened to our 6-part series on designing homebrew rules, you heard Tom and Greg reference Andy Callan's name many times as the original designer of "Loose Files and American Scramble" back in the 1980s. Loose Files served as the inspiration and jumping off point for what would eventually become British Grenadier and own own modern spin, Live Free or Die. But Andy has been writing games for decades and is STILL developing new creations. 

His latest game, Nevermind the Billhooks, has been very well received and comes up frequently in this podcast. Let's talk to Andy Callan about his philosophy of rule design, spanning more than three decades as a wargamer! 

It's been a long journey, and today our homebrew rules writing guide takes its final steps. This is the last chapter in our exhaustive, multi-part podcast series on how to write a wargame. Months ago we started back at the brainstorming phase and several hours of podcasting later, Tom & Greg make it to the finish line. In this episode we talk to Dave Taylor, a freelance graphic designer with a deep background in the tabletop hobby. Dave shares some great insights and practical tips for how to take your Microsoft WORD document and transform it into a professional, polished product. To bring our journey full circle, be sure to stick around until the end of the episode for a surprise guest we've talked about--but never talked to--throughout the entire series. And if you missed any of the earlier parts in this six-part series, we encourage you to go back and start with Part 1!

To purchase a print or PDF copy of "Live Free or Die," visit us at http://www.LittleWarsTV.com.

In the fifth chapter of our multi-part series "How to Write a Wargame," we approach the finish line. Now that you have a fun game refined through playtesting, you may start to wonder about next steps. Is this a homebrew game you'll keep on the shelf for you and your friends? Or is this a game you should consider publishing? Tom & Greg weigh the considerations in publishing and debate final game adjustments from a major playtest session. If you missed any of the earlier parts in this series, we do encourage you to go back and start with Part 1!

Spoiler alert--we DID ultimately decide to publish "Live Free or Die" and to donate half the proceeds to one of our favorite charities, the American Battlefield Trust. You can visit the Trust to learn more about their mission of battlefield preservation at http://www.battlefields.org. To purchase a print or PDF copy of "Live Free or Die," visit us at http://www.LittleWarsTV.com.

In the fourth chapter of our multi-part series "How to Write a Wargame," we discuss the role of play-testing. This is an absolutely critical part of the development process and we'll share some real-time feedback from our first round of play-testing at the club. Then, Tom & Greg head back to the drawing board to assess the necessary adjustments for further rounds of testing. Part 4 is a long one, folks! We're going deep into the weeds on the mechanics of game design and showing you how the sausage gets made. If you missed any of the earlier parts in this series, we do encourage you to go back and start with Part 1!