Mentioned in Dispatches, Season 5 Episode 9 – Is Wargaming Dead? Or Only Mostly Dead?

6 November 2020 ~ Yeah, yeah…. this again! Inspired by a couple of videos that the guys over a Little Wars TV put together on YouTube, Brant, Jim, and Gary are joined by David Ensteness (The Wargaming Company) to talk about the state of wargaming, and the endless gloom-and-doom of the “wargaming is dying” refrains that have been chanted by the cognoscenti since around 1971 or so. However, all is not lost and our panel discusses all the ways in which “wargaming is dying” is both right and wrong.  And to their credit, the Little Wars guys do take a stab at “what to do about it”. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. With our rose-colored glasses firmly in place, we look backwards at why our views on wargaming evolved the way they did, as well as casting a critical eye on the current state of where we are, and why.  We do brush across “what is a wargame” without ever coming to a firm decision, and we brush across the distinctions between the historical minis guys and the tabletop wargaming guys without ever worrying about harsh, bright lines between them.  Most of us ultimately agree that most of the complaining about wargaming “dying” is essentially “wargaming is different than it was when I started” and, as David succinctly put it: “duh!” we have to open doors to those… that want an open door Ultimately, to quote Jim, it’s that “we have to open doors to those… that want an open door” as players, and David’s thoughts on the self-awareness of members of the hobby are certainly worth sticking around for.  And does Brant admit to a change in his opinions?  Really?! Plus, “angry Ardwulf” can be “fun Ardwulf” so long as he’s out of COVID range from you, so the world can always enjoy another good rant or three from Gary. If you get a chance, please go hit the iTunes page for our podcast and give us a rating – whatever you think is fair!  We need some more reviews before iTunes will start recommending us in their podcast engine, so every rating helps! We appreciate you checking out Mentioned in Dispatches!  Please leave us some feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum.  You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…