"Mentioned In Dispatches" with the Armchair Dragoons

17 April 2026 ~ For the season 16 finale, Brant’s joined by David Thompson, Tim Densham, and Byron Collins to talk about game conventions coming up, some of our favorites, some we can’t stand, and what makes for good & bad conventions. Oh, and Tim needs some advice, too, toward the end.   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

10 April 2026 ~ Brant is joined by Dr Aggie Hirst of Kings College London to discuss her research that resulted in the book “Politics of Play” and her other explorations of professional wargaming Links & References Politics of Play: Wargaming with the US Military Mentioned In Dispatches S16 E8 – The Wargamer’s Bookshelf Battle Lab ~ Another “Resurgence” of Military Wargaming and Battle Lab ~ Uses for (Professional) Wargaming Stackup.org – Combating Veteran Suicide Through Gaming “Videogames Saved My Life”: Everyday Resistance and Ludic Recovery among US Military Veterans What to Do When Mother Nature Plays for the Red Team Civilians on Hexagonal Battlefields   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

3 April 2026 ~ Brant is joined by industry veterans Chris Pramas and Ross Thompson to talk about pathways into working in the tabletop game industry. Chris is one of the bigwigs at Green Ronin, and Ross just recently jumped on at Critical Role. The Tabletop Game Jobs group is here (it’s public) and the Tabletop Game Job Talents group is here (it’s not).  They’re both on Facebook, so if you’re not on there, you might not be able to see much. Also, as noted around the 53:00 minute mark, here’s the survey question about “how did you learn to play D&D”   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

27 March 2026 ~ Brant, Rocky, Aaron, Austin, and Keith all team up to talk about sci-fi wargaming and barely scratch the surface. Hear what the designers are thinking as they’re developing their games, and we leave plenty of space for future episodes, too. Of course there are links! Marine: 2002 – A Game of the First Lunar War (1979) Robotech: Reconstruction (2023) Raider Drop Zone (2024) Hammer’s Slammers (1984) Littoral Commander: Space Force (2026?) Previous episodes on sci-fi wargaming (but not 4X games) Mentioned in Dispatches Season 10 Ep 3 ~ Sci-Fi Wargaming Mentioned in Dispatches Season 9 Ep 6 ~ Scifi Gaming & Space Navies Mentioned in Dispatches, Season 5 Episode 8 – Science Fiction Warfare & Gaming   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

20 March 2026 ~ Brant is joined by Dr James Sterrett and Jan Heinemann to revisit & update our earlier discussion way back in season 2 on The Essential Wargaming Library. In the past 5-6 years1 there’s been a veritable explosion of full-length, serious books about wargaming and those interested in these titles are now filling up a second shelf with them, instead of having room for fancy bookends and tchotchkes around the limited selection of wargaming tomes. Linkdump Forging Wargamers by Sebastian Bae Wargames According to Mark by Mark Herman Eurowargames anthology from Nuts Publishing Wargaming Experiences: Soldiers, Scientists and Civilians and Wargaming Experiences II: Discussions by Natalia Wojtowicz UK MoD Wargaming Handbook (PDF) Paper Time Machines: Critical Game Design and Historical Board Games by Maurice Suckling Cardboard Ghosts: Using Physical Games to Model and Critique Systems by Amabel Holland (and the Mechanisms as Metaphors video) Historical Simulation and Wargames: The Hexagon and the Sword by Ricardo Masini Politics of Play: Wargaming with the US Military by Aggie Hirst The Matrix Games Handbook: Professional Applications from Education to Analysis and Wargaming by John Curry Raph Koster’s A Theory of Fun for Game Design Peruvian Naval War College Journal issue on wargaming Journal of Advanced Military Studies wargaming issue Wargaming Handbooks panel from Connections Online   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

13 March 2026 ~ Byron and Rocky join Brant to talk about all sorts of fights-in-the-skies, as we look up for this week’s podcast. The mandatory list of references Like an (Air) Boss – A veritable Typhoon of Angels, Bears, Phantoms, Intruders and Mustangs all Fly(ing) to Fight and Win in a minis wargaming Danger Zone – Rocky’s article on Cold War jet-age aircraft combat Lee Brimmicombe-Wood on BGG JD Webster on BGG (and probably a few we forgot) Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

6 March 2026 ~ Brant is joined by a pair of professional wargaming educators (Ed McGrady and David Banks) to talk about the professional development options for those in the applied / practitioner / professional world as well as a bit about how hobbyists can cross over Mandatory linkdump! Kings College War Studies Department MORS Certificates, including their wargaming courses Dragoons playlists, where you’ll find the Connections Online playlists Wargaming and Resilience Planning MA at Brunel University in Uxbridge/London Georgetown University Wargaming Society Fundamentals of Wargaming Analysis at JHU John Curry at Bath Spa University Degree programs as the US Army Command & General Staff College Got other links to wargaming curricula we should be linking here?  Drop them in the comments below!   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

27 February 2026 ~ Ardwulf joins the podcast for a discussion about when the bifurcation of wargames and TTRPGs happened, and how & why.  Anecdotes aplenty and also assorted assholery abounds. Links to some of what we discussed Old parlour games / proto-RPGs Flintlock’s shifty thread on Bluesky The Dicing With Dragons book The Defense Language Institute in Monterey / The Customs House Plaza Talking about megagames back in 2020   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

20 February 2026 ~ Brant, Mike, and Bill are joined by Mark Miklos to talk about his BoAR series and the upcoming special event this Fall in Camden, SC, as well as RevCon in Charlottesville2, and more.  Mark gives players some insight into the history of the series, what’s coming next, and even some advice on gameplay. Some of the key links for this episode Our last BoAR podcast episode, with Bill’s article series linked at the bottom Registration info for GMT’s Camden event RevCon at PrezCon 2026 The start of Mike’s series on Battles of the American Revolution – Eutaw Springs Battles of the American Revolution Series Mentioned in Dispatches Episode ~ Series Intro ~ Saratoga ~ Brandywine ~ Guilford Courthouse ~ Eutaw Springs ~ Savannah ~ Camden Event Podcast Episode Saratoga Digital ~ First Impressions ~ Gaming vs The AI Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

13 February 2026 ~ Brant, Chris, and Merle3 gather ’round the virtual campfire to talk about why & how Connections Online came into being, a couple of standout panels & stories from the past 5 years of events, and the inevitable struggle to stay on topic whenever another shiny digression goes prancing across their view. Some key links and references— Connections Online Youtube Playlists 2021 – Distributed Wargaming 2022 – Developing Wargame Practitioners 2023 – The Enemy Gets A Vote 2024 – Distributed Wargaming — Recent Lessons Learned 2025 – Wargaming Future Technologies The Connections Online homepage at Armchair Dragoons Some specific sessions that were also called out Connections Online 2021 Day 2, Session 4: Western Approaches Tactical Unit and CO22 D2S4: Western Approaches Tactical Unit, Revisited Connections Online 2021 Day 3, Session 2: Distributed Campaigns Over the Long Haul CO23 D1S2: What Exactly is “Red-Teaming” Anyway? CO25 D3S4: Concluding Remarks, & Reviving Dune — How the AH classic game came to be reborn CO24 D2S2: Urban Warfare Wargaming: Past, Present, Future Also, pay no attention to the SETI intercepts in the background of Merle’s audio whenever he’s talking. Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

6 February 2026 ~ Brant, Mike, and Gary look ahead to 2026 BGF and talk about The War Room, the other games & events there, and things they’d like to see. There’s plenty of ground we cover in this episode, so here are some of the relevant links BGF homepage and registration page The 2025 BGF report and Mike’s video and The Player’s Aid debrief A Wargaming Panel with Mark Walker, David Thompson, and Hermann Luttmann from 2025   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

30 January 2026 ~ Kicking off the new season, our erstwhile co-hosts take a deep dive into the wide world of wargaming and discuss what they think the wargaming hobby is missing. So you can hear what our couple of wargaming yammerers think, but what do you—the educated & erudite audience—think we’re missing from the overall wargaming hobby?  Sound off below or in our forums or on any of the different service feeds where you hear our podcasts.   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and saddling up with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web, including our all-new merchandise shop. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

24 October 2025 ~ Brant, Mike, and Keith have a discussion about the 2025 Fall Assembly, just in case you weren’t already sick of hearing about the best convention that you haven’t yet attended. What got played?  What stuck out for us?  What about the new location?  What did we like or not?  What about next year5?  Plenty of wargaming crammed into a pretty tightly-packed weekend with a great crew of gamers.   Drop in on your podcast platform of choice  (iTunes | Spotify | Amazon | Castro | whatever we forgot to link) and throw our way to help other listeners find us Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and riding with The Armchair Dragoons. Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web. You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

23 February 2024 ~ Amabel is back!  One of our favorite designers comes back to Mentioned in Dispatches to talk about what’s going with Hollandspiele and tell a few tales of designing off-the-wall games. You can always catch past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. So chill & enjoy as she gives us the low-down on Hollandspiele’s best-sellers, what’s coming soon (Comet, Ides of March, Striking Flint, and more), and what she’s enjoyed working on. Custom dragon meeples?  Game reviews as literature?  A game with no rulebook?  Small-box games that are even more experimental?!  Yep, we covered that too!  And stay tuned ’til the end when Amabel starts pestering Brant with some questions of her own. Oh, and of course we talk a bunch about the New Yorker article where Amabel was the star of a long read about modern boardgaming and game design. We love your feedback, over on the iTunes page for our podcast or on Spotify, or even Amazon or Castro, drop us a rating and let us know what you think.  Thanks! Thank you for visiting The Armchair Dragoons and mounting up with the Regiment of Strategy Gaming. You can find our regiment’s social media on Mastodon, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even Threads, if we could ever get an auto-post to it. (We have an Instagram page and it’s really just a placeholder & redirect to our articles.) You can support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, also, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events. Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

17 December 2021 ~ Seems like so long ago that we were starting season 7 of Mentioned in Dispatches––  and here we are wrapping it up, with Mike, Jim, and Bryan talking about everyone’s wargaming wishes for the holidays.  What games should be brought back?  What designers need more love?  What typos made games funnier?  Why are the Purssians purple?  Exactly when did Bryan run away and join the circus? Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Look, we cover a lot of ground on this episode, which is fitting as it’s a season finale.  And we covered a lot of ground this season, too, from professional wargaming design to Robotech and from Shotguns & Sorcery to Origins to arts & crafts.  What were some of your highlights of the past season and what are some of your holiday wargaming wishes?  Sound off below or pop into our forums. 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…    

10 December 2021 ~ Our good buddy Bison migrates back through with an extended chat about wargaming miniatures.  We talk about the arts-&-crafts aspects of the hobby, how to find minis, challenges of rulesets, scaling & basing, and collaborating with your potential opponents.  There’s a bit of a discussion about paints, as well as where and how to find your minis.  Both BC and Bison have threads in our forums for their various forays into painting. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Yes, we also talk about Michael looking like Rick Moranis from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids as well as the motivations of minis wargamers compared to other gamers.  We poke Cyrano a bit, with a 12mm stick, and we talk about some good shops where people can find their minis.  And of course, while talking about conventions, Bison’s got a couple of “can you believe what dick that guy was?” kind of stories, too. 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…    

3 December 2021 ~ The Mikes are back!  Brant and the guys wrap up their holiday weekend with a discussion of their personal wargaming evolutions from where they started to what they’re playing now.  And yes, there are computers involved, too. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. We cover a lot of ground, from Star Fleet Battles to Third World War, and plenty in between.  OJsDad tells us about his love the Great War at Sea series, including their alternate histories.  BBMike gives us the lowdown on his love of muskets.  Brant talks about games way too complex for a 9-year-old (lookin’ at you, Red Star White Star).  Everyone talks about where they used to shop for wargames, and heck, one of them is even still open!  It’s a bit of an extended nostalgia trip, yes.  Share your own stories of your wargaming evolution below, or in our forums. 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…    

26 November 2021 ~ Brant, Ian, and Sam have a chat about best sources of wargaming news, what they look for and where to find it, what’s good and what’s not, and the one thing that absolutely every game company website must have. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. There’s plenty of other bits and pieces that we cover, like why some companies are bad at communication, how we filter our personal news feeds, and sucking up to the host. A couple of links to things Ian mentioned in the show PLAYING WITH THE PAST – Teaching Slavery with Board Games Board Games Insider podcast The petition 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…    

19 November 2021 ~ The two-headed design team known collectively as “Dr Witcz” joins us to talk about their game Robotech Reconstruction.  Say wha…?  Robotech?!  C’mon guys, you’re a wargaming site! Yeah, but it’s actually a barely-disguised multi-faceted counterinsurgency, that just happens to be built on a well-known sci-fi media franchise. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. The guys openly admit that they were “COIN-inspired” in the asymmetric nature of the conflict, with each of four different factions having variable victory conditions and impermanent allies.  They also discuss what inspiration came directly from the Robotech canon, what they tweaked, and where they hope to go next.  Oh, and how they packed it all into a 2-hour game. In any event, it’s great to see another new generation of designers tackling some tough design challenges and keeping a great media franchise alive in the gaming world.  You can find out much more on the game at the publisher’s site. 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…    

12 November 2021 ~ “Guys yell at CSR-shaped clouds”, wherein three cranky dudes hold court on the administration & execution of the 202047 Charles S Roberts Awards.  We go through literally every category – even the dumb ones – and give you some unvarnished opinions on what won, what should’ve won, what should’ve been nominated, and where it got screwed up. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. We talk about how much the CSR’s improved from last year (or not) and what we’d like to see fixed going forward.  We also do most of it without the aid of adult beverages, although we’re not likely to make that mistake again. And it was upon further review during editing that Brant realized that when he said “Shaw and Heilman” that Jim & Gary were hearing “Shawn Heilman” which is not at all what was intended. Rather than include the entire list of CSR nominees & winners here, we’re linking you to the thread in our forums where we discuss the CSRs, which includes the complete list, as released by the CSR committee, kind of (we cribbed it from the video) 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…    

5 November 2021 ~ Hey y’all!  It’s Amabel from Hollandspiele joining us!  We talk a bunch about Horse & Musket, obviously.  But we also talk about the solo games, take a deep dive into the Shields & Swords series (especially the differences between ancient / medieval eras), and chat about how to approach certain designers. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Amabel is also kind enough to let us behind the curtain on some of the business decisions behind Hollandspiele, whether it’s overseas distribution, Kickstarter print runs, or production schedules.  It’s an interesting look inside a great company that’s found just the right niche and is kicking ass in it. 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…    

29 October 2021 ~ Jim, Mike, Brant, and the other Mike continue that annual tradition of their deep dive into the THE COMPASS GAMES HOLIDAY CATALOG (55.4 MB PDF).  Not quite item-by-item but pretty damn close, the guys talk about what they’re looking forward to, what they already have, what’s on order, and what went into their cart during the recording of the show. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. So grab your own copy of the catalog, and a sharpie, and ignore that “Wagram” has been misspelled for at least 2 years now.  Fire up the computer and log into their website, and get ready to have your wallet and your accountant both hate you (and us!) in equal percentages.  It’s 2 hours of dancing all around the glory and excess that is the Compass Games 2021 Holiday Catalog!  (And send all the hate mail to Mike) Want to check out some reviews we’ve done of Compass Games? The Humanity of No Motherland Without: North Korea in Crisis and Cold War Analysis of Brotherhood & Unity by Compass Games Armchair Dragoons Reviews Brief Border Wars from Compass Games DIME’ing out the South China Sea Armchair Dragoons Reviews Compass Games’ Pacific Tide Armchair Dragoons reviews Forgotten Legions And the catalog podcasts 2020 Compass catalog podcast 2019 Compass catalog (and other sales) 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…    

22 October 2021 ~ Bestselling author Matt Forbeck joins us to talk about his upcoming Shotguns & Sorcery sourcebook for D&D 5e that’s about to hit Kickstarter.  And he brought along the rules developer for the sourcebook, his son Marty!  Obviously, we spend a bunch of time talking about the upcoming campaign.  But hey, why not talk about some of Matt’s background with Pinnacle, and Marty’s first D&D game?  There’s a bit of a chat about D&D starter boxes in the middle as well. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. We also have some fun chatting about how Shotguns & Sorcery came about, Matt’s first novel writing assignment, and some of the crazy Kickstarters we’ve seen.  And yes, we actually talk about Monopoly for 10 minutes, but don’t worry, we’re not very nice to it.  And that image up above is relevant to one of the chats that we have. 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…    

15 October 2021 ~ No, we are not channeling our inner Charles Shackleford and using both hands.  We’ve gathered Moe & Rocky to talk about amphibious operations in wargaming.  Obviously, we’re focusing on WW2 and the ‘famous’ things like D-Day and Iwo Jima, but we talk about a variety of other actions and other conflicts, as well.  We also spend some time talking about the challenges of how to scale the game when designing one on an amphibious operations.  And no, Rocky was not speaking to us from underwater; it just a dodgy audio connection on occasion. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. So we talk about Gallipoli, frozen French cavalry charges, Operation Mincemeat, D-Day at Tarawa, how many Marines you really need, riverine operations, Brad Pitt’s Saving Private Ryan-inspired beach assault from Troy, Sicily & Salerno, Fort Fisher, War in the Wind, Dunkirk, Washington crossing the Delaware, Denmark vs Canada, and the Scheldt campaign.  We liberally name-check Harold Buchanan, Hermann Luttman, and Brian Train, among others. What do you abstract?  What can you leave in?  At what scale? How’s Fred’s dog doing on his walk?  How much planning vs execution?  How much of it happened before WW2?  And will we ever stop asking questions? 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…    

8 October 2021 ~ Why don’t we ever record an Origins podcast?  Because pretty much every single other year, Origins happens over the summer, when we’re on hiatus for convention & travel season.  Why did we have one this year?  You might’ve noticed – Origins was in October.  So here we are, with Ardwulf riding shotgun, and Kevin from Fort Circle Games hitchhiking along, too. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. So we talk all about what we saw at the show that impressed us, how much money we spent, who wasn’t there and why GMT & Compass & the others should get out of that category, and what was G-DEX doing in the middle of it all.  We talk about Catastrophe Games, lots of dice, convention center layouts, and unearthing wargames in unusual places.  Surprisingly – especially with this crew – we manage to not talk about convention food at all.  We also look ahead to Origins 2022, since it’s only 8-1/2 months out at this point, and talk about our plans for next summer. As promised, the photos of the shower curtain, and throw blanket Here’s Ardwulf’s loot video (goes live on 10/8)   And here’s Brant’s modest loot, but with the bag of home-made brown sugar brownies from mom.  Includes some Christmas presents, too!   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…    

1 October 2021 ~ Just because we’re away at Origins doesn’t mean the podcast rests! Chris, Sebastian, and Lexee all join us to talk about the differences in designing wargames for professional vs hobby audiences, and the kinds of things that matter to each of them. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. We dig into what analytical games offer those who use them, how sponsors can impact what happens to your wargame, why we need more graphic designers in the professional space, what kind of recordkeeping you should do in a wargame, and what you choose to model.  Chris gives us an update on the Atomic Rockets website and Winchell Chung, and Lexee gives us a preview of what’s coming from GUWS. Chris also mentioned this paper he wrote back at CNA about Wargame Pathologies.  You can also see his talk on the topic for GUWS on YouTube. 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…    

24 September 2021 ~ One Mike wasn’t enough, so for episode 2, we’re bringing 100% more “Mike” as Brant & BBMike are joined by OJsDad for the next stop on our Season 7 journey and a conversation of what we’ve played over the Summer. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. There’s plenty of discussion about where we get our games – Enterprise Games, Noble Knight, Amazon, NWS, and Gamer’s Armory are all prominently mentioned – and how we decide when to go where.  We also talk about how badly container ships are stacked up in port and how that’s affecting some games getting to customers (note that we don’t go into it nearly as much as Brant’s previous article, or his appearance on Ardwulf’s show). We also talk a bunch about the different game options that people have to join up with the Dragoons online, whether it’s live on Saturday Night Fights (or Wednesday Night Warfare, or the Thursday Night Throwdown*), or one of the forum-based Kriegsspiels, or the expansive multi-player 4X games we’re currently running.  There’s plenty of gaming you can join in, if you’re interested.   * yes, we’re addicted to annoyingly alliterative appellations 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…    

(reloaded to try to fix the RSS feed) 17 September 2021 ~ Like pumpkin spice lattes and Christmas songs before Halloween, we’re back for a new season!  Brant is joined by Mike (ah, but which one!?) as they take a look at what’s been going on over the summer, and what’s been happening with the Armchair Dragoons over the past 3 years. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. So yeah, we talk about new games on Kickstarter, Dragoons at game conventions (once we’re allowed to have them again), mods in Tabletop Simulator, accidental game publishing, and why you don’t need to kiss up to the host but it doesn’t really hurt either way. Want to write for the Armchair Dragoons?  Drop a line to BayonetBrant in the forums and let’s get the conversation going! 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…    

23 April 2021 ~ We’ve come to the end of the tracks for Season 6, as we pull this train into the station with a full crew: Mike, and Jim, and… uh, another Mike.  Let’s talk about Men Against Fire, the Civ series of games, Stellaris, relative complexity of tabletop vs digital games, the European Super League, Blucher vs Lasalle vs Shakos vs Snappy Nappy for Quatre Bras, whether D&D is a wargame, Gary clipping counters on camera, six degrees of Saturday Night Fights, and robots carrying buckets of lava, and strategic logistics. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Toward the end of the episode, we spend a few minutes looking back at 2-1/2 years of the Armchair Dragoons and ask everyone to take stock for a few minutes about what’s succeeded and what still needs some improving.  Jump on board with the Dragoons, and lets see where the ride goes next (like, y’know, The ACDC in June). 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

16 April 2021 ~ He’s been around the community for over 15 years.  He’s been around the podcast(s) for over 6.  He finally bothered to join us!  Yes, the Viking Tanker of the Northern North Hills has made it to Mentioned in Dispatches, and joins Brant & Mike for a rambling romp through drone swarms, disinheriting the kids in Crusader Kings, reunion tours by The Who, record-setting wargame maps, Cold War geography lessons in Germany, what color thong Bryan had to wear for his initiation into the unit in Germany, and stocking pineapples & cheese on submarine refrigerators.  And the fact that we completely made up one of those – and you’re not sure which one – just tells you how wacky this episode is likely to get. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. How many editions of World in Flames are actually labeled “final”?  How many drones are in a swarm?  How many figures did Mike really order (no way it’s only two!)?  How many questions can we ask in one podcast post?  Mentioned in Dispatches is winding down for this season, but there’s still some fun to go. 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

9 April 2021 ~ Dr James Sterrett has joined us before to talk about the MMAS program at the Command & General Staff College, and came back with one of his students in tow to talk about his specific experience in the project.  This time, James has brought along 2 of his students to discuss their game designs, the research behind them, and their motivations to join the program.  We also talk about the lessons learned in game design, as well as what they’ll take away into their continuing military careers. Dave Millikan and John Beynon discuss their designs – Reconstruction of the South after the ACW and the 1777 Campaign of the American War for Independence, respectively – and the research & playtesting that went into them. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. We want to thank Dr Sterrett and the US Army Command & General Staff College for the gracious access to their staff & students and look forward to seeing the final results of these designs. 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

2 April 2021 ~ Gamer, sportswriter, and music fan Andrew Bucholtz joins the podcast for the first time, and we cover a lot of ground on all three topics.  We talk about how a Canadian becomes a fan of America Civil War games, great drummers, and why punters are cool to talk to.  As much as any recent podcast, this one does drift quite a bit from just a discussion of wargaming. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Thanks to Andrew for the flexibility in scheduling, as we’d actually recorded this one quite some time ago (we even reference it during the show).  And thanks as always to our Patreon supporters, who have generously helped keep us ‘on the air’ in Podcastlandia.  Don’t worry, we get back to some heavier grognard content next week! 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

26 March 2021 ~ Brant is joined by Chris Weuve and Merle Robinson, the other two guys behind the upcoming Connections Online conference, to discuss the ecosystem of Connections conferences, how this one came to be, and how people can get involved in the Connections movement as a whole.  We talk a bit about how Connections got to where it is today, and how the three of us got involved. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. We also spend a bit of time talking about Merle’s involvement with the NSDM and how it relates to Connections, as well as how Chris decided to launch this online iteration of the conference.  The Armchair Dragoons are proud co-sponsors of this conference and hope to continue supporting its mission in expanding the art, science, and application of wargaming. 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

19 March 2021 ~ He’s baaaaa-aack!  Our annual Bison appearance is here for you this week, as Brant, Mike, and Craig discuss family gaming, rulebook clarity, the editorial workloads of small press companies, and whether or not POD would work for out-of-print wargames the same way it does for out-of-print RPGs.  We talk some about developing the kids as gamers, too. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. As much as any other episode this season, the Annual Bison Migration is very much the “gamers hanging around and having a chat” sort of vibe.  So grab a pint and pretend you’re at the bar with us, and just having a conversation with your fellow wargamers. 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

12 March 2021 ~ Our panel this week includes 2 returning guests – Rex Brynen and Sebastian Bae – along with Jeff Tidball, to discuss the ins & outs of teaching game design at the college level.  We discuss some of the key points that they want students take away from their design courses, some of the process they use to introduce different game ideas and concepts to the students, and the toolkits (in some cases, literally) that the students use for their game designs.  As a nod to the current reality we’re in, they also discuss the challenges of teaching these classes during a global pandemic that necessitates distance learning. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. There’s a lot of things discussed here, but among them are the Aftershock game (reviewed by us here), the White Box design kit, Stephen Downes-Martin’s (in)famous “Three Witches” speech/paper, the Georgetown University Wargaming Society (whose forums are hosted by us and could use some more traffic), Jeff’s consulting work, the Brynania peacebuilding game, the diversity split in their classes, GUWS presentations for our digital conventions, and the constraints of trying to get a game design crammed into one semester. 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

5 March 2021 ~ Blame Ardwulf!  Seriously, this one started out as one of his Monday night counter-clipping livestreams, and (predictably) it got dragged off-topic by the live comments.  But it was an interesting topic that deserved a little deeper digging, so we brought in Ardwulf, and told Mike there would be whiskey, and suddenly, we had enough for a podcast. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. We try to stick the topic of bringing RPG elements into wargaming, rather than drifting off into military-themed RPGs, to varying degrees of success.  But there can be some added value in introducing RPG elements into your wargames, whether at a very low-level just for fun, or at a much higher level that has primary game effects, and we try to cover the breadth of the topic.  Also, we give Ardwulf a little space to plug his excellent YouTube channel, and his own Patreon, to support his work. What do you think about introducing some RPG elements into your wargaming? 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

26 February 2021 ~ We’ve now got 2 online conventions under our belts here at the Armchair Dragoons.  But there’s other folks out there that have quite a few more, and we’ve invited 2 of them to join us for this discussion of the nuts & bolts of online conventions.  Chris, of The Grognard File, and veteran online GM Jimmy V, join us to talk about their background with online conventions, registration and platforms, cameras on vs off, and making online connections for players. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. None of us have figured out the best way to integrate vendors into a digital convention, but we do have some mixtures of seminars, talk shows, and workshops that have had success alongside our gaming.  Time zones can be a headache, but honestly that’s kind of a neat problem to have, isn’t it?   We don’t spend a lot of time talking about too many specific games, but we do talk about specific events, like the GROGMEET and SDHISTCON and GaryCon and Origins and the ACDC. Interested in your own online convention?  Drop us a line and let’s all share some ideas. 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

19 February 2021 ~ Yes, we woke Bawb up and ruined his hot chocolate to join us for a podcast episode about absolutely nothing.  Yep, not a damn thing.  Well, other than Vuca Sims new games, errata counters in magazines, trouble getting VASSAL started up, game design work you don’t get see, daily content diamonds unearthed from Avalanche Press, how Bawb won the lotto by not using any of the numbers his wife gave him, hot-seat Civ games & staying up ’til dawn, Velker’s immaculate die rolling, and why Mike gave up on Blitz! A World in Conflict Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. And we completely made up at least one of those topics in the previous statement, but you’re going to have to listen to the podcast to find out which one.  Meanwhile, just grab a pint of ale or a wee dram of something stronger, and enjoy some friends talking about wargames as though they were all hanging out at the pub together. 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

12 February 2021 ~ So yeah, dice.  Dice.  DICE!  Yes, we spend an entire episode talking about dice.  What are the weird ones you’ve got?  What are your favorites?  What are the ones you’ve had forever?  Which dice did you hate?  How often do you change them out?  How many did you pilfer from someone’s copy of Risk? Random dice tables transposed onto the dice themselves?  Baby polyhedrals for all your baby polyhedral needs? Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Yep, we talk about the advent calendars from Black Oak Workshop (and they have a new batch on Kickstarter right now*!), the mugs of dice that Chessex used to let you scoop at Origins, Gamescience warranty cards, and stealing the dice from Dad’s copy of Paydirt** just because they were ‘different’.  How do you store them?  How (if at all) do you display them?  How many dice are in a pound of dice if you get metal ones instead of plastic?  Hell, we ran out of time to talk about collectible dice games (probably a good thing, too). We’ve even opened up a dice-specific thread in our forums for you to share your pics of your collections.  In fact, RMN already did so on his own site.   *   we promise we didn’t plan this, but it’s a pretty good coincidence, no? ** we looked it up so Tolstoi didn’t go nuts trying to figure it out for his listener’s guide. 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

5 February 2021 ~ What started life as a discussion about online convention events quickly morphed into a longer chat about Cyrano’s choice of battles & projects for his online wargames through Saturday Night Fights and Wednesday Night Warfare.  We also talk about how to conduct a synchronous multi-player live Kriegsspiel through TTS, or some other medium, and what sorts of ‘tentpole’ events we might have at future ACDC’s.  There’s also the still-unanswered question about just how many times we’re going to play the 1809 Bavarian campaign. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Oh yeah, and we take a moment to genuflect to the reigning Grognard of the Year and allow him a moment to revel in his newest resume bullet. There’s also at least one tale of Velker’s mysterious ‘way’ with his online dice.  Now we’re not saying that he’s got some sort of TTS code inject that magically rolls exactly what he needed every time, but we’re not not saying it, either. 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! If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…    

29 January 2021 ~ We’re back!  Let’s get season 6 started with RockyMountainNavy and BBMike, as they join Brant for a discussion of game mods: everything from changing out the graphics to house rules to mashing up game to creating your own scenarios.  Note that we’re talking almost exclusively about tabletop gaming here, so this isn’t about just swapping out graphics in a JTS game. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Among the games we discuss?  The Striker rules for Traveller, Panzer Leader, Victory in the Pacific, The Flashpoint: Central Front variant for Fifth Corps, ASL, Flat Top, Crusader Rex, Full Canvas Jacket, Star Fleet Battles, and many others. If you’d like to support us through our Patreon, you can get more information here. 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…   And here’s the big-ass Panzer Leader game that Brant referenced in the episode    

11 December 2020 ~ We wrap up season 5 (five!) with a look back the grand 1809 Kriegsspiel, The Death Ride of Jean Lannes, as played out in our forums and through 2-1/2 years of email traffic.  Overseen by our own incomparable Cyrano, this campaign played out across central Bavaria, from Munich to Regensburg, and everywhere in between (if you want to see the map, it’s here). From our cast of dozens, we are joined by Marshall, Scott, and James, who were all participants in the campaign, for their perspectives on what happened during there various parts of the campaign, and the battles they fought (or didn’t!) while trying their level best to succeed in their Napoleonic campaign. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Among the links discussed, Marshall put in a plug for the Southern California Kriegsspiel Society, which has a variety of games they crank out, even with the plague ravaging the land.  The game-clock thread in our forums is here, and while the first 300 or so posts are Jim winding the clock, the last 50-odd posts are a variety of the participants sharing what they planned and what actually happened.  Jim’s wrap-ups were published to the front page of the site, with part one here, and the video-heavy part two here. As noted, this is the last episode of the season, and you’ll have to suffer through the holidays without us keeping you company.  But we’ll be back in 2021 (assuming 2020 actually goes away like it’s supposed to!) with season six! 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…    

4 December 2020 ~ Special guests!  Always-contentious topic!  Recent awards controversy!  Definitional pedantry!  Fred’s dog gets a long walk!  That’s right – it’s the penultimate episode of season 5 of Mentioned in Dispatches. Ian (RockyMountainNavy) is back, and Moe (Moe’s Game Table) pops in for the first time this season, as we try to figure out just what the heck is a “wargame”? Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. It’s not just trying to define “wargame” but also trying to figure out where the distinctions are between “wargames” and “strategy games” and “conflict simulations”.  We also take a bunch of different definitions and put them to the test by comparing a bunch of wargames to those definitions, and then even a few non-wargames, as well. In the end, are we any closer to a real, working, worthwhile definition of a “wargame”?  Well, you’re just going to have to listen to find out, aren’t you? 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…    

27 November 2020 ~ Semi-permanent-occasional-as-needed co-host Ed McMahon BBMike is back to shepherd a pair of MiD rookies through our discussion of the space 4X genre.  Sam and Pascale dial into our discussion for a far-ranging conversation about what’s good & bad in the space 4X world(s).  It’s the penultimate episode of Season 5, and it’s here for your holiday weekend enjoyment. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. What do we like?  What don’t we like?  Who’s got a great technology program?  What innovative aliens scared you?  Who’s setting the standard today, and who disappoints?  What Star Trek 4X game is actually MOO3?  Are historical 4X games just the planetary-development part of a space 4X game?  Can you get a good 4X experience on the tabletop?  What about in an MMO?  And which one of those questions do we not even mention throughout the episode?  You tell us! 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…    

20 November 2020 ~ As season 5 starts to wind down, we assemble a few Dragoons who enjoy a good role-playing game and have a wide-ranging discussion that touches on some our favorite settings, what we’ve always wanted to play, and resisting the urge to buy more dice on Amazon.  Shout-Outs to Shannon Applecline, the Troll Lords, Bruce Heard, Titan Games, Craig Zipse, and Dark City Games, among others. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. Mike loves him some Traveller, and Chris had fun teaching his adult kids to play D&D, and Brant is a pack-rat.  Though in all honesty, Mike might actually have more PDFs than Brant at this point, so he might be pulling ahead on that front. Oh yeah, and Mike and Chris actually have met in real life.  What was in those hot dogs, Chris?! 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…    

13 November 2020 ~ Friday the 13th has arrived. And it’s gonna get bloody. It’s entertaining enough when we have Angry Ardwulf on the podcast, but to reinforce him with Angry Cyrano? What madness is this!? Well, it’s the madness that was this year’s Charles S Roberts Awards. Or at least something that’s possessed the reanimated corpse of the Charlies. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. So, we don’t just skim the surface of the awards with a few pithy comments and a ‘thanks’ that they’re back. Nope. We’re going through every category. Every. Category. In detail. In some cases, excruciating detail. Or “what would you expect from Ardwulf & Cyrano?” Given that this episode is sure to generate all sorts of discussion from the crowd, we’re linking you to our forum thread on the Charlies, rather than the usual podcast thread. For completeness’ sake, and so you can follow along…. Milieu Awards Best Ancients to Pre-Napoleonic Era Board Wargame ~ Nevsky: Teutons and Rus in Collision 1240-1242 Best Napoleonic Era Board Wargame ~ Quatre Bras 1815: Last Eagles Best Post-Napoleonic to Pre-World War 2 Era Board Wargame ~ Death Valley: Battles for the Shenandoah Best World War 2 Era Board Wargame ~ U-Boot: The Board Game Best Post-WW2, Cold War, & Hypothetical Era Board Wargame ~ World at War 85: Storming the Gap Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Wargame ~ Dune Computer Gaming Awards Best Pre-20th Century Era Computer Wargame ~ Blocks! Julius Caesar Best Modern Era Computer Wargame ~ Command: Modern Operations Best Science-Fiction or Fantasy Computer Wargame ~ Stellaris Best Computer Wargame Expansion or Update ~ Through the Ages – New Leaders and Wonders Best Computer Wargame Graphics ~ Unity of Command 2 Format Awards Best Amateur / Print & Play  Board Wargame ~ Federation Stellar Force Best Solitaire/Cooperative Board Wargame ~ U-Boot: The Board Game Best Magazine Board Wargame ~ Campaigns of 1777 (Strategy & Tactics) Best Postcard/Small format Board Wargame ~ Imua! The Unification of Hawaii, 1795 Best Expansion or Supplement for an Existing Board Wargame ~ Time of Crisis: Age of Iron and Rust Best Board Wargame Playing Components ~ U-Boot: The Board Game Best Board Wargame Map Graphics ~ U-Boot: The Board Game Best Board Wargame Rules ~ U-Boot: The Board Game Best Computer Assist Module ~ U-Boot: The Board Game Best Original Box Cover Art ~ U-Boot: The Board Game Publication Awards Best Professional Wargame Magazine ~ C3i Best Amateur Magazine ~ War Diary Best Historical or Scenario Article (tied?) Evolution of Historical Small Unit Tactic Board Wargames  by Robert Caroll OCS 101 Vitebsk Introductory Scenario  by Chip Saltsman Best Game Review or Analysis ~ The Player’s Aid Overall Awards Best Board Wargame of the Year ~ U-Boot: The Board Game James F Dunnigan Award for Playability and Design ~ Volko Ruhnke Clausewitz Award HALL OF FAME ~ Paul Banner   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…    

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…    

30 October ~ Author Henry Vogel and BuNine Member/DoD wargame practitioner Chris Weuve join Brant and BBMike to talk about all sorts of issues related to sci-fi gaming, theoretical space combat, role-playing individual level personalities, and what goes on your tombstone.  Henry gives is a peek into his books and what’s up next, as well as where his characters and storylines fit into a game. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. There’s all sorts of conversations about how space warfare is more like submarines than ships-of-the-line, and why space navy ship classes are so often wrong. Which version of Star Trek is the best? How do military folks actually behave on their vessels? What’s the favorite sci-fi game to hit the table for our panelists?  And what the heck does Gunkata have to do with tactical FTL space drives? Also, a bunch of Henry’s books are on sale right now – some for free! – so make sure you check out his author page for some golden-age-of-pulp-sci-fi action. 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…