The Year Behind & the Year Ahead

 “Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

— Charles Dickens

I’m not a fan of year-end summaries of top 10 this and top 10 that, the numerous people we admired who passed away, and a look back on a few positive highlights that never quite illuminate the darkness of what seems like a 10,000-day year of constant awfulness at various levels. I don’t care to innumerate my past achievements (usually because they don’t amount to much) or state my resolutions or other expectations for the coming year. But our society places meaning on year-end reflection on past and future, so I’ll indulge a little in looking back and forward on the few promising game-related bits that shone like bright pinpricks against the vast canvas of darkness.

The Joy of Paper Soldiers

 “A toy is seen both as a bauble and as an intellectual machine.”

— Brian Sutton-Smith

Ranks of paper minis march across
the Great Bridge to disperse rebels.

The yuletide holidays infuse the darkest time of the year with wonder and whimsy. Twinkling lights. Savory feasts and fantastic sweets. Solemn carols and joyous hymns lifting our hearts. The mystery of gifts adorned with brightly patterned wrapping paper and shiny ribbon curls...and the exhilaration at their ultimate revelation. I’ve written before about the yuletide season filled with fantasy, especially from a bookish, geeky gaming perspective. Toys, and particularly those tied to my interests like fantasy roleplaying games, board games, and yes, even wargames bring added joy and playfulness to the season. Among my recent favorites are Peter Dennis’ fantastic paper soldiers. Peter’s Paperboys have brought great joy to my gaming recently. Since first discovering them during the pandemic, they’ve enabled me to quickly explore new periods in history wargaming, provided an alternative to purchasing and painting metal and plastic figures, and helped me prepare visually appealing public history game demonstrations to educate the public and engage people in wargames, history, and learning. They serve as innovative and versatile alternatives to more expensive, more labor-intensive options fielding armies for miniature wargames.

A New Game Store in Town

 “Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend — or a meaningful day.”

— Dalai Lama

During the Thanksgiving holiday, as local merchants sought to promote business for the gift-giving season, my wife discovered a new game store in town. BrickHammer Hobbies apparently just opened that week and was still pulling things together, but took advantage of the crowds of holiday shoppers wandering Culpeper’s quaint main retail street that Thanksgiving weekend dominated by Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. I’m encouraged, of course, but wary; since moving to Culpeper 20 years ago (I still can’t believe it’s been that long), two other game stores have opened and met their inglorious demise...though we’ve recently had some gaming-adjacent stores open. I stopped by to check out BrickHammer Hobies and make a small purchase...and it started me thinking how I might support the store beyond simply being an occasional customer.

Beginner’s Intro to History Gaming

 “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.”

— Patrick Henry

Painting by Glenn Moore depicting
the British attack on the American
breastworks at the Battle of Great Bridge.

This past weekend I participated in the City of Chesapeake’s re-enactment for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Great Bridge. Astute readers might recall I designed a very basic game — suitable for kids and newcomers to the adventure gaming hobby — for a smaller event in October commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Culpeper Minutemen mustering in response to the call to oppose British military action in the region of Hampton Roads. Some contacts I made there put me in touch with the Great Bridge event organizers...which resulted in my displaying and demonstrating my game and board at the re-enactment. I spent both days busy running many games, meeting some wonderful people, using the board to outline the battle, and discussing how one might explore history through games. On the drive home some of those discussions started me thinking (yet again) about good games newcomers might use to indulge their investigations into historical conflicts. One might follow a logical progression from entry-level battlegames to gridded-style games that can ultimately inspire even newcomers to devise their own historical simulations.

Holiday Game Gift Recommendations

We are well into the uncontrolled spiral into the holiday season. Plans for gatherings. Shopping and preparing for feasts. Hauling out the house and yard decorations (if we haven’t done so already). And the inevitable hand-wringing over finding gifts for people who matter in our lives. As the blog focuses on the adventure gaming hobby, I limit myself to recommending games that might engage people on readers’ gift lists. It’s been a while since I wrote a game-oriented holiday gift piece. “Holiday Gift Ideas for Non-Gamers & Kids” (2016) and “Themed Gaming Gift Ideas for Non-Gamers” (2017) still offer some solid advice; however, thanks to the nature of our capitalist markets and short attention spans, many titles on those lists have long since become out-of-print collectors items, though one can possibly find them on the secondary market. This year I offer a short list of quick ideas useful for those last-minute purchases and generally available at most game stores and even some larger retailers.

Wargame Calendar Challenge

“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.”

— H.G. Wells

One of the perks of my time working at West End Games was going along with the sales director to the GAMA trade shows to promote our game lines, notably the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. The trade show has changed a great deal over the years, but way back then exhibitors often chummed around with each other (also promoting their games) and traded product or gave away promotional items. Much of the “loot” I brought back I shared with colleagues (primarily dice), but a few I kept. On one trip to the GAMA trade show Osprey Publishing was celebrating its 25th anniversary; the promotional item staff gave out was a gorgeous, hardcover Osprey Illustrated Military Diary 1997. I never wrote in it. But it inspired me to explore historical periods and conflicts beyond what interested me at the time...and, as my wargaming hobby has expanded over the years, it’s tempted me with a historical game challenge: to run a game every week associated with a timely event.I have long admired the amazing graphic design behind the Osprey military history books. They often rely on primary photographs and original maps, but the highlight for me comes from the amazing original artwork depicting combatants, their equipment and uniforms, and the actions they fought. They’ve informed several of my historically based roleplaying game projects and have helped me research numerous elements for miniature wargames.

Imagination Sourcebooks

 “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

— Albert Einstein

Early efforts at creating my own
roleplaying game material.

I recently culled a few roleplaying books from my collection to trade for credit with Noble Knight Games. Some were predictable titles I once desired but have since decided just didn’t interest me anymore for a variety of reasons: my attitudes toward genres changing, noting I’d not played them, or realizing I’d never really put them to use either as inspiration or at the game table. Better to trade them for other game items that engage me at this moment. Reflecting on what to release from my library reminded me how roleplaying games ultimately rely on our imaginations. Beyond a core rule book and perhaps a few remarkable sourcebooks for a game line, we could ostensibly run a lifetime of campaigns based off our own creativity within the scope of a familiar game world...devising in one form or another a kind of “imagination sourcebook” for our version of a particular game. And while it’s sometimes nice to have “official” source material or a scenario to guide us, ultimately what plays out at the game table relies on our own imaginations to bring the setting to life.