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.