Apologies, I was too busy glugging Lemsip and mopping up snot in late December to put together the usual end-of-year digest. As my sinuses no longer feel like treacle-soaked sponges, my throat like a frogspawn-filled flute, here’s a belated look at some of the more substantial things posted on Tally-Ho Corner during Year Four.
2024 was the year the noble pastime of defoxing went from being an indoor pursuit to an outdoor one. One sunny morning in June, Roman and I secreted a solid ‘gold’ fox ‘Somewhere in England’. Over the next two months defoxers pored over five specially constructed puzzles, searching for clues to the Fox d’Or’s whereabouts.
The golden statuette was eventually located in the crotch of a venerable Wiltshire beech tree by friends of gifted defoxer, Froggster.
Not a million miles from the Fox d’Or’s hiding place is the unremarkable bridleway where, in March, I happened to run into four rather famous and frightening horsemen. The climate crisis… the dearth of famine games… our medium’s coy depictions of war… the resulting two-part interview explored some fascinating subjects.
In Feb I crossed the Irish Sea to orchestrate a pair of Seventeenth Century scraps that, despite leaving indelible marks on Ireland and England, have never centrepieced a PC wargame. Williamite Wargaming with Pike & Shot was half history lesson, quarter After Action Report, and quarter billet doux to a favourite battle sim.
A couple of months after visiting Eire, Roman, myself, and a group of brave/foolhardy Cornerites strapped ourselves into the Tally-Ho Corner Tours Beaver for an air safari through southern England. During a two-part ramble from Oxfordshire to the Jurassic Coast, numerous chalk hill figures were buzzed, much historical trivia was dispensed, and significant quantities of lardy cake and craft beer were put way.
Between August and November, two competing teams of Comment Commanders tackled the same bijou Combat Mission: Afrika Korps scenario in slightly different ways. While the dual format made it a little tricky for spectators to follow the action, the contest proved tight and there was no shortage of nailbiting moments. Ultimately, one team’s ability to take flags and top foes at a very low cost to itself, proved decisive.
Guest writers Martynas Klimas and Arrigo Velicogna added some welcome internationalism and freshness to THC’s output last year. Martynas’ essay on Lithuania in Games and Arrigo’s review of Stout Hearts are well worth a read, if you missed them.
In September, a surprise detour into European politics raised the odd eyebrow, but highlighted an issue I feel deserves scrutiny. The EU’s approach to boosting the games sector is demonstrably unfair and unproductive. Unless Europe’s games press start pointing this out and suggesting reforms, things are unlikely to change.
A switch in early summer to daily posts meant there weren’t all that many Dusty But Trusties, Demo Discs, 3x3s, and A2Zs last year. If you missed meatier features, please make your feelings known in the traditional manner. If dissatisfaction is widespread, I’ll revert to bigger Flare Path-style Friday articles from here-on.
As ever, comments from airlifters will be read with particular interest. THC wouldn’t exist without the regular financial support of these splendid individuals.
Thanks for a great year, Tim.
Since you asked, I actually preferred when you broke up the A2Zs since the news was more frequent.
On the whole I thought it was a good year for THC and I hope you did too. Here’s to an excellent 2025!
Would there be any interest in a crowd-sourced article on:
WHICH WARGAMES HAVE DEMOS
(particularly if they’re not on Steam)
{and if they work under Win10/11}
Combat Missions {in no particular order}
{there probably is an easy way to find them on Matrix/Slitherine’s website, but I don’t know it}
Fortress Italy v1.10 – – – untested in Win10/11
Battle for Normandy – untested in Win10/11
Final Blitzkrieg v1.01 – – untested in Win10/11
Shock Force 2 – – – – – – untested in Win10/11
Red Thunder – – – – – untested in Win10/11
Afghanistan v1.01 – untested in Win10/11
Rule the Waves 2 – – – yes to Win10/11
Panzer Corps: Wehrmacht – yes to Win10/11
Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear – yes to Win10/11
Battle Academy – – – yes to Win10/11
( Command Ops – yes to Win10/11 but the scenario ‘Return to St. Vith’ is also included in the freeware base game of Command Ops 2 making the latter a better bet)
Scourge of War: Gettysburg – – yes to Win10/11
Alea Jacta Est – – – – yes to Win10/11
AVAILABLE THROUGH STEAM:
Battleplan: American Civil War – yes to Win10/11
Making History: The Calm & The Storm – yes to Win10/11
I can confirm that Combat Mission: Red Thunder runs well on Win10. I didn’t tried on Win11, so I don’t know.
May I suggest:
– Wargame Design Studio offers demos on their website.
– Demo available on Steam :
> Burden of Command. Works fine on Win10
> Regiments
> Armoured Commander II
> The Troop
> Songs of Steel: Hispania
I’m not sure how Tim might envision it / if it’s worth the effort / Tim coding skills are up to it…
but I was imagining it might be part of THC’s Top 50 Wargames in small boxes that expand when clicked on.
Flashpoint Campaigns doesn’t have a out-and-out demo (so far as I can tell), but there is a promo version that was part of a contest:
https://grogheads.com/whatever/contests/3459
(untested in Win10/11)
Summarising what’s on the page, Order of Battle has a freeware base game that includes a taster of all the DLC. Available through Steam. Presumed to work under Win10/11.
Revisiting Tim articles about wargames, I realise that I forgot how much possibilities we have. And with recent development in the industry, it could be interesting to update them. Surprislingly, there not much demos compared to the number of game available.
For example, the SGS series of games are not mentioned in Tim’s article. Unfortunately, they dont offer a demo from what I could find.
Congratulations on another wonderful year Tim! As far as I’m concerned you’re the very last games journalist left worth reading (or from a certain point of view, games journalist, period).
I actually prefer the old standard format of the meatier Friday articles.
I do miss the A2Zs.
I miss the A2Zs as well. Thank-you for the work you put into the site!
I also miss the A2Z. On the other hand, it is okay with me to try different kind of format.
Thanks for another 12 months of THC, Tim.
Go for whichever format most enthuses you to keep entertaining us for 2025.
Congrats on another year! I do prefer/miss the bigger Friday articles, especially the ones you mentioned.
The tours are still my favorite (favourite?)
At the end of the day however, I’m happy to come across any of your writing in my news feed and hope to for years to come.
Thank you Tim for another year of brilliant writing from my favourite games journo! Please, return to the Flare Path format ASAP; it was nice having something good and proper to look forward to on Fridays. More A2Z’s if possible too, thanks. Whatever you decide to do, churning out daily articles are absolutely unnecessary and I feel give you an unnecessary workload that the majority of us are not interested in as much, thanks.
A great year, thanks Tim! I’ve missed the longer format articles, but I’ve been very happy to have something to read every day, so I think whatever works best for you!
Thanks for another great year, Tim.
I’m torn on the A2Z: I loved its meatiness and regularity, but that also meant I was typically only clicking my THC bookmark once or twice a week. Now I’m visiting every day, just to see if there’s something new. I imagine that’s better for your viability overall?
I’d love to get more of your impressions of Hooded Horse’s nascent, fantastic, oeuvre of games. My only tiny, insubstantial gripe with THC is that its author seems to prefer plumbing the depths of the past instead of exploring the future for content.
No matter what, I’ll be here for 2025 and beyond. Cheers.
Lots of nourishing food for thought in this comments section. Thanks for the feedback, everyone.
In future, if I post nothing or next to nothing from Monday to Thursday, that’s because a chunky Friday feature is on its way.
@ Colonel_K
Adding demo links and a ‘Win 10/11?’ section to the Top 50 wargames table is a great idea, but I’d definitely need playtesting help from Cornerites for the latter.
a) What data do you need, and in what order (to easily parse if entries are complete)? For starters, I’d imagine:
– THC Top 50 entry
– Notes
– Win10/11 status
– link
It would need agreement on what are the possible statuses for Win10/11 support, and how many links to provide with what hierarchy (publishers site given priority, Steam if available?)
Also needs to allow for those that will have multiple sub-entries, ie. AGEOD and Combat Mission.
b) As far as links go, hot-links are naughty so some might just be filenames / search terms.
c) Where should they be posted? Here, they get visiblity (to see what’s been done) but with multiple links they’re gonna get stuck in a moderation queue.
d) For some reason the link in the Command Ops entry points to a ‘Trusty but Dusty’ article.
I’m tempted to tackle this in stages as otherwise it could prove a mammoth task.
Initially, after compiling a new scoreless Top 50 list featuring the original inclusions and notable recent wargames, I’d invite Cornerites to vote again via a Friday feature. The new Top 50 would then replace the original one in the sidebar with the original one remaining accessible via a link in the intro.
In stage 2, with help from Cornerites, I’d add a “works under win10/11?” indicator or link to the new table.