Tim’s Task Force Admiral photo album
For a while it looked like my temperamental PC and Task Force Admiral’s press demo were never going to get along. My attempts to heal the rift with driver changes and dll feng shui having come to naught, I had…
Tag friday feature
Untapped Tussles: The Defence of Duffer’s Drift
Depending on your perspective, the small South African engagement I’m about to describe either never happened or happened six times. It either claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers or it claimed the lives of none.
Peter Turcan’s Midway
After a morning of driver switching and dll juggling failed to persuade Task Force Admiral’s ‘vertical slice’ to run on my PC, I decided to assuage my disappointment by playing the closest thing TFA has to a spiritual antecedent. In 1994…
Interview: Arrigo Velicogna
For today’s interviewee, wargames aren’t just entertainment founts, they are educational aids. Historian and wargame designer, Arrigo Velicogna has used interactive guerre sims to help War Studies students at King’s College London “understand the interplay between various dynamics in a…
A2Z
A is for Abbreviated A2Z. My mammoth monthly news round-ups are on hold, but short, scattergun versions like this will appear from time to time
Unfinished Undaunted Normandy review
Bookmark’s Early Access version of award-winning board/card wargame Undaunted Normandy hits Steam later today. I’ve spent four hours in its company thus far and experienced these emotions while playing it: confusion, excitement, admiration, satisfaction, and disappointment.
Beach house boss battle (part 2)
Outside Curly’s beach house, the keening of sea gulls and the soft plashing of the Pacific Ocean. Inside, the click-clack of clashing pool balls and the faint groans of a Limey cue pusher struggling to find form. My $10K first-to-five-frames…
The long and rocky Road to Moscow
Long before 88mm/Slitherine slapped ‘Road to Moscow’ on the cover of a forgettable Panzer General-like in 2014, the moniker was associated with two profoundly memorable wargames. One of these is available today through a number of abandonware sites, the other…
Miniature interview: Ali Hamza (the brains and muscle behind Battle Tactics 2025)
Graviteam, Black Hand Studios, Freedom Games, Matrix Games, 1C… you can count the devs that have attempted to produce Combat Mission-comparable 3D tactical wargames on the fingers of one hand. Counting the devs that have actually succeeded arguably requires just…
Dusty But Trusty: Panzer Elite Special Edition
Grappling with unanticipated pathfinding and optimisation challenges, the makers of Tank Squad have decided to delay a demo originally intended for release this week. One possible way to assuage disappointment is to fire up Panzer Elite Special Edition, an aged…
Angola ’86 interview
Most wargames are designed by people without firsthand experience of their subjects. Currently in the early stages of beta testing, Angola ’86 springbucks the trend.
Carnage in Swanage
I’ve spent most of this week stretching and burnishing my pasty limbs on Southern England’s Jurassic Coast. Aware that the weather was going to be balmy and the beaches and footpaths inviting, I almost left my laptop at home. If…