Connections Online: Showcase 2022

Wednesday 19 October 2022: a one-day, all-day Connections Online project showcase for professional/practitioner game design. Each presentation will run 90-120 minutes and focus on a single use case of a game designed or adapted to professional military/ national security usage, including deep dives into the objectives/purposes, designs, mechanics, execution, and lessons learned from both the preparation and conduct of the games.

The event will be a single 12-hour event, with no overlapping presentations, broadcast over Youtube for people who register. All or most presentations will be made available to the public after review.

Here is the schedule:

 Schedule (all times EDT)

1100	MAJ Dan Warner	Decisive Operations
1300	UKFC	Take That Hill / (urban ops)
1500	Eric Price & James Sterrett / SAMS	Root at SAMS
1700	Roger Mason	TBA
1900	Andrew Olson / Matthew Kirchman	Malign / A Splendid Failure
2100	Brian Train	QUICK

I will be giving a talk on the QUICK game, of course, and how it was designed and used at the 40th Infantry Division’s Urban Warfare Planners Course in July 2022. I’ll be at or near the end of the queue of presentations because of time zones: I am on the West Coast and need to get home after work to make the presentation.

Other presenters include two students from the Georgetown University Wargaming Society (Matt Kirchman on A Splendid Failure (Reconstruction in post-ACW US) and Andrew Olson on the Malign wargame design); Command and General Staff College student Dan Hauser on Decisive Operations and incorporating that game into the curriculum there; SAMS instructor Eric Price and the inestimable James Sterrett on integrating ROOT into professional military curricula; and a presentation of the UK Fight Club training game Take That Hill. Not sure what Roger Mason will be talking about but he’s always interesting to listen to.

Registration starts tomorrow (September 29). There is an event charge of $3 to cover their IT costs. Go here: https://tabletop.events/conventions/connections-online-showcase-2022

Hope to see you there!

[EDITED TO ADD]

Here is the link to the page with links to all the presentations made that day… some very interesting topics!

Connections Online Showcase 2022

La jeu de la guerre: now available for iOS and MacOS

A digital version of Guy Debord’s Meisterwerk (at least, the one he spent the most time and wine on) is now available on the App Store.

http://r-s-g.org/kriegspiel/index.php

From the site FAQ:

Is the game free?
Yes, the game is free. There are no in-app purchases. No advertisements. No Patreon. No GoFundMe. No monetization of player data. There is literally no possible way to take your money.

What are the system requirements?
iOS system requirements: Version 15.0
macOS requirements: Version 12.0 (“Monterey”)

Will the game be released for Android, Windows, or another OS?
The game is supported on two platforms (macOS and iOS). There are no plans to port the game to other operating systems.

Do I need a log in to play?
The game uses Apple’s Game Center for networked play. You may log in to Game Center using an Apple ID. If you are not logged in to Game Center you may still play in Practice or Tabletop mode.

How can I learn more about Guy Debord and the history of the game?
The “About” page contains a brief overview. For a deeper reflection on the history of the game, see section five on “Crystalline War” in Alexander R. Galloway’s book Uncomputable: Play and Politics in the Long Digital Age.

[Edited to add:]

If you don’t have a Mac or an iDevice, there is now a Web version of the game available on Freeboardgames.org, that you can play via your browser.

https://www.freeboardgames.org/en/play/kriegspiel

[/edit]

Some more about Debord and the game here, in this Youtube video of an interview with the app designer Alexander Galloway:

Two Interviews: The British Way, La Jeu de la Guerre

Coming soon: interview with Radio War Nerd

I spent a very pleasant time today talking about my game designs with Mark Ames and Gary Brecher, who run the Radio War Nerd podcast. It should be up and available soon!

Watch this space….

[ETA 26 Sep] Here it is!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/radio-war-nerd-72457682

You’ll have to join the Patreon to hear it, they might unlock it later and make it free.

Meanwhile,

Patreon page that supports the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/radiowarnerd

Facebook page that supports the chatter (also, a lot of interesting posts and questions on their own, it’s quite an eclectic crowd) https://www.facebook.com/people/Gary-Brecher/100009407541064

Twitter, for those who tweet https://twitter.com/TheWarNerd

From DSTL: Stuart Lyle on the Urban Operations Planner Course

(photo credit: CA Army National Guard Public Affairs)

https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/stuart-lyle-international-knowledge-exchange-on-urban-warfare

Stuart Lyle of the UK Government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) writes about his experiences teaching and learning on the 40th Infantry Division Urban Operations Planner Course in July. I was really glad to meet Stuart and the lectures he gave were fantastic! He’s the one in the middle of the group, with the beard.

I also owe him a beer or three for helping me set up the game sets the night before we played the QUICK game, and for his introductory remarks before we started that set the context for the use of games in professional military education – he was far more articulate about it than I could ever be.

Winter Thunder: computer version now available!

(screenshot from the beginning of Turn 1… German LXVII Corps prepares to jump off)

https://bruinbeargames.itch.io/winterthunder

From the mind of Casey Bruyn, of Bruinbear Games, comes a computerized version of Winter Thunder, my game on the Battle of the Bulge!

Windows only.

Hot-seat mode where you play both sides, or there is an AI for the German side… next release will feature an AI for the Allied side.

Available on itch.io for a minimum price of $10.00.

Apparently it will be available on Steam in the near future too, and will have that Allied A.I.

Check it out!

[ETA: here is a 27 minute video where Karl Muller of SmartWargames takes it for a spin…

Podcast: I’ve been Diced! ep 78

I’ve Been Diced! episode 78: Brian Train on newsgames, little wars, and simulation

Not long ago Tom Grant had an interview with me for his long-running podcast I’ve Been Diced!

Have a listen! I duck out about 1 hour 23 min, and Tom carries on and amplifies some of the points we talked about, particularly games vs. simulations, far more articulately than I’ve ever been able to. He even makes a Borges reference!

This is episode 78; I was on the podcast once before, back in 2011 for episode 20 where we talked about revolutionary and asymmetrical warfare. Here we are ten years later, still talking about irregular wars and simulating them, though I have more titles (and a new fixation, analog newsgames) under my belt.

I’ve Been Diced! episode 20: Brian Train on wargames about revolutionary and asymmetric warfare