20 Sided Gamified Podcast

Folks- this is a two part episode spliced into one! It begins with a monologue about my history/gaming trip to Edinburgh, Scotland back in June of 2025. The first 45 minutes of the episode is about my experience in the city, and the historical tour I took to Stirling, Bannockburn, and a few other locations. If you don't wanna hear the monologue, fast forward to........ ..........the 50 minute mark...

Hey Folks! Recently, I sat down with Matthew Farber and Tracy Fullerton to discuss their recent book, "The Well-Read Game: On Playing Thoughtfully". I've included a description of the book below. Critics have been raving about it, and it such an honor to discuss the purpose of their book, and connection to education. PS- you may notice that this episode still has the old intro/outro- apologies for...

Friends- a few weeks ago, Kelly and I had the privilege of participating in an episode of Mark's Game Room, which covered the story of General Dan Sickles, and his infamous move into the Peach Orchard. Not only did we walk the battle with two of my former students (and Mark Fastoso, 11 time Emmy Award Winner), but we got a chance to refight part of the 2nd day of the Battle of Gettysburg in Mark's...

Friends- a few weeks ago, Kelly and I had the privilege of participating in an episode of Mark's Game Room, which covered the story of General Dan Sickles, and his infamous move into the Peach Orchard. Not only did we walk the battle with two of my former students (and Mark Fastoso, 11 time Emmy Award Winner), but we got a chance to refight part of the 2nd day of the Battle of Gettysburg in Mark's...

Friends- Join 20SG for a chat with Alex Sotheran, architect of "Storm of Steel", a Youtube channel dedicated to all things wargaming. Alex and I chatted about his show, love of wargaming, and a bit about his life as an archaeologist. I was particularly intrigued by his WW1 battlefield excavations. In a way, Alex is like a real like Dr. Indiana Jones! Please enjoy the show! Expect to see Alex on ag...

Friends- the title of this episode says it all. Sam Mustafa, in my humble opinion, is one of the most important wargame designers of our era. If you've never played one of his games before, or read one of his rulesets, his impact is undeniable on the wargaming world. Here is Sam's bio, courtesy of wikipedia: Sam Ali Mustafa  (born 1965) is an American author and historian, and professor of hi...

Friends- as I get ready to depart for Edinburgh, Scotland, for a little teaching/podcasting excursion, I hope that you'll enjoy my conversation with Dr. Stephen Henderson. He is the author of the following text on games and education: Ninja Teaching: Pedagogical Contraband and the Secret to Engaging Social Studies Instruction Paperback – September 9, 2024 We had a lovely conversation. Any tim...

Friends- please enjoy and celebrate 20SG's 100th Episode with us! While part of this episode is some good ole' banter between Cory, Kelly and I about making it to 100, we also interview Kevin Krause, who has a popular youtube channel focusing on "The Krause Collection". He owns the world's largest collection of 15mm figures, spanning all of history, from Sumerians to the 1980s. Cory, Kelly and I c...

Friends- for the first time in the history of the 20SG Podcast, we get to hear from a former student gamer- someone who was gaming throughout his time in school, and who was directly impacted by the work of HMGS Next Gen, Inc: historian, author, and wargamer, Yuhan Kim. I first met Yuhan while running events for Yale's Military History Club, alongside John Spiess and other HMGS folks. Yuhan is bri...

Folks- this was a special one for me, as I've admired Alessio Cavatore's work for 25+ years! We get into all things Alessio- his start in gaming, his role at Games Workshop, his love for Lord of the Rings, and his current career as a freelance wargames designer. Matt co-hosted the show with me, as we just finished up our own discussion of Red Jungle. Matt couldn't resist the chance to ask Alessio...

Podcast Friends! Please enjoy my recent conversation with friend Matt Rendar, owner of Battle Tribe. Throughout the episode, we discuss Matt's recent endeavor- a skirmish game called "Red Jungle", which is in the process of being released. Matt went into depth on the world he's developing, what his inspirations were, and what his goals are with the game. While we talked about plenty of other topic...

Listeners- if you like Napoleonic wargaming, or continue to search for that campaign system that actually WORKS- you're in luck! Check out our latest episode with author Russ Lockwood, who designed the wonderful set of wargames rules, Snappy Nappy! He's been featured all over the place, including on the incomparable Little Wars TV, and his games are played all over the place both domestically and...

Podcast fans- I hope you are well on this Thursday evening! A few weeks ago, Kelly, Brian and I had the privilege to interview three remarkable people- renowned game designer Alessio Cavatore (Mordheim, Warmaster, Kings of War, to name a few) and Christopher McEleron and Neal Wilkinson from the american vicarious. Together, they created a project which is in part art installation, in part a LARP l...

Friends- this is a very special episode, as we're previewing and showcasing the work of Mark Fastoso of Mark's Game Room. He's put together a great video- in some ways, a prototype of where he sees his channel going in the future. I don't wanna ruin the surprise, but the movie "Glory", starring Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes and others features prominently in the episode, as well as...

Friends- please enjoy our conversation with Uwe Eickert of Academy Games, publisher of some of the the finest historical board games on the market today. I absolutely love some of their titles, including Vikings 878 and 1775, the American Revolution. These games are perfect for the classroom, as their design philosophy prioritizes decision making with simple game mechanics. The conversation we had...

Friends- for our second posting of January, we have our friend Mark Backhouse returning to the 20SG studio! Mark is a wonderful guy and an equally capable rules author, historian, teacher, and wargamer. This episode was recorded very, very early this past weekend while I supervised my MUN team at YMUN. We had a blast chatting. While we covered a number of different topics, our main focus was his n...

Friends- Happy New Year from 20SG and the Tuesday Night Game Group! Please enjoy this discussion of the classic board game Shogun, also known as Samurai Swords and Ikusa. We had a ton of fun playing it, and we hope you get something out of the discussion. Huge thanks to Kelly, Chris, and Brian for taking the time to chat. Keep an eye out for more episodes of TGGS! 20 Sided Gamified Listeners- if y...

Please enjoy the 2024 20SG Holiday episode! I'm joined by Kelly (fresh off his trip to PAX) and the "Big Dog", Titch White, who is always raring to go for a pod. We chatted about all sorts of topics- Gladiator 2, PAX, historical board gaming, and many more. Please enjoy the show, and keep a lookout for the next pod which will drop in January 2025! 20 Sided Gamified Listeners- if you’re a fan of th...

Friends- please enjoy this episode featuring Mark Fastoso, multi-time, Emmy award winning producer from PBS and host of the popular youtube channel Mark's Game Room! In addition, Mark is an accomplished author, having written Fireball Forward (WW2 wargaming ruleset) and other popular titles! Kelly and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with him, and we'll certainly connect with him in the future for an...

Friends- please enjoy this interview with Matt Fisher of Your Hobby Place, with 3 locations in VA and WV. This is one of the premier game stores in the Northeast, with a significant presence at most large scale gaming conventions including HMGS Historicon, Nova, etc. In addition, Matt is an uber-gamer, who also operates a company called Slayer Games, and wrote the RPG "DragonSlayer". Matt and I ha...

Friends- please enjoy this Friendcast recorded with none other than Titch White! You all know that when it comes to chemistry, it's not really a "friendcast" without the big dog. We got into all sorts of topics- American politics (how can we not?), what happens when you get into the "rut" with a wargaming project, and the fun of making late night purchases to satisfy all of our gaming needs. Pleas...

Friends- please enjoy our conversation with Jim Dietz of the Dietz Foundation. Jim was great to talk to- former teacher, hall of fame college volleyball coach, big time gamer, and president of a non-profit called the Dietz Foundation. I will put a link to the foundation's bio below, but ultimately, Jim is all about bringing games to as many teachers as possible, and has tons of contacts within the...

Friends- please enjoy my interview of Richard Garfield + Skaff Elias! Their contributions to the gaming hobby are many, and almost too numerous to mention here. That being said, if you Google either of these gentlemen, here is what will stand out: Richard is the designer of Magic the Gathering, the genre defining, innovator of innovator type games that is the backbone behind collectible card games...

Friends- please enjoy our discussion of "The Sword and the Flame", one of most enduring sets of wargaming rules in the history of wargaming! Kelly and I sat down with longtime enthusiast Jenni Paperman, whom I met over the summer at Historicon. Jenni has been a fixture in the Albany area wargaming scene for years, and is well versed in the hobby, which includes running numerous gaming conventions...

Friends- "The Game Group Spoketh" is a new podcasting addition to the 20SG lineup, fitting nicely alongside our regular episodes and "Friendcasts". As many of you know, I've had a fairly consistent game group since 2009, when I first met Brian (@nuklearangel on Instagram) that summer. Since that point, Brian and I have gone through many iterations of our Tuesday club, with people coming in and out...