"Mentioned In Dispatches" with the Armchair Dragoons

15 October 2021 ~ No, we are not channeling our inner Charles Shackleford and using both hands.  We’ve gathered Moe & Rocky to talk about amphibious operations in wargaming.  Obviously, we’re focusing on WW2 and the ‘famous’ things like D-Day and Iwo Jima, but we talk about a variety of other actions and other conflicts, as well.  We also spend some time talking about t...

8 October 2021 ~ Why don’t we ever record an Origins podcast?  Because pretty much every single other year, Origins happens over the summer, when we’re on hiatus for convention & travel season.  Why did we have one this year?  You might’ve noticed – Origins was in October.  So here we are, with Ardwulf riding shotgun, and Kevin from Fort Circle Games hitchhiking along,...

1 October 2021 ~ Just because we’re away at Origins doesn’t mean the podcast rests! Chris, Sebastian, and Lexee all join us to talk about the differences in designing wargames for professional vs hobby audiences, and the kinds of things that matter to each of them. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. We dig into w...

24 September 2021 ~ One Mike wasn’t enough, so for episode 2, we’re bringing 100% more “Mike” as Brant & BBMike are joined by OJsDad for the next stop on our Season 7 journey and a conversation of what we’ve played over the Summer. Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site. There’s plenty of d...

(reloaded to try to fix the RSS feed) 17 September 2021 ~ Like pumpkin spice lattes and Christmas songs before Halloween, we’re back for a new season!  Brant is joined by Mike (ah, but which one!?) as they take a look at what’s been going on over the summer, and what’s been happening with the Armchair Dragoons over the past 3 years. Don’t forget, you can always catch up wit...

23 April 2021 ~ We’ve come to the end of the tracks for Season 6, as we pull this train into the station with a full crew: Mike, and Jim, and… uh, another Mike.  Let’s talk about  Men Against Fire , the Civ series of games,  Stellaris , relative complexity of tabletop vs digital games, the European Super League, Blucher vs Lasalle vs Shakos vs Snappy Nappy for Quatre Bras, whethe...

16 April 2021 ~ He’s been around the community for over 15 years.  He’s been around the podcast(s) for over 6.  He  finally bothered to join us!  Yes, the Viking Tanker of the Northern North Hills has made it to Mentioned in Dispatches, and joins Brant & Mike for a rambling romp through drone swarms, disinheriting the kids in Crusader Kings, reunion tours by The Who, record-setting...

9 April 2021 ~ Dr James Sterrett has joined us before to talk about the MMAS program at the Command & General Staff College, and came back with one of his students in tow to talk about his specific experience in the project.  This time, James has brought along 2 of his students to discuss their game designs, the research behind them, and their motivations to join the program.  We also talk abo...

2 April 2021 ~ Gamer, sportswriter, and music fan Andrew Bucholtz joins the podcast for the first time, and we cover a lot of ground on all three topics.  We talk about how a Canadian becomes a fan of America Civil War games, great drummers, and why punters are cool to talk to.  As much as any recent podcast, this one does drift quite a bit from just a discussion of wargaming. Don’t forget,...

26 March 2021 ~ Brant is joined by Chris Weuve and Merle Robinson, the other two guys behind the upcoming Connections Online conference, to discuss the ecosystem of Connections conferences, how this one came to be, and how people can get involved in the Connections movement as a whole.  We talk a bit about how Connections got to where it is today, and how the three of us got involved. Don’t...

19 March 2021 ~ He’s baaaaa-aack!  Our annual Bison appearance is here for you this week, as Brant, Mike, and Craig discuss family gaming, rulebook clarity, the editorial workloads of small press companies, and whether or not POD would work for out-of-print wargames the same way it does for out-of-print RPGs.  We talk some about developing the kids as gamers, too. Don’t forget, you can...

12 March 2021 ~ Our panel this week includes 2 returning guests – Rex Brynen and Sebastian Bae – along with Jeff Tidball, to discuss the ins & outs of teaching game design at the college level.  We discuss some of the key points that they want students take away from their design courses, some of the process they use to introduce different game ideas and concepts to the students, a...

5 March 2021 ~ Blame Ardwulf!  Seriously, this one started out as one of his Monday night counter-clipping livestreams , and (predictably) it got dragged off-topic by the live comments.  But it was an interesting topic that deserved a little deeper digging, so we brought in Ardwulf, and told Mike there would be whiskey, and suddenly, we had enough for a podcast. Don’t forget, you can always...

26 February 2021 ~ We’ve now got 2 online conventions under our belts here at the Armchair Dragoons.  But there’s other folks out there that have quite a few more, and we’ve invited 2 of them to join us for this discussion of the nuts & bolts of online conventions.  Chris, of The Grognard File , and veteran online GM Jimmy V, join us to talk about their background with online...

19 February 2021 ~ Yes, we woke Bawb up and ruined his hot chocolate to join us for a podcast episode about absolutely nothing.  Yep, not a damn thing.  Well, other than Vuca Sims new games, errata counters in magazines, trouble getting VASSAL started up, game design work you don’t get see, daily content diamonds unearthed from Avalanche Press, how Bawb won the lotto by not using  any of the...

12 February 2021 ~ So yeah, dice.  Dice.  DICE!  Yes, we spend an entire episode talking about dice.  What are the weird ones you’ve got?  What are your favorites?  What are the ones you’ve had forever?  Which dice did you hate?  How often do you change them out?  How many did you pilfer from someone’s copy of  Risk ? Random dice tables transposed onto the dice themselves?  Baby...

5 February 2021 ~ What started life as a discussion about online convention events quickly morphed into a longer chat about Cyrano’s choice of battles & projects for his online wargames through Saturday Night Fights and Wednesday Night Warfare.  We also talk about how to conduct a synchronous multi-player live Kriegsspiel through TTS, or some other medium, and what sorts of ‘tentpo...

29 January 2021 ~ We’re back!  Let’s get season 6 started with RockyMountainNavy and BBMike, as they join Brant for a discussion of game mods: everything from changing out the graphics to house rules to mashing up game to creating your own scenarios.  Note that we’re talking almost exclusively about tabletop gaming here, so this isn’t about just swapping out graphics in a J...

11 December 2020 ~ We wrap up season 5 (five!) with a look back the grand 1809 Kriegsspiel,  The Death Ride of Jean Lannes , as played out in our forums and through 2-1/2 years of email traffic.  Overseen by our own incomparable Cyrano, this campaign played out across central Bavaria, from Munich to Regensburg, and everywhere in between (if you want to see the map, it’s here ). From our cast...

4 December 2020 ~ Special guests!  Always-contentious topic!  Recent awards controversy!  Definitional pedantry!  Fred’s dog gets a long walk!  That’s right – it’s the penultimate episode of season 5 of  Mentioned in Dispatches . Ian (RockyMountainNavy) is back, and Moe (Moe’s Game Table) pops in for the first time this season, as we try to figure out just what the he...

27 November 2020 ~ Semi-permanent-occasional-as-needed co-host Ed McMahon BBMike is back to shepherd a pair of MiD rookies through our discussion of the space 4X genre.  Sam and Pascale dial into our discussion for a far-ranging conversation about what’s good & bad in the space 4X world(s).  It’s the penultimate episode of Season 5, and it’s here for your holiday weekend enjo...

20 November 2020 ~ As season 5 starts to wind down, we assemble a few Dragoons who enjoy a good role-playing game and have a wide-ranging discussion that touches on some our favorite settings, what we’ve always wanted to play, and resisting the urge to buy more dice on Amazon.  Shout-Outs to Shannon Applecline, the Troll Lords, Bruce Heard, Titan Games, Craig Zipse, and Dark City Games, amon...

13 November 2020 ~ Friday the 13th has arrived. And it’s gonna get bloody. It’s entertaining enough when we have Angry Ardwulf on the podcast, but to reinforce him with Angry Cyrano? What madness is this!? Well, it’s the madness that was this year’s Charles S Roberts Awards . Or at least something that’s possessed the reanimated corpse of the Charlies. Don’t for...

6 November 2020 ~ Yeah, yeah…. this again! Inspired by a couple of videos that the guys over a Little Wars TV put together on YouTube, Brant, Jim, and Gary are joined by David Ensteness ( The Wargaming Company ) to talk about the state of wargaming, and the endless gloom-and-doom of the “wargaming is dying” refrains that have been chanted by the cognoscenti since around 1971 or s...

30 October ~ Author Henry Vogel and BuNine Member/DoD wargame practitioner Chris Weuve join Brant and BBMike to talk about all sorts of issues related to sci-fi gaming, theoretical space combat, role-playing individual level personalities, and what goes on your tombstone.  Henry gives is a peek into his books and what’s up next, as well as where his characters and storylines fit into a game....