Chestnut Lodge Wargames Group

The Traditional ANZAC Biscuit Recipe

Created to remember the Fallen ANZACS at Gallipoli (25 April 1915) and baked in Australia and New Zealand for the ANZAC Day public holiday (25 April) … and sampled at the April 2023 CLWG meeting. Traditional Anzac biscuitsMakes 15 biscuits | Prep 20 mins | Cook 12 mins Ingredients1 1/4 cups of plain flour, sifted1 […]

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How to Fund a War and Relieve Its Impact: Bake a Cake!

It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need, and our air force has to have a bake-sale to buy a bomber. (Robert Fulghum) This quote often comes to the fore when school fetes are organised. But did you know that selling biscuits, cakes, and cookery books has been, […]

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ANZAC Day: 25 April

An overview of ANZAC Day provided for the April 2023 CLWG meeting. The ANZACs ‘ANZAC’ stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. During World War I, on 25th April 1915, ANZAC soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. The aim was to open the […]

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Certeyne Ceducious Persones, 1469: Onside Review by Nick Luft

Game Aim A few years ago – 2019 – I ran a multiplayer game “Shameless, Impudent, and Indebted Lords” at the Holborn Group. It was based on the Robin Redesdale rebellion and Earl of Warwick’s treachery in May 1469.  I reckon that the game engaged and entertained the players at the time. There was a […]

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IT’S QUIET – ALMOST, TOO QUIET…

Has anyone else noticed how ‘conversations’ at CLWG appear to be, well, fading away in the same manner as old soldiers? I mean, on those rare occasions we get posts not based on HR manuals, there is little in the way of either discussion, challenge, revision or extension – surely some of the founding principles […]

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Some books I read the last two years on Operation Market Garden

I’ve been drawn back the last two years into reading about Operation Market Garden through going back to the museum in Oosterbeek, a battlefield tour and helping out in a miniature wargaming project. I’ve also branched out into other operations in the Netherlands in 1944-45, such as the Battle of the Scheldt, operations in Noord-Brabant […]

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Game Design with Disability in Mind 1 General Considerations

    For the CLWG Game Design Weekend 1-2 October, 2022, I led a discussion on Game Design with Disability in Mind.  We covered consideration for people with hearing impairment, Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD) (the more appropriate term for what is often referred to as ‘Colour Blindness’), visual impairment, and intellectual disability. In this post, […]

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Robin Hood (2010)

A film review by Richard Hands A discussion about the 2010 Russell Crowe Robin Hood came up at Virtual Chestnut on June 14th 2022, and Jim Wallman mentioned he’d just very recently seen the film, and was ‘interested’ in my perspective on it. The implication was that he hadn’t thought highly of it. I must […]

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Grumpy Old Fart or Venerated Elder Sage? What legacy are we leaving for wargaming?: An Onside Report

Our pre-meeting gathering on 4 June 2022 included an organ recital: problems with double vision and teeth extractions (and that was just the presenters), and the drama of turning 60 and having your students realise you are old enough to be their grandad (not applicable to either of the presenters who are now well pass […]

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Terrorism as Tourism?

Just wondered how others might view this new offering on ‘experiences’: https://www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/product/gunpowder-plot-experience-for-two-adults-two-children-peak?utm_campaign=1142818_2022-05-20_bau_gunpowder_plot&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Acorne%20Limited%20T%2FA%20Virgin%20Experience%20Days&dm_i=4SXJ,OHSY,2EZT8J,2ZVF9,1 I suppose as someone long interested in mass slaughter (i.e. warfare) I am perhaps least morally able to comment, but it does seem a bit bloody bizarre! At least it comes with a ‘Family Package’… What next, though – ‘The 9-11 Day Out […]

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