Chestnut Lodge Wargames Group
A pre game report The German Army has ripped a huge hole on the road to Moscow. What is next, they decide to rip out another hole on the northern flank of the Moscow road. My inspiration was the very good book “The Defence of Moscow 1941: The northern Flank.” I presented a classic big […]
In the beginning, there was Watch the Skies 1898. This was a new variant of Jim Wallman’s tried-and-true Watch the Skies series of games, but set at the dawn of the 20th century and featuring aliens. By design, it was very high-level and strategic – counters representing entire fleets and armies, abstract economic abstractions and […]
Onside Report by Andy Grainger We can thank Covid not only for the inspiration behind this idea but also for Dave Boundy and other techno members of CLWG for creating a virtual club meeting. Apart from the traditional St Reatham members this has enabled people like me in Nottingham, Terry in Sweden and Jerry in […]
Game Overview I wanted to run a committee game about the decisions taken by the Yorkist faction after they had won the Battle of Towton, 1461. This battle is regarded as one of the most decisive victories – and a bit of a surprise – of the Wars of the Roses. It is also regarded […]
Onside Review by Nick Luft Recently I attended a “Boardgame Designers Masterclass” hosted by James Wallis. He said at the end of the session that if he wanted us to take away one lesson it was this: if and when you are inspired to design a game, make it immediately. Don’t fret about pretty counters […]
Onside report of a game design session at CLWG in September 2019 on strategic Finance for the Nine Years War.
Part 2 So the French had made their plans for invading Britain (see Island Fortress 1 for background and details). I needed to find a way of running the British planning game and decided to step outside of CLWG to make use of a small gaming group at work, which would ensure no planning leaks […]
Napoleonic Divisional Management Game (by Peter Merritt) This session was originally inspired to fill the blank page of things on offer…. However, on the day I was surprised to find that (a) I had an audience, and (b) they were all from our wonderful associates based in the Netherlands! After some initial chatting, I began […]
The Art of Steal- Err, Adapting Classic Toys For Wargaming An occasional series on raiding the toy cupboard for wargming ideas (or future Christmas presents, if they’ve not got it already!) #1 – Snakes & Ladders as siege simulator Some considerable time ago now I was looking at the problem of a systemic game process […]
Island Fortress Concept I’ve always had a bit of a blind spot around the Seven Years War (1756-63). Though I loved the Last of the Mohicans, set to the backdrop of the savage struggle between France and Great Britain for control of North America, I found the scope of the war intimidating and overwhelming. Following […]