Chestnut Lodge Wargames Group

Birds and Wolves: The Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU) wargame

Shipping Wargame Pieces

1942WATU, a newly created wargaming unit of the British Royal Navy, is tasked with developing and disseminating new tactics that would counter the successful attacks of German U-boats on trans-Atlantic merchant shipping convoys seeking to bring essential supplies to Britain. Naval escorts were provided by the British and US navies, but still, they could not […]

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Last People On Earth

onside report by Jim Wallman It has been more than 20 years since I ran a full version of Crisis in Britannia.  Much has changed since then, both in terms of the archeology and literature on the period, and my experience of game design. As part of a programme of megagames we ran for UCL […]

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Salute 50: ‘the biggest and best event they’ve ever had’

Panel of women wargamers

Over 5000 people bought tickets to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Salute, a venture still run by the same, small, non-profit club that started it over 50 years ago, the South London Warlords. In 1972, the first Salute was held at the Surrey Tavern at the Kennington Oval Cricket ground. Last Saturday 22 April […]

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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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Crystal Chaos – onside report Trevor Duguid Farrant

Four player version with assistance from Dave Boundy, Jon Casey and Mukul Patel This is a mini-version of a show game that I first ran on 16th October 1994 at SELWG. I wanted to put together a full set of rules as opposed to the umpire set, which had much contained in my head. I […]

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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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