Chestnut Lodge Wargames Group
In 2023, Connections UK, the conference for wargaming professionals, was held at Sandhurst Military Academy on 5-7 September. Due to Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions, this was the first time I was able to attend. Needless to say, I was as excited to see and explore the building as I was to listen and participate in […]
Jim presented The Quiet Battlefield, via an online CLWG session. He was inspired to make this game after playing The Quiet Year a game we played at the December CLWG Hybrid session. The Quiet Year is not a wargame, or a boardgame. It is perhaps more of a role-playing game, though the players do not […]
by Jim Wallman Our second year of pandemic saw quite a few attempts at replicating the CLWG experience using on-line tools and the relaxation of lockdown saw us experimenting with hybrid meetings – a non-trivial undertaking! As in real life CLWG remained somewhat chaotic, though like 2020 the year gave us multiple opportunities to learn […]
The Quiet Year (TQY) was recommended to me after a friend heard about it in a gaming pod cast. He was intrigued by the open ended structure and the non-gamer friendly nature of the game. Although it is a commercial “game” I thought it was sufficiently interesting to be worth examining with the assistance CLWG […]
Akiyoshi Monogatari I enjoyed the meeting but a bit tricky with the WiFi in the hall. So our dear comrades from the continent were cut off. I was looking forward to having this hybrid type session to see how it works. My conclusion. it reinforces my perception of being a fuddy duddy who cannot work […]
Some our older readers will remember many WW2 battles fought on a tabletop with miniature tanks and, possibly, the origins of the wargame rules ‘STONK’. Over the years, these rules moved away from model terrain and toy tanks, and more towards a ‘real map’ and counter game, and from version 3 onwards was wholly designed […]
I have always believed that the success of sessions can often be judged by how quickly time passes and in this game it was noticeable how nearly all the players’ first comments post game were along the lines of ‘where did the time go’. This was an online version of a traditional map based WW2 […]
Museum Review by Jim Wallman So, it being a bank holiday it was a good time to finally visit the Kent Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge. I’ve been through Hawkinge many times and always wondered what it was like. Today I found out. Described as the worlds [sic] largest Battle of Britain collection. I […]
by Mukul Wow what a feeling, and a great big shout to John Rutherford. The scenario, the UK is imploding politically and economically, UN peacekeepers are arriving to the hotbed of revolution, but we going to a game but a rural little village in sleepy England, think the Archers radio show. Most players […]
A book review – Jim Wallman Just reading “Tabletop Wargames – A Designers’ & Writers’ Handbook by Priestley and Lambshead. A well written book with lots of excellent photographs and interesting discussion about how to write better mainstream toy soldier games in particular on structure, presentation, writing style and layout. This aspect of writing rules […]