Chestnut Lodge Wargames Group

Seize Warsaw: Onside Review – Nick Luft

Seize Warsaw was inspired by reading about a failed offensive of the 4th Panzer Division which attempted – on its own – to attack and take Warsaw. This event occurred during the collapse of part of the Polish Army, 6 and 7 September. The Panzer Division thought it could push into the gap formed by […]

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Board games: The politics of play

This is a review of a radio broadcast and a musing on the ideas it deals with. Review The radio broadcast was on the BBC World Service and is part of the series: The Cultural Frontline. The episode: Board games: The politics of play It starts by looking at the boardgame Pandemic, and its happenstance […]

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After the Battle of Towton, 1461

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 […]

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The Battle of Midtskogen, 1940

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 […]

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Each generation gets the games they deserve – Offside report by Nick Luft

Recently I went to the British Museum to see a small free exhibition – “Playing with Money.” It is about how money, coins and bank notes are used in boardgames and also how boardgames have broadly changed over the last two centuries. In the 19th Century boardgames were for children and their moral admonishment and […]

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Under the Chestnut Tree: CLWG Aphorisms

Aphorism: “a pithy observation which contains a general truth” I often hear CLWG members make very wise comments about game design. I thought it would be a good idea to write these aphorisms down. I will update this post as new ones are heard. Please send me any suggestions. Online Games Cannot be Winged The […]

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Shameless, Impudent and Indebted Lords – 1450

My aim for this game is to produce a club game for between 10 and 15 players, based on the political, economic and eventual military conflict in mid 15th Century England. I am due to run this game for the Holborn Gaming group in June. I attend this gaming group fairly regularly. They are not […]

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Adventures with Twine: Interactive computer games

I ran a session on using Twine to create interactive computer games after my game Hill 70 caused a little bit of a stir. Twine is a very simple to use editor that can be used to make either interactive fiction or interactive graphical adventure games. Twine uses web tools like HTML, & CSS, and a computer programming language […]

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More plastic cheese

I was due to run my fourth game test of “A Little Bit of Bread and No Cheese” (Albobanc) on the first day of the Games Weekend, on 6th October. I had been working on my design ideas on my commute and some moments snatched between marking and lesson prep over the past month. On […]

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Hill 70 – An Interactive Fiction Game

Over the summer I have been working on a computer game called Hill 70. I have done this so I learn it before I teach it. The game is an Interactive Fiction or Text Adventure Game. I have tested it several times and I think I have got rid of any bugs, hopefully. But I […]

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