WARGAMES DEVELOPMENTS - NUGGET - CHRISTMAS READING

Bob Cordery, he of the "Portable Wargame" rules and Wargaming Miscellany blog, is also one of the long term organisers of the "Conference of Wargamers" (aka "COW"), an interesting (and perhaps, some might say, occasionally eccentric) organisation originally set up by Paddy Griffiths back in 1980. Busy chap, Bob Cordery.

Anyway, the Conference of Wargamers have recently updated their Handbook, and if you're looking for some Christmas reading, all 64 pages of its wargaming goodness can now be downloaded for free at this LINK HERE:

Very interesting discussions of all types of games, from "Tactical Exercises without Troops" (TEWTs), Committee Games, Megagames, to "Matrix Games" - all the things that COW has learned (and played) over the years. Some of them might be applicable to Hereford 1938 (particularly Matrix Games - see also HERE).

And that's not all. COW publishes a journal known as "The Nugget", and has kindly made available (as a free download to non-members) Nuggets Nos. 193 - 336 - see HERE. Obviously and rightly, you have to join the Conference of Wargamers to read the latest Nuggets - but the vast amount of material which has already been made available, free, gratis and for nothing, is a feast of wargaming reading. Some (very random) short selections:

"Nick the Tsar is a splendid little nugget of a game, based on a White attempt to rescue the Imperial family from the dastardly Reds at Ekaterinburg, with the emphasis firmly on fun rather than learning any great insights into the Russian Civil War. Indeed, any game which ends with the injunction to the players from the Umpire : "Now go next door and laugh at the other Russian Civil War game for not having any goat rules" is surely doing something right (though I'm not quite sure what). One of the games attractions is the visual appeal of the 54mm figures and buildings to match. Another is that basic and simple game tools and mechanisms have been subsumed into the look and feel of the period...for example, movement is measured by 'sickle' (from one end of the handle to the other for 'walking', from the end of the handle to the tip of the blade for "running"). If your personal figure is shot, rather than boring old saving dice, you go to a 'revolver chamber' made of six 35mm film containers sprayed brass: in best Russian roulette tradition five have slips saying "Phew, that was close..." and only one has "Aaagh, they got me". No prizes for guessing which one I drew...." (David Bradbury, Nugget 216)

"The Warsaw Pact Political Consultative Committee 1981. A simple but accurate drinking game of the last days of the Brezhnev era. It will be an advantage not to have any skills in RPGs for this game, but those who have them are equally as welcome. No rules, but full briefing and pre-prepared speeches given for all comrades during the opening drinks. Fancy dress optional. (Russell King, Nugget 297)

"A Battle of Monsters. A lawn game loosely based on the Second Battle of Villers Brettoneaux (24th April 1918). Starting with a gas attack and going rapidly downhill from there, this game is absolutely not simply a lame excuse for the fielding of large numbers of 1/32 tanks..." (Tim Gow and Nick Husband, Nugget 319)

In amongst all the fun (usually with matchstick firing vintage diecast artillery pieces) there are lots of serious articles and thoughts on various types of wargaming systems. Very much recommended - and if these editions of "The Nugget" aren't quite your thing, well, you certainly got as much in value as you paid !