Tag Archives: History
Why I Love Diplomacy
The venerable classic timelessly soldiers on.
by Brant Guillory
The original Diplomacy board game has a huge following, even among non-wargamers, despite being sold as a wargamer for its thirty-year lifespan. Why?
Well, it’s a wargame that abstracts battlefield prowess to the point that it’s almost irrelevant. Tactical ability is nothing – I repeat, nothing – in this game. It matters not how well you can anticipate the moment for the cavalry charge, plan the artillery bombardment, or outflank your enemy with your panzer corps. In this game, all armies, and generals, are created equal, and numerical superiority is the only relevant statistic.
In fact, the only ability of note is your ability to successfully negotiate your way through the intrigue of the game as the leader of a country. In this respect, Diplomacy has succeeded, and continues to succeed, in a class all it’s own.
GrogHeads History: WWI Tankers’ Gear
Lloyd delves into the historical archives to dig out an interesting bit of TANKSgiving history.
Lloyd Sabin, 28 November 2014
I struggled for a while this year to come up with something for TANKSgiving. In years’ passed I have done bits on rare WWI armored vehicles, early tanks…you know, the usual awesome stuff. This year for some reason I could not come up with an appropriate topic. Until I found the below picture during some online research.
Tuesday Screenshot – Tanks in Action
OK, so here’s something more than a screenshot. Tanks on the range at Ft Stewart in 2004.
Tuesday Screenshot – Veterans’ Day
11 November 2014
Veterans, not just US veterans, are remembered today. The Grogs here at GrogHeads wish to thank all of your for your service and wish the best possible future as you drive on through life.
Although the check specifies the US, veterans of all of our allies are in our thoughts and prayers today. Thank you all for your service.
Wargaming History – A Look Into The Past
University of Maryland Professor (and more importantly, wargamer!) Matt Kirschenbaum is on a European odyssey this summer. While in Switzerland for an academic conference, he made time to swing by a local museum and found an excellent display of wargaming history.
I was recently in Lausanne, Switzerland for a conference and, well, it rained the entire week. Looking around for something to do I noticed the Swiss Games Musuem, Le Musee Suisse du Jeu, was a short train ride away in the nearby town of La Tour de Pielz. Reading further, I discovered the museum was housed in a castle. A games museum in a castle? Let’s go! Upon arrival, I found two unexpected bonuses: first, the weather briefly cleared, *and* there was a special exhibition of WWI games on!
