We just finished up a fantastic year of gaming and I wanted to take a look back at some of what we did, played and experienced in 2023! But, I also want to share my thoughts and create some discussion here about these interesting trends that I am seeing. So welcome to my musings as I take a retrospective look back at 2023.

More Historical Wargame Adjacent Games

Something that I have noticed over the past couple of years is a lot of wargame adjacent historically themed games have been published. The use of bright colorful bits and pieces, sometimes wood and sometimes counters, integration of cards and other means to tell a narrative and a focus on historical topics more so than specific operations or battles. Some of these wargame adjacent games are more wargame than others but there have been a lot of great titles come out over the past couple of years including games like Votes for Women from Fort Circle Games, Dutch Resistance: Orange Shall Overcome! from Liberation Game Design, The Red Burnoose: Algeria 1857 from Hit ‘Em With a Shoe Games to name just a few. These games act somewhat as a bridge between traditional Euro games and wargames and can act as introductory games to pique interest in the historical game genre and teach general wargame strategy and tactics.

In 2023, we saw several more of these type of games being released including more of the Undaunted Series from Osprey Games in Battle of Britain, which moves the system away from tactical combat between ground forces to aerial combat, General Orders: World War II from Osprey Games, which is a worker placement war themed game, Halls of Hegra from Tompet Games, another worker placement war themed game on a very little known topic, Land and Freedom: The Spanish Revolution and Civil War from Blue Panther, a semi cooperative card driven game on the Spanish Revolution and Civil War, Border Reivers: Anglo-Scottish Border Raids, 1513-1603 from GMT Games that uses little horse and sheep meeples, The Hunt from Salt & Pepper Games that focuses on hidden movement and searching to find the elusive Graf Spee and Total Domination from PHALANX that uses a very abstract board of World War II and has some very simple yet interesting mechanics.

I think that these type of games have a place in our hobby and I am always excited to see a different take on a subject we have or haven’t gamed before. I will always love hex & counter wargames but not every wargame has to be that. There is room in our hobby for more games and different types of games and I am glad to see this trend and hope to see even more of it in the near future!

What are your thoughts on wargame adjacent historical games? Do you like them and why? If you don’t like them why?

Rise of Smaller Publishers

The big 3 in wargame publishing include GMT Games, Compass Games and Multi-Man Publishing. That is just a fact and there are lots of other established publishers though who are in the market pitching their games and creating some great new engaging simulations. These established companies include names like Decision Games, Flying Pig Games, Dan Verssen Games, Nuts! Publishing, Worthington Publishing and a host of others. But, the truth is that there are some new up and coming publishers that have arrived on the scene in the last 5 years who have created really engaging, beautiful and interesting wargames that have excelled at creating a real focus on production quality and aesthetics as well as game play and mechanics.

Let’s take a look at 5 of these smaller up and comers and their most recent games.

Assault Games

Assault Games came on the scene in 2021 with their inaugural game called Assault – Red Horizon ’41, which is a tactical wargame focused on Operation Barbarossa during World War II. Their unique combat system is very novel as it uses different colored dice that have different hit numbers so units will have better or worse chances to hit based on the dice they are rolling. These dice can be modified, by providing another die of the type or increased to the next color due to several factors including cover, range, etc. This type of custom dice system always is very interesting to me and keeps the game light and interesting as you simply never know what is going to happen.

They have now followed that up with newest offering called Assault Sicily 43: Gela Beachhead that came onto Gamefound in October 2023. The game uses the same Assault System seen in Assault – Red Horizon ’41 but adds in some new elements including a campaign mode where players can play across and entire campaign made up of stringed together scenarios, seeing their troops increase in skill level, ability and gaining new units as they go. This innovative and interesting system is truly remarkably flexible and I look forward to what they are going to do with it in the future.

Keep an eye on them as they have lots of mojo and are working hard to make great games with fantastic components.

If you are interested, we posted an interview with the designer of Assault Sicily ’43 Wolfgang Klein and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2023/10/16/interview-with-wolfgang-klein-designer-of-assault-sicily-43-gela-beachhead-from-assault-games-coming-to-gamefound-october-13th/

We also did a preview video for the Gamefound campaign:

VUCA Simulations

Coming onto the wargame scene in 2019 with their first release Crossing the Line – Aachen 1944, Furor Teutonicus Games, which has since been changed to VUCA Simulations, has made some real noise with not just their fantastically designed games by some of the well known names in the industry such as Dirk Blennemann (Operation Theseus – Gazala 1942 and Crossing the Line – Aachen 1944), Jack Greene (The Chase of the Bismarck – Operation Rheinübung 1941) and Tetsuya Nakamura (Traces of War), but with their fantastic and beautifully produced components. Their games are simply awesome and we have played and enjoyed both Donnerschlag – Escape from Stalingrad and Traces of War and are trying our best to get some of their other titles played such as 1914 – Nach Paris and Task Force – Carrier Battles in the Pacific.

Their games have really pushed the envelope on production quality and set a standard that other publishers should attempt to replicate. Now, there is a downside to this though as their games are a bit more expensive than some others, but they are well worth the investment.

Here is a link to our video review for their 2023 title Traces of War (and this one will definitely end up on my Best Wargames of 2022! list due out in late February/early March):

PHALANX

I expect that PHALANX will be offended that I have added them to this list as I am sure they consider themselves to be one of the larger more established and well known publishers and I would not disagree with their assertion. But, I want to point out that their games over the past 3-4 years have really taken a step forward in production and quality and I now consider them one of the best of the new up and comers. With their U-Boot: The Board Game in 2019, they have committed to oversized, ultra produced high quality components including well designed and illustrated boards, including miniatures for their games like Successors 4th Edition, and pushing the envelope of quality.

In 2023, they released 2 really great games with Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud and Total Domination. These are not traditional wargames but are very good games and we have enjoyed playing both of them. These designs are somewhat abstract and not traditional but that is what makes them special in my humble opinion. Both are rooted in history but both can be seen as games first and foremost and not simulations as there are some less than historical results possible. I don’t have a problem with this as they are not advertised as simulations.

Each of these games also have amazing production quality as well and are simply gorgeous to look at and play with. Using counters, cards and very nice boards, these games create an experience that is sure to attract a new generation of wargaming enthusiasts.

Here is a look at our video review for Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud:

We also played a prototype copy of one of their 2024 games called Bretwalda and that game was simply amazing. Here is a look at our preview video:

I also wrote a very in-depth First Impression post on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2022/06/22/what-is-unique-about-bretwalda-a-look-at-what-the-game-does-differently-in-the-lite-civ-building-dudes-on-a-map-area-control-genre/

I am very much anticipating what PHALANX will do in the future and cannot wait to play some of their other games in the pipeline like Coalitions, Purple Haze and others.

Fort Circle Games

During the summer of 2017, we were contacted by Kevin Bertram with Fort Circle Games. He was at the time working on a card driven game focused on the Barbary Coast and the American intervention in that region called The Shores of Tripoli. The game looked very interesting and we posted a designer interview on the game as well as some Event Card Spoilers but it brought my attention to this new small company that was designing great looking historical games and appeared to have plans for many more such games in the future. e and the cards which are based on historical events.

There next project was the fantastic Votes for Women, which is a card-driven game covering the American women’s suffrage movement from 1848-1920, culminating with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. The game is very flexible and provides competitive, cooperative and solitaire play, with cooperative and solitaire play against the “Oppobot.”

We published an interview with the designer Tory Brown and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2020/09/07/interview-with-tory-brown-designer-of-votes-for-women-from-fort-circle-games-currently-on-kickstarter/

Fort Circle just did a 2nd Edition Kickstarter for the game and you can find that at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fortcircle/votes-for-women-second-printing

They since have designed an additional Card Driven Game called The Halls of Montezuma that focuses on the war between the United States and Mexico from 1846-1848. The game is designed by Kevin Bertram and Gilberto Lopez and was successfully funded on Kickstarter this past year. This game looks great and has some of the same feeling elements used in The Shores of Tripoli with some additional tricks as well. I have backed it and am eagerly awaiting the game in early 2024. 

Fort Circle Games is a name to watch and they have a very aggressive lineup of games they are working on designing and developing including titles by designers like Talia Rosen (The First Monday in October), David Thompson and Liz Davidson (Night Witches), Maurice Suckling (Peace 1905), Jason Matthews (United States v. Aaron Burr) and Volko Ruhnke (The Hunt for Blackbeard).

Sound of Drums

The final company on this list is one that we have only played one prototype game from (and it didn’t go very well as there were issues with the prototype) but they have serious potential as their production values look amazing and their art and other assets are top notch. Sound of Drums is a Swiss publisher owned by Uwe Wallentin and they are putting out some great looking games including the 3 game set Hellas, Dies Irae and Mare Nostrum published in 2022, Eylau 1807 published this year and the upcoming 1793: Patriots & Traitors that was just successfully funded on Gamefound.

This is a company that we are gaining experience with but have yet to play a final copy of a game so we will report back once we do.

There are many other smaller publishers that are doing great work (Cadet Games, Hollandspiele, Shakos, Fellowship of Simulations, Salt & Pepper Games, Blue Panther, Capstone Games, Draco Ideas, NAC Wargames, SNAFU Design and others) and we could name even more but I will leave this point here and simply say that 2023 was a year of great new publishers emerging from the background to take a seat at the adults table and I cannot wait to see what they have prepared for the future!

What smaller publishers have you been impressed with?

Youth Movement at GMT Games

GMT Games is synonymous with some of the best designers in our hobby including names like Mark Herman, Volko Ruhnke, Mark Simonitch, Mark Miklos, Mike Bertucelli, Jerry White, Harold Buchanana, Craig Besinque, Ben Hulls, Ed Beach, Herman Luttmann, Gene Billingsley, Chad Jensen (RIP) and so many more. These designers have been with GMT for many, many years and have produced some of the most notable games in wargaming. But, there has been a youth movement at GMT Games over the past few years. Whether this was strategically thought out and planned or not, GMT has attracted some of the best and and brightest rising stars in the design world. These young guns are out there doing their thing and this youth movement has attracted even more youth as the way we collaborate and interact now in our world is so very open and allows making connections and collaborating over thousands of miles so easy with the stroke of a keyboard. There have also been some really great personalities that have attracted even more of these young minds and I wanted to take a moment to highlight just a few of those names.

First off, I wanted to take a look at Jason Carr. Jason is a really energetic newcomer to GMT Games and has made a huge splash as he now is in charge of managing their GMT One solitaire wargaming studio that is in charge of putting together playable and intelligent AI opponents for many of their great games. Finding an opponent can always be a challenge and this move was a shrewd one as it has created some really great energy about this genre of gaming that so many of us choose to play, but that many more of us have to use if we want to enjoy the hobby for lack of finding real life opponents.

Another name is Joe Dewhurst who has taken on major development duties for GMT Games including such notable games as Vijayanagara, A Gest of Robin Hood, Sovereign of Discord, Red Flag Over Paris and Fall of Saigon and others as well as designing his own 2 games in The Pure Land and Resisting Revolution: A Cuba Libre Expansion and other upcoming GMT Games projects. He also is one of the founders of the Consim Game Jam, which has spawned some fantastic titles. Joe is a true talent and I cannot wait to follow his career.

VPJ Arponen is probably my favorite of these new young names as he has designed All Bridges Burning, a very interesting and unique entry in the COIN Series, as well as his hew upcoming game Order & Opportunity: Making of the Post-Cold War World Order. He also has done lots of work on some Bots for various games including Hitler’s Reich and others. We partnered with him to write a series of posts on his solo Bot design experience and you can read those posts at the following links:

The Science of the COIN “Bot” Volume 1 by VPJ Arponen: https://theplayersaid.com/2017/04/26/guest-blog-the-science-of-the-coin-bot-volume-1-by-vpj-arponen/

Hitler’s Reich, or a “Bot” Driving Toward Moscow Volume 2 by VPJ Arponen: https://theplayersaid.com/2017/05/03/guest-blog-hitlers-reich-or-a-bot-driving-toward-moscow-volume-2-by-vpj-arponen/

Others that I have been impressed by, either with their designs or with their development work, have been names like Fred Serval (Red Flag Over Paris, A Gest of Robin Hood), Justin Fassino (Seljuk), Jason Walonoski (Epipolae), Sam London (Firefight Tactical), Ken Kuhn (development on Prime Minister), Joe Schmidt (Henry, In the Shadows), Dan Bullock (In the Shadows), Chris Bennett (In the Shadows), Saverio Spagnolie, Mathieu Johnson, Cory Graham and Aman Matthews (Vijayanagara), Alex Knight (upcoming Hammer & Sickle) and Stephen Rangazas (The British Way, Sovereign of Discord). I know I am leaving out names but they all have me excited for the future and I cannot wait to see their work!

What new names at GMT Games have you excited about wargaming?

2023 Conventions Attended

We have really grown our gaming convention attendance in 2023 and attended the most that we have ever attended in one year. We hit several main stays with Basement Con (an informal gathering in a friends basement in St. Louis, Missouri), Buckeye Game Fest, WBC and GenCon but also added a new one in SDHistCon in sunny San Diego, California.

Here are some summaries of those events as well as video debriefs to get you caught up on our experiences:

Basement Con Debrief where we played Here I Stand from GMT Games, Pericles from GMT Games, Land and Freedom from Blue Panther and Europa Universalis: The Price of Power from Aegir Games:

Buckeye Game Fest Debrief where we played Unconditional Surrender from GMT Games, Cuba Libre from GMT Games, Andean Abyss from GMT Games, Fire in the Lake from GMT Games, Undaunted: Reinforcements from Osprey Games and Quartermaster General 1914 from Griggling Games to name a few:

WBC Debrief where we played Border Reivers from GMT Games, then I got sick, and Alexander played John Company 2nd Edition from Werhlegig Games, The British Way from GMT Games, Twilight Struggle: Red Sea from GMT Games, Fire in the Lake from GMT Games, Here I Stand from GMT Games amongst others:

GenCon Debrief where we had a great time roaming the convention hall, buying games and meeting with lots of great people and having dinner with Darin Leviloff and Jason Matthews as highlights:

Finally, we attended a new convention in SDHistCon and here is our debrief:

I also wrote some daily debrief posts for the blog:

Day 1 – https://theplayersaid.com/2023/11/04/san-diego-historical-games-convention-sdhistcon-2023-daily-debrief-series-day-1/

Day 2 – https://theplayersaid.com/2023/11/05/san-diego-historical-games-convention-sdhistcon-2023-daily-debrief-series-day-2/

Day 3 – https://theplayersaid.com/2023/11/05/san-diego-historical-games-convention-sdhistcon-2023-daily-debrief-series-day-3/

We also made a trek up to Wisconsin to visit with our Monthly Debrief Video Series sponsor Noble Knight Games and it was a fantastic experience. Here is that debrief video:

2024 Gaming Conventions

We next will take a look at our big plans for 2024 and attendance at several gaming conventions. We are planning to attend at least 2 new events but unfortunately will not be going to WBC this year as Alexander has a family reunion back in his home land.

Winterfest – February 16-25th – Sandusky, Ohio – Very much looking forward to playing some monster wargames and getting to speak with several designers including Antony Birkett and Chip Saltsman. We will also hang with Gary Mengle with Ardwulf’s Lair.

BasementCON – March 20-22nd – St. Louis, Missouri – Attending our friends BasementCON again in St. Louis in March and hope to play several big games.

CircleCON – April 2-4th – Washington, D.C. – This is a new one for us but it is run by Kevin Bertram from Fort Circle Games and is an intimate 3 day convention in Washington, D.C.

Buckeye Game Fest – May 1-5th – Columbus, Ohio – This is a staple in our convention schedule and we look forward to playing some games, running some events, including a possible 2 sessions of Nations & Cannons RPG from Flagbearer Games.

GenCon – August 1-4th – Indianapolis, Indiana – Our hometown convention where we do more shopping and walking around than actually playing games.

San Diego HistCON – November 2-5th – San Diego, California – Back to sunny California for another small and intimate convention where we will play lots of prototype games, shoot designer interview videos and have a great time.

There might end up being others but our slate is pretty full with these conventions and we hope to see many of you there!

What was your best convention experience in 2023? What conventions are you planning on attending in 2024?

2024 Older Games We Plan to Play

Finally, one of our newest plans involves our Shelves of Shame! As they are creaking and moaning with the weight of many great games we have yet to play, we decided that this year we are going to pick one of these older games per month and play it. These games and planned schedule are as follows:

January – Ardennes ‘44 from GMT Games

February – Baptism by Fire from Multi-Man Publishing

March – Dien Bien Phu from Legion Wargames

April – A Victory Lost from Multi-Man Publishing

May – Brazen Chariots from Multi-Man Publishing

June – Day of Days from Multi-Man Publishing

July – Normandy ‘44 from GMT Games

August – Almost a Miracle! from Against the Odds Magazine

September – War and Peace from One Small Step

October – The Fall of the Third Reich from Compass games

November – Crusade & Revolution from Compass Games

December – A Time for Trumpets from GMT Games

If we can actually play these 12 games, I will consider 2024 a total success but we shall see!

What games are on your shelf of shame that you can plan to play in 2024?

I hope you enjoyed my quick look back at 2023 and the fantastic year of wargaming that it was! One final thing, if you are interested we shot a 90 minute video where we discussed these very things as well as a few additional items (wargame production, wargame costs) and you can watch that at the following link:

One other thing that I would like to share is the Goober the Traveling Bear Calendar put together by our friend Bill Molyneaux. The calendar is a limited edition, 12 month calendar book from Bill Molyneaux Games. Join Goober in his quest to reclaim the undying spirit of the Eastern United States. The calendar includes landmarks from across American history. All proceeds from this calendar will go to the Braddock’s Battlefield History Center. You can visit the center’s website at: https://www.braddocksbattlefield.org/

Thank you for following along and please let me know what you loved about 2023 and what you are looking forward to for 2024.

-Grant