By Mitch Reed
I hope many of you can recall my article from the Connections Wargaming Conference in 2022 and the podcast from 2019 that spoke to this event. The 2023 event held at National War College in Washington DC was yet another for the record books and we here at NDNG were glad to attend in force as well as help sponsor the Dice-Breaker social event.
By David Garvin
One thing I’ve found in war gaming is that I tend to stay in one genre for most of my gaming. In spite of the computer evolution of the 1990s that saw many war games be released in digital form, I have almost always come back to play my games on cardboard. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, I have stuck to tossing dice.
For a while, I did get into Flames of War (FOW), but my interest faded with the advent of edition 4, which coincided with my deep dive into Advanced Squad Leader. But one thing that I do like about war games, in general, is that the variety of genres allows many people with various interests to play.
Check out this interview with Jason Petho the designer of the PC game Campaign Series Vietnam. Jason talks about the development and all of the new goodies in the latest title in this iconic series.
By Patrick S. Baker
The first phase of the Close Combat game franchise came to an end in 2000 with the fifth game in the series, Close Combat V: Invasion: Normandy. Business and management issues left the franchise’s future in doubt, with only three developers still at Atomic still working on it.
Then came the United States Marine Corps (USMC) to the rescue. Militaries worldwide have used “serious games” as training tools ever since the early 19th Century when Kriegsspiel (wargame in German) was created for the Prussian Army. The American Military was impressed by the Close Combat games, especially the realistic physiological modeling. So, in 2003 the USMC reached out to Atomic to see about building a Close Combat game as a training aid.
In 2004 the USMC and Atomic partnership produced Close Combat: Marines: “A tactical decision-making simulation of modern warfare”, the game was released in the September 2004 issue of the Marine Corps Gazette. It was used as a tactical instructional tool for junior leaders. A civilian version of the game was released in 2004 as Road to Baghdad. This was the first post-World War Two entry in the franchise and the only one without Close Combat in the title.
The Great War games keep rolling out and for junkies of the conflict are in gaming heaven. The next big release is coming to your PC and it is a remake of one of my favorite games; Strategic Command Great War. For those of you who have not played any games in the series (WW2 came out exactly a year ago) they cover conflicts at the strategic level, so you not only control vast armies but also control the means of production, diplomacy and technological improvements of the nation you play.
When PC gaming first became available, I like many of you, played the many games of the Close Combat series. is now releasing the seventeenth title in the series, Close Combat: The Bloody First which takes the classic series to a new level and uses a completely new game engine to make this new edition an instant classic.
For those of you that have followed my posts over the years know that I am also a die hard PC gamer. One of the publishers that has always captured my attention (and Dollars) are the guys from Games who have been hard at work putting out some great games over the last few months that you should not miss.
I have been talking with Paolo Paglianti, who is the public relations manager for Slitherine/Matrix Games [editor: and is now contributing to NDNG in Table-Top wargaming, mainly on FOW and TY coverage].
He has given me a few preview codes for some of the hot new releases they have published in 2018, and some of these games were way to fun and addictive to stop playing and tell you about them. What I have always liked about this publisher is how the games they produce cover the gamut of war gaming, historical to fantasy, strategic to tactical and ancients to a future conflict, these guys have everything you can think of and I am sure they have something that will also suck you into your computer for a few hours.
