Lmst

#HobbyGamesRecce

I’m developing a historical #wargame project that could easily rely on tables or cards to simulate random elements (an issue relevant to #boardgames, too). In my research I looked at several games that started with tables but later evolved with cards...with mostly similar results.

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2026/02/designers-cards-or-tables-dilemma.html

Four cards from Commands and Colors Napoleonics describing different movements and attacks the player can use when deploying the card, three of which focus on one of the three traditional sections of the battlefield. Most have the silhouette of a Napoleonic bicorne hat worn by commanders of the time, and some have red rectangles and arrows illustrating the moves allowed.

#HobbyGamesRecce

I ponder the opportunities we have to share our adventure gaming toys; how by sharing we can help others discover whether they enjoy particular games and wish to pursue them more themselves...and maybe grow our gaming communities along the way.

#TTRPGS #BoardGames #Wargames

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2026/02/sharing-our-toys.html

Crowd of mid 1990s Star Wars roleplaying game fans crowded around a model of downtown Mos Eisley starport, with a bearded, bespectacled gamemaster on the left wearing a black vest running a scenario with the diorama and 25mm figures.

#HobbyGamesRecce

I take a moment to remember Jean Rabe, TSR veteran, author, and inspiration to many. In my West End Game Days, and the difficult “Desperate Freelancing Years” after the company’s demise, she helped me publish some short stories...and rescued my failing self-confidence.

#TTRPG

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2026/02/remembering-jean-rabe.html

#HobbyGamesRecce

I lament the inadequacy of serious #simulation #wargames in affecting decisions, strategy, and policy, particularly regarding the 2024 US presidential election. They’re great tools to learn about and explore outcomes in emerging issues, but ineffective without subsequent action.

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2026/02/exploring-outcomes-inaction.html

Black-and-white shot from the film Doctor Strangelove showing a vast round table lit by a corresponding round array of overhead lamps, with serious men in suits and uniformes seated around it. An ominous map of the USSR hangs on the distant walls with long streaks indicating incoming nuclear attacks. Are you allowed to wargame in the war room?

#HobbyGamesRecce

As we watch news about Minneapolis, MN, unfold, with various spins and outright propaganda served to the public, I’m reminded of the different perspectives offered in the Galaxywide NewsNets feature from the long-gone #StarWars Adventure Journal.

#TTRPGS #SWAJ #WestEndGames

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2026/01/weg-memoirs-galaxywide-newsnets.html

Shot from the second season of Star Wars: Andor with a NewsNet reporter making a report to a hovering holodroid in the main square on Ghorman. She wears burgundy robes, holds a microphone,with a collonade in the background. The droid hovers in the foreground like a flat saucer with a camera pod underneath.

#HobbyGamesRecce

I offer a glimpse into my own adventure gaming hobby-based coping strategies so readers might find some inspiration for their own self care activities in these trying times.

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2026/01/coping-strategies-with-game-hobbies.html

Fantastical manipulated image showing a high green hill with a medieval strucdture atop it, towers and walls, with a huge swirling colorful nebula sky.

Nothing like an 8.5% ABV beverage with dinner and a general anger at the current reality (on various levels) to fuel a productive evening writing a #HobbyGamesRecce piece. No doubt I’ll read it tomorrow morning and wonder “What the hell was I thinking?” But for now I feel delightfully productive.

Label from a mead-wine blend alcoholic beverage showing a golden griffon on a brown background, with the words "Bearly Mythical" above and "GRYPHON" and "ALC 8.5% by vol." below.

#HobbyGamesRecce

I ramble on about my retreat into #WW2 espionage adventure fiction, a much-needed respite from <waves hand> all this. It’s a guilty pleasure for me, fueled by my interest in historical #WW2 operations and my occasional dabbling in spy-themed #TTRPGS and #BoardGames.

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2026/01/my-oss-guilty-pleasure-reading.html

Black and white photo of William "Wild Bill" Donovan, director of the Office of Strategic Services: an older white gentleman, clean shaven, sharp eyed, with white hair atop his head, arms crossed, at a desk with some papers and a huge globe and bookshelf in the back ground. He wears an US Army uniform with service ribbons over the left breast.

#HobbyGamesRecce
I reflect on the scant highlights of my 2025 and some feeble aspirations for my 2026 as related to the adventure gaming hobby, all hoping it might lead to something more significant on my gaming and job-search fronts.

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-year-behind-year-ahead.html

A Breaking News faux headline showing a picture of a raging dumpster fire and the chyron: "2025 Ends on Bright Note: New Year Rings in Another Complete Dumpster fire 10,000-Day Year."

#HobbyGamesRecce
I take a look at Peter’s Paperboys, Peter Dennis’ line of print-and-craft paper toy soldiers. They’ve served me well over the years with their various historical periods and versatility. This holiday season I’m reminded of the joyful playfulness they inspire.

#wargames #GamesForLearning

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-joy-of-paper-soldiers.html

Banner labeled "Paper Soldiers" with a little scissors nearby, followed by a variety of Peter Dennis paper soldier artwork including medieval knights, Union soldiers, and barbarian tribesmen.

#HobbyGamesRecce

After a busy weekend presenting my Battle of Great Bridge #wargame at the 250th re-enactment I revisited my thoughts about good beginner games for those seeking to explore the confluence of history, games, and learning...battlegames.

#GamesForLearning #BattleOfGreatBridge

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/12/beginners-intro-to-history-gaming.html

Painting by Glenn Moore depicting the British attack on the American breastworks at the Battle of Great Bridge, VA, Dec. 9, 1775. British grenadiers on the left advance along a narrow dirt causeway in a swamp, firing their muskets and following their officer who’s raised his saber and hat as he implores them to charge. On the left stands defensive breastworks made of logs, behind which Patriot militia stand with muskets ready. Colonail-style buildings sit in the background visible above the top of the breastworks.

#HobbyGamesRecce
I offer some ideas for games one could give to folks who might not have immersed themselves so deeply in the adventure gaming hobby...enjoyable temptations inspired by my own experience and taste in games.

#BoardGames #HolidayGifts

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/12/holiday-game-gift-recommendations.html

Artwork depicting Great Cthulhu dressed as Santa Claus with white tentacle beard seated on a winged throne, absolutely terrified little child on his lap....

#HobbyGamesRecce
Inspired by an old Osprey Illustrated Military Diary, I consider the possibility of running a historical #wargame each week, coinciding with a notable event one could explore through simulation...including event and game suggestions.

#GamesForLearning #GamingThePast #HistoryGames

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/11/wargame-calendar-challenge.html

Cover of a landscape-formatted calendar diary, the Osprey Illustrated Military Diary 1997, a green hardcover with shiny letters (that turned up dark in this photo) and a small inset bit of artwork showing a medieval combat scene from an Osprey military history book.

#HobbyGamesRecce

It seems every #TTRPG gamer has a sourcebook in them, yet we often feel the need to get the latest “official” books for our favorite games. Expand your #TTRPG with your own “imagination sourcebook” to make that setting your own...or set off and create something wholly original.

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/11/imagination-sourcebooks.html

Pile of manilla folders strewn across the picture, each rendered like a classic TSR adventure module, but made by a 12 year old, with module booklets drawn and written in pencil on lined paper.

@BigJackBrass Thank you for your kind words and support. The past few years I’ve often debated continuing with #HobbyGamesRecce … and I’ve learned to temper my ennui/frustration with an occasional break from blog-writing. Will pass this week and see what next week brings.

Your helpful suggestion of relaxation techniques reminds me I have a Tibetan singing bowl sitting right here on my desk...I need to take some breaks and use it more often....

Struggling with this week’s #HobbyGamesRecce post. Having one of those days where overwhelming anxiety and feelings of helplessness on multiple fronts makes anything I write seem like worthless garbage (well, moreso than usual).

#HobbyGamesRecce

Spent Saturday running my Battle of Great Bridge #wargame demo on the site where the Culpeper Minutemen mustered 250 years ago. Despite using my very basic game system for this event, I still considered numerous other rules one might use to replay the battle.

#GamesForLearning

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/10/gaming-great-bridge-v-alternate-rules.html

Shot of a folding table with a miniature wargaming diorama set up. Sting along brads in the wooden frame create a grid of squares for playing a game. Stands of paper soldiers occupy key locations, crossing a bridge and assembled behind barricades. Table draped with blue cloth, with two folding stands with signs about the battle and game.

#HobbyGamesRecce
I review the repertoire of #miniature #wargames I’ve run at conventions and other public events over the years — suitable for entertaining and educating kids and newcomers — and offer a general invitation for institutions to play and learn.

#GamingThePast #GamesForLearning

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/10/event-game-repertoire.html

Picture of 54mm soldiers in a miniature wargame based on Belleau Wood in WWI. Several gray-clad German soldiers in coal-scuttle helmets (the Stahlhelm rather than the pointy topped Pickelhaube) linger around a raised grassy earthworks sheltering a machine gun team, with various model woods behind them.

#HobbyGamesRecce
My copy of Fighters of Europe arrived recently, perfect inspiration for exploring the #WW2 #BattleOfBritain from the “Watch, Read, Play” perspective, a means of enticing folks to explore history in media, books, and games.

#wargames #GamesForLearning #GamingThePast

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/10/watch-read-play-battle-of-britain.html

Poster for the reissue of the Battle of Britain film (1969) showing a British Spitfire with German bombers and fighters in teh background (some smoking) against some blue skies but mostly angry red and orange clouds of smoke. A section of small squares on the left features pictures of the prominent actors in the movie.

#HobbyGamesRecce

I take a look at some of the historical #boardgames in my collection — games from history, not about it — and some related books. They’re common games available to everyone at some level, from across regions and cultures and time.

https://hobbygamesrecce.blogspot.com/2025/09/historical-games.html

#HobbyGamesRecce

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