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Your hosts James and Mike, with the occasional guest, look at the Canadian wargames scene. We're interested in miniature wargaming, board (hex and counter) games, and how Canadian military history inspires some of our projects. We hope to help tell the stories of a small but dynamic hobby scene in a big country.
Episodes
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
In the first half, we convene a bona fide panel of some of our favourite grognards to talk about a burning question, why are there so many Napoleonic rules sets out there, with more arriving every year, and why are they still being written?
The conversation focuses on Naps, but could easily be ported to a discussion about ancients, WW2, etc. At the very least, what should we legitimately expect of a new rules set? Is it a vanity project, published by someone who simply doesn't like other peoples' games, or does it offer some new mechanism or insight? Should wargames authors at the very least have to tell us what are the assumptions behind their rules? It's a fascinating, lively and wide ranging conversation.
In the second half, James and Mike natter about Napoleonic wagon and artillery parks and how logistics never goes out of style, DBA as a guide to understanding the ancient world, and some of the great games to be seen at LardEh in May.
Our Guests:
Tom Castanos, Anything But a One Podcast: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/nax6w-dfdf2/Anything-But-a-One%21-Adventures-in-Historical-Miniature-Wargaming-Podcast
Jim Owczarski ( @TheGascon )
https://www.armchairdragoons.com/podcast/
Jim's YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP6hA1_EvjQQGYdlMGLoYfA
Glenn Pearce, Napoleonic Miniatures War-game Society of Toronto:
https://www.facebook.com/Napoleonic-Miniatures-Wargame-Society-of-Toronto-100470888212245/
Don Perrin:
Books Mentioned:
Nigel Stillman and Nigel Tallis, Armies of the Ancient Near East, 3000 BC - 539 BC, WRG 1984 (OOP)
Arthur W. Gullachsen, An Army of Never-Ending Strength: Reinforcing the Canadians in NW Europe, 1944-45. UBC Press, 2021.
Our Closing March:
The Great Little Army (Quick March of the Canadian Army).
https://youtu.be/SVPj_yBLw1M
Contact Us:
Canadian Wargamer Podcast Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/canadianwargamerpodcast
Mike: madpadre@gmail.com
@MarshalLuigi
www.madpadrewargames.blogspot.com
James:
@JamesManto4
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Tuesday May 10, 2022
It's been over a month since we published Ep 14, so here's TWO AND A HALF HOURS of nonsense and yakking to make up for our absence.
In the first half, we talk to Montreal-based gamer Pierre-Yves Troel, who wowed us all in March at HotLead with his participation game of What a Cowboy, a much-anticipated western gunfight game soon to be published (we hope) from Too Fat Lardies. P-Y (Mike totally mangled his name and variously called him Y-P, P-J, and God knows what else, though our guest was too polite to say anything) talks about his gaming career, discovering the TFL community through online gaming, and his growing expertise in 3D printing. We also talked about the gaming scene in La Belle Province of Quebec.
In the second half, during our Canadian Content Corner (CCC), friend of the podcast Chris Robinson checks in to give us a update on LardEh, Canuckistan's TFL-themed gaming day returning to Hamilton, Ontario on 28 March. Chris also tells us about what he and Big Rich chatted about when Chris was a guest of the TFL Oddcast. Rounding out the CCC, Mike reports on what he's learned about how the Canadian Army faced a massive challenge training an NCO Corps from scratch in WW2. We also chat about about the Guadalcanal Campaign, about gaming WW3, James' WW3 Imaginations (Mantovia and Borduria), Mike's discovery of DBA (talk about coming late to the party) and how many figures a horse and musket unit really needs. It's a wide ranging convo, good for an extra-long painting session.
Our Guest:
Pierre-Yves on Twitter: @iwouldlike2rage
P-Y's minis and painting website: http://www.iwouldliketorage.com
P-Y's contributions to the CWP Virtual Library:
Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WW2 by Damien Lewis. Quercus Publishing, 2014.
https://www.amazon.ca/Churchills-Secret-Warriors-Explosive-Desperadoes/dp/1848668554
Behind Japanese Lines: With the OSS in Burma by Richard Dunlop. Skyhorse Publishing, 2014.
https://www.amazon.ca/Behind-Japanese-Lines-OSS-Burma/dp/1626365385
Other Subjects Mentioned In This Podcast:
Events:
LardEh, Hamilton, May 28: https://twothreesixmm.blogspot.com/2022/03/lardehs-game-day-ii.html?fbclid=IwAR03DIVymyCg_GqCWmHkxIwb7LcUEUCQhJuLZOZg6bzh5Z4Kq-w1HGTYBm0
Frozen Lard Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/frozenlard
Books Mentioned:
Battlegroup! The Lessons of the Unfought Battles of the Cold War, by Jim Storr (Hellion, 2021).
https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/battlegroup-the-lessons-of-the-unfought-battles-of-the-cold-war.php
Neptune's Inferno: The US Navy at Guadalcanal, by James D. Hornfishcher. (Bantam, 2012).
Building the Army's Backbone: Canadian Non-Commissioned Officers in the Second World War, by Andrew L. Brown (UBC Press, 2021).
https://www.ubcpress.ca/building-the-armys-backbone
George MacDonald Frazer, Quartered Safe Out There. (2007)
DBA 3.0 Rules, by Phil Barker (WRG).
https://www.amazon.ca/Bellis-Antiquitatis-Version-3-0/dp/024469768X
Our Closing March:
The Meeting of the Waters (Quick March of the Rocky Mountain Rangers), played by the band of the Royal Highland Fusiliers:
Contest:
Listen closely to the podcast for details on how to win some of Bob Murch's fabulous Cossack miniatures, proceeds go to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Fund for Ukraine.
Contact Us:
Canadian Wargamer Podcast Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/canadianwargamerpodcast
Mike: madpadre@gmail.com
@MarshalLuigi
www.madpadrewargames.blogspot.com
James:
@JamesManto4
www.rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com
Friday Apr 01, 2022
Friday Apr 01, 2022
Shawn Taylor is the first published Canadian rules writer that we've had on the podcast. (James has also published rules, but he's a host, so he gets an honourable mention). Shawn is an amazingly prolific rules writer. He's best known for his collaborative work with Robert Dunlop on Great War Spearhead, a popular set of rules for fighting large (corps level) First World War battles in small scales. Besides GWS, Shawn has authored rules for clandestine warfare in Nazi occupied Europe, SF skirmish actions defending Earth from alien invaders, and French-Viet Minh actions in IndoChina.
Shawn was an enthusiastic and talkative guest. Our guest bio conversation covered his long military career and family heritage and how that informs his gaming and choice of subjects. We spent a lot of time discussing the Great War, a subject that arguably has been poorly served by war-games rules and not well understood by wargamers. Shawn walked us through the mechanics of GWS and how it puts players in the role of senior commanders, thus challenging players to resist their own possible stereotypes about lions led by donkeys.
We also talked about Shawn's other projects, including Mourir Pour L'Indochine and its recent successful Kickstarter, as well as the gaming scene in Victoria and the Lower Mainland, which we hope to visit (virtually) in a future podcast interview.
Links to our Guest Shawn Taylor:
Shawn Taylor Publications Rules: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/gwshii
Great War Spearhead on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/480426242475999
God's Own Scale Interview with Shawn Taylor and Robert Dunlop:
Shawn's Book Recommendations for the CWP Virtual Library:
Mark Zuehlke, Ortona: Canada's Epic Battle
Mark Zuehlke, Tragedy at Dieppe: Operation Jubilee, August 19, 1942: https://www.amazon.ca/Tragedy-Dieppe-Operation-Jubilee-August/dp/1771620161/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9H9RI7DBM55Q&keywords=mark+zuehlke+dieppe&qid=1648844599&s=books&sprefix=mark+zuehlke+dieppe%2Cstripbooks%2C134&sr=1-1
Terry Copp, Fields of Fire, The Canadians in Normandy (2nd Ed)
Terry Copp, Cinderella Army, the Canadians in NW Europe, 1944-45
Our Closing March in Honour of Our Guest:
The Meeting of the Waters (Quick March of the Rocky Mountain Rangers), played by the band of the Royal Highland Fusiliers:
Contest:
Listen closely to the podcast for details on how to win some of Bob Murch's fabulous Cossack miniatures, proceeds go to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Fund for Ukraine.
Contact Us:
Canadian Wargamer Podcast Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/canadianwargamerpodcast
Mike: madpadre@gmail.com
@MarshalLuigi
www.madpadrewargames.blogspot.com
James:
@JamesManto4
www.rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com
Sunday Mar 27, 2022
Sunday Mar 27, 2022
James and Mike convene a stellar panel of new and veteran game masters to compare notes about what we saw, played, bought and did at Hotlead, Southern Ontario's best and biggest tabletop miniatures event and the first one since March 2020 and the start of Covid.
Our Guests: Joe Saunders https://www.youtube.com/c/MiniatureLandscapeHobbies/videos
Keith Burnett and Brian Hall from KEGS (Kent Essex Gaming Society) https://www.facebook.com/KEGSCON?filter=2
James' Hotlead report: http://rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com/2022/03/hot-lead-2022-in-which-rabbitman-does.html
Mike's Hotlead report:
https://madpadrewargames.blogspot.com/2022/03/games-at-hot-lead-2022.html
Hotlead on Facebook
Our Current Contest: Somewhere in this episode is a contest. Listen to win a set of Bob Murch / Pulp Figures Cossacks. Proceeds from these figures go to the UNHCR appeal for Ukraine.
Monday Mar 14, 2022
Monday Mar 14, 2022
Cynthia Jing is the youngest person to appear on our podcast to date, and is arguably the most famous, because she and her group have been featured on Little Wars TV, and we haven't (not that we're jealous). Cynthia is part of the Laurentian Tabletop Organization, a Canadian club that supports college and university gamers in Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto.
We had a great chat with Cynthia about how her group is firmly rooted in tabletop miniatures gaming, particularly at the crunchy end (Napoleonics and Seven Years War) while, thanks to Covid (thanks, Covid! >said ironically<), has pivoted to digital platforms such as Tabletop Simulator and Twitch. We talked about how Laurentian helps college-age gamers discover the hobby, about the secrets of running successful campaigns, and about how it's cool to be a nerd. As two aging nerds in cardigans, James and I were grateful to learn that we're cool.
One of the secrets of getting people into historical gaming is playable rules that have complexity but are not ridiculously complicated, have a strategic aspect for campaign games, and which can play to a quick conclusion. We talked about how Sam Mustafa's horse and musket rules, particularly Blucher and Might and Reason, work well for this purpose. Cynthia recently hosted a fascinating chat with Sam on her Twitch channel and there's a link below.
We also talked about how the folks in Cynthia's group move between tabletop gaming (or it's digital equivalent) and highly complex video strategy games like Hearts of Iron (think Avalon Hill's Third Reich crossed with Sid Meier's Civilization. Cynthia's contribution to our CWP Digital Library includes a publisher of these games.
In a shortened conclusion, James and I talk about Hotlead (just around the corner!), and the difficulties of finding joy in the hobby during this stressful time of war that lives on our phones and tears our hearts. We'll be back soon with a post-Hot Lead episode.
Links to This Episode:
Our Guest, Cynthia Jing:
Laurentian Tabletop Gaming Organization: https://www.facebook.com/groups/582653558459668
Cynthia's Channel on Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/absolutestqueen
Cynthia's Interview with Sam Mustafa:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1306893612
Cynthia's Game Recommendations for the CWP Virtual Library:
Paradox Interactive: https://www.paradoxinteractive.com
Our Closing March
The Great Little Army (Kenneth J. Alford), Quick March of the Canadian Army
https://youtu.be/SVPj_yBLw1M
Contact Us:
Mike: madpadre@gmail.com
@MarshalLuigi
www.madpadrewargames.blogspot.com
James:
@JamesManto4
www.rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
Wednesday Feb 09, 2022
Joe Saunders is one of the nicest guys you'll ever hope to meet in the hobby - he's an artist, a modeller, and a gifted teacher who wants to share his many skills so the rest of us can build better looking models and fight our miniature battles on better looking tables. In this interview, we talk about Joe's background with Games Workshop Canada (remember them?), building his YouTube channel, and his work with Battlefront. We also discuss Joe's recent decision to get into Napoleonics gaming (One of Us! One of Us! One of Us!).
In the second half of the podcast, Mike and James go into the Canadian Content Corner to talk about a little known and horrific battle, Kapelsche Veer, in the winter of 1945 as Canadian troops (Lincoln and Welland Regiment, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders), some of them in canoes (!), cleared stubborn German defenders in a brutal week of fighting along the Maas River in northern Holland.
In the What We're Doing segment, Mike talks about his early adventures in 3D printing, and his favourable impressions of Sam Mustafa's Napoleonics rules, Lasalle 2. James talks about how artillery takes up a lot of space on the battlefield, and revisits his beloved Bavarians being annoying to Napoleon at Hanau in 1813. We also talk about how things are looking better for HotLead in March (woot! woot!) and we look ahead to CanGames in Ottawa on the Victoria Day Weekend in May (hmmmm, gaming, or gardening????).
Links to This Episode:
Our Guest, Joe Saunders:
Miniature Landscape Hobbies YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MiniatureLandscapeHobbies/about
Joe's livestream on Building Terrain:
Joe's Etsy Store:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/JoeSaundersTerrain
Joe on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/Miniaturelandscapehobbies
Joe's Books for the CWP Virtual Library:
Peter Morby, Creating a Napoleonic Wargames Army, 1809-1815 (Crowood Wargaming Guides) Creating A Napoleonic Wargames Army 1809-1815 (Crowood Wargaming Guides) eBook : Morbey, Peter: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store
David Miller, Fighting Men of World War Two: Axis (Simon and Schuster) Fighting Men of World War II - Axis eBook : Miller, David, Smith, Graham: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store
Canadian Content Corner:
Paul Woodage of WW2TV talks to Edwin Popken on the Battle of Kapelsche Veer: https://youtu.be/8_LzRfAuARY
James Holland and Al Murray of We Have Ways podcast talk to Mark Zuehlke about the Canadian Army in NW Europe:
https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/the-canadian-story/id1457552694?i=1000548427211
Other Stuff Mentioned:
Becke and Summerfield, Hanau 1813: Napoleon's Retreat from Liepzig
https://kentrotman.co.uk/newbooks/hanau-1813-napoleons-retreat-from-leipzig/
Sam Mustafa's Lasalle II rules: https://sammustafa.com/lasalle/
HotLead 2022 (Mar 18-20) https://hotlead.ca
CanGames 2022 (May 20-22) http://cangames.ca
Our Closing March
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment:
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment - Wikipedia
The Lincolnshire Poacher: March of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment https://youtu.be/s6vyUcF_F2k
Contact Us:
Mike: madpadre@gmail.com
@MarshalLuigi
www.madpadrewargames.blogspot.com
James:
@JamesManto4
www.rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com
Thursday Jan 13, 2022
Thursday Jan 13, 2022
In our January Episode, we speak with our guest Jason Weiser, the genius behind the first hobby magazine aimed at North American readers in twenty years! Jason's been on a tour of all the posh podcasts, from Yorkshire to the Great White North. We slaved in the studio to get this month's podcast ready just a day before the second edition of MM is released! It's a nervy thing to do and we applaud the chutzpah of Jason and his team. Listeners may recall that we talked with our guest Don Perrin about the demise of hobby magazines on this side of the Atlantic, so we wish the newcomer every success.
The interview begins at 14:45 in the podcast. You can check out the magazine at https://militaryminiature.com and we encourage you to subscribe or at least order an issue.
Elsewhere in this podcast, James talks about getting the Russian Napoleonic army for Christmas, Mike talks about his problems and hopes in getting started in 3D printing, and we nervously cross our fingers as we discuss plans for Hot Lead 2022 in the Time of Omicron.
Links for some of the stuff what we talk about:
Tadenac Games Canada:
@TadenacGames tadenac.canada@gmail.com
Legions IV Hire:
https://www.legionsivhire.ca/index.php?
Hot Lead 2022:
Our March Out this month is in honour of the Royal Canadian Navy and of ou Canuck wargamer friend, @Medical_Int (Cheers, Thomas!). The HMCS Naden Band:
Contact Us:
Mike: madpadre@gmail.com
@MarshalLuigi
www.madpadrewargames.blogspot.com
James:
@JamesManto4
www.rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com
Thursday Dec 23, 2021
Episode Nine: The Christmas Special
Thursday Dec 23, 2021
Thursday Dec 23, 2021
James and Mike welcomed some friends to our CWP Christmas Podparty. We also had a special visitor, Santa Grognard, though he seemed more interested in the Moose Milk than in our Christmas wish lists.
The usual silly seasonal natter and year end predictions. We hope it gives you a laugh and a bit of cheer.
James and Mike with you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and thank you for your kind interest in our podcast!
PS
"Moose milk" is a Canadian military tradition, favoured particularly at Christmas and year end mess parties and unit "sticky floor" parties. There are a variety of recipes, and they should be approached with extreme caution:
https://cookwithmitch.blogspot.com/2016/12/canadian-forces-moose-milk.html
Sunday Dec 12, 2021
Sunday Dec 12, 2021
In this Edition of CWP, James and I catch up after a month off the air by recounting our adventure at Lard, Eh?, the first Canadian wargaming event (to our knowledge) dedicated exclusively to Too Fat Lardies miniatures games. We're joined by our friend and one of Lard, Eh?'s organizers, Chris Robinson. Our conversation covers the planning of this event in the time of plague and whether it bodes well for the reopening of the live wargaming convention scene in the Great White North. James and I also talk about our reactions to O Group; BLUF, it's fun, it makes your noggin a bit sore trying to figure it out, but it's an exciting game and very good at putting the player in the role of a battalion commander without worrying about which section has so many 2" smoke rounds left.
In the Canadian Content Corner, we're joined by our friend Dr. Brad St. Croix, making his second appearance on CWP. We recorded this conversation on Dec 9 (the Defence and Fall of Hong Kong began on Dec 8, 1941), so it's a fitting date to speak to Brad about his speciality, the Canadian role in Hong Kong and the way it's been obscured over the years by some unfortunate historiography. Though Brad isn't himself a wargamer, he was a good sport and helped us work through the battle and how it might be modelled on the table top. Rumour has it that Mike ran straight from the interview to the Peter Pig website to grab some 15mm Japanese infantry!
Continuing the CWP tradition of finishing with some relevant Canadian military music, we end the episode with the march of the Royal Rifles of Canada, one of the two gallant Canadian battalions that were destroyed in the battle.
Brad's contributions to the CWP Virtual Library:
Tony Banham, Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941. UBC Press, 2003.
Marc Milner, Stopping the Panzers: The Untold Story of D-Day. U of Kansas Press, 2014.
Review on Stopping the Panzers: https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1908&context=cmh
Info on Our Guests:
Chis' Blog: http://twothreesixmm.blogspot.com
Chis on Twitter: @LegendaryNoize
Dr. Brad St. Croix on Twitter: @OTDCanMilHis
Brian Hall: @Brian34586884
Brad's You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQZZQKAo8CqUzsUoOhuQdYw
Brad's Patreon Page:
https://www.patreon.com/OTDCanMilHistory/posts
Brad talks with the Juno Beach Centre about Hong Kong:
https://www.junobeach.org/podcast/c-force-to-hong-kong-with-brad-st-croix/
Closing Music:
"I'm Ninety Five": Quick March of the Royal Rifles of Canada: https://youtu.be/9DGOCtbJg48
Royal Rifles of Canada:
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/official-military-history-lineages/lineages/infantry-regiments/royal-rifles.html
Contact Us:
Mike: madpadre@gmail.com
@MarshalLuigi
www.madpadrewargames.blogspot.com
James:
@JamesManto4
www.rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com
Wednesday Nov 10, 2021
Wednesday Nov 10, 2021
In CWP Episode 7, James and Mike talk to Canadian wargames manufacturer Alex McCutcheon of Full Battle Rattle Miniatures. Alex has brought his soldier's knowledge of the contemporary Canadian Army together with a talented sculptor to create a boutique label of gorgeous 28mm miniatures for gaming the Canadians (and their adversaries) in Afghanistan. There's even a LAV 3!
We talk with Alex about his nervy decision to put his own money into the business, and get some mouth-watering hints as to where he might go next (1885 NorthWest Rebellion, anyone?). We also talk about Alex's love of skirmish gaming, his crazy on again off again GW girlfriend, and a really interesting crossover of tabletop gamers and scale model builders in the Toronto area called Sword and Brush.
In the Canadian Content Corner, James and I convene a blue ribbon panel to discuss the new Dutch film The Forgotten Battle, because how many times in a lifetime do we get to see a film about Canadians in the Battle of the Scheldt (which could oversell what the film actually delivers)? We're joined by grizzled grognard and Canadian Army vet Brian Hall, and by that rising phenom of Canadian military history, the newly minter Doctor, Brad St. Croix, to talk about what the film got right and wrong. We end the conversation with some thoughts on how we would advise Steven Spielberg if he came to us with a hockey sock full of money and a desire to give the Canadians in WW2 a proper screening.
Links from this month's podcast:
Full Battle Rattle Miniatures: https://fullbattlerattleminiatures.com
Sword and Brush: Canada's Premiere Tabletop Wargaming and Miniature Painting Expo: https://swordandbrush.ca
Lords of War Games Store, Oakville: https://lordsofwargames.com
Sword and Board Games Store, Toronto: https://www.theswordandboardtoronto.com
Alex's Contributions to the Canadian Wargamer Podcast Digital Library:
Mark Zuehlke, Opration Husky, The Canadian Invasion of Sicily https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B003Z9JMS4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Robert Semrau, The Taliban Don't Wave https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B003Z9JMS4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Canadian Content Corner
Our Guests:
Dr. Brad St. Croix: @OTDCanMilHis
Brian Hall: @Brian34586884
Brad's You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQZZQKAo8CqUzsUoOhuQdYw
Brad's Patreon Page:
https://www.patreon.com/OTDCanMilHistory/posts
Brad's conversation with Mark Zeuhlke on the Scheldt: https://youtu.be/XGpDwvk5uUc
The Forgotten Battle (2020 Dutch Film): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forgotten_Battle
The Battle of the Scheldt: https://www.bing.com/search?q=battle%20of%20the%20scheldt&FORM=ATUR01&PC=ATUR&PTAG=ATUR01RAND
Closing Music:
Royal Regiment of Canada March Past: https://youtu.be/ylAiGTAc8sA
Royal Regiment of Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/official-military-history-lineages/lineages/infantry-regiments/royal-regiment.html
Contact Us:
Mike: madpadre@gmail.com
@MarshalLuigi
www.madpadrewargames.blogspot.com
James:
@JamesManto4
www.rabbitsinmybasement.blogspot.com