It's so neat to see some of these overlooked aspects of military history put into a game. This is what I love about this hobby. Volko, you have my support. Just put my order in.

Have it ordered! I think Volko would be the man to develop my idea of a game based on the state recruitment of civil war soldiers. In Ohio it was pretty cutthroat between cities and counties and was quite competitive, sometimes nasty. For good info read "The Untried Life" which is the regimental history of the 29th OVI. I'm sure every state(especially NY and PA) was just as competitive.

I do enjoy these PC wargames playthroughs. I've got no issue when the graphics are on the simple side, I think it is still just as enjoyable. Perhaps that's what I've been used to with FM, where it is more about the what is represented than how the game is represented.

I'll give a little personal context to some of your surprises from the survey. I play digital wargames, but only occasionally. I switched to mostly board wargames because I find with digital that I spend more time fighting with the interface. I mostly enjoy WDS/John Tiller games, but only occasionally. As to solitaire, that is my only way of playing. I live in an extremely rural area in eastern Canada, and have actually never met another wargamer in real life. I vastly prefer true solo games and/or games with bots. As to favourite video types, I'm a very inexperienced wargamer, so interviews are largely over my head since I'm unaware of "who's who" in the hobby. When it comes to digital/video games I'm totally uninterested in playthroughs since they "spoil" it, and only watch reviews. But when it comes to boardgames I prefer "initial impressions" to get an idea if I'm interested, then I'll watch gameplay to see if the rules/gameplay speak to me. Essentially I'm saying (at least in my case), there may be alot of overlap between video and board gamers in general, but people can prefer vastly different content when exploring each hobby.

Good to have the update as always but even better to see you refreshed and ready to roll again!

Looks interesting!!

Always great to see these, thanks for all your work! I think you mentioned MAG-23 Guadalcanal last month, hope you get a chance to try that out. I'm curious what you think about it.

Fantastic video, my friend. Great to see you after the break. Sounds like you had an excellent re-charge!

I, Napoleon is in my brain. It's good.

Glad you had some down time. Very important to p[ace yourself, as so many creators burn themselves out. "Italia 1917-18" and "1920" both appear right up my alley. I have several games on the Polish Soviet War of 1920, but none are stellar. I will look into "1920" for sure. Honestly, "Schutztruppe 1914-18" has spoiled me for a while. (It's such a good game!) As far as gameplay, if I didn't solo, I wouldn't game. With my work schedule, it's nearly impossible to find an opponent. The results of your survey were interesting, but not a huge surprise to me. I respect the fact that you're interested in us!

The mechanism by which the historical events are introduced into the game is so clever, that will really increase the playability of the game.

Going to bring Crisis: 1914 with me to Gen Con and hope to find a group to play it it looks fun, glad to hear you enjoyed it. Have you played Versailles 1919 or Churchill by GMT?

I am trying to get more inroads into my Pile of Shame and getting the components punched/organized so that I can get around to actually playing them. That has meant I need to cut back on watching KZfaq videos, as much as I enjoy them. Keep up the good work.

i play both PC specific games and board games done on the PC.

Thanks for the update. I will say, I am not very surprised solitaire as on top, but am by the degree over both. I fit into the both category and know many that are the same. I was surprised that was not higher. Lots of play to learn and develop tactics, but still want the second brain to challenge me.

Mike, whenever you talk about new games I put my hands over my ears and say, "LALALALALALALALALALALA!!!!" .... It does not work but, at least I can say that I made an attempt to stop myself. 😁I'm glad that you were able to get some much needed time off and I will definitely look forward to more videos as well as trying to figure out where I'm going to hide the new games as they arrive. Nick Stasnopolis

I've really enjoyed the interviews!

Tutorials being so far down the list is surprising for me. I always have a hard time digesting all the rules for most games and watching playthroughs always helps me really get them down.

I would love to see you cover the PC game Napoleon's Eagles (based on the War and Peace boardgame). It's a grand strategic Napoleonic game on Steam.

I think we might be in the same field (education) and April and May are my worst months of the year in terms of being nonstop busy. Definitely wipes me out into June and then I try to rest and focus to get ready for late August. I do find having a mix of games to play (specifically the weight) really helps quite a bit. I've learned that trying to get into or set up a really heavy game at the wrong time of year is a path to frustration.

When you ask for 1 answer, it doesn't mean we don't want the others. My favorite ice cream is chocolate chip mint but rhat doesnt mean I don't like vanilla. Do it all

My shelf of shame has really gone nowhere. Recently played The Darks Sands, Kasserine & 414BC while flattening out the map for Borodino (GMT) Far too many new games and GMT sale just around the corner, whilst eagerly awaiting Traces of Hubris & Warfighter Vietnam. Pleased you enjoyed your break and looks like you will be really busy in the coming weeks. Excellent survey and will avoid iron Squad prob end up with a hernia attempting to pick it up. Finally have been watching Wolfpack playthrough on the war room with Mike Bertucelli, looks like a game to get lost in and loose all track of time. Many thanks.

My answer to the PC wargames are PC based games, like those put out by Matrix. I am not a fan of watching a board based hex and counter or miniature games on a simulator like vassal Or steam. I laughingly say I don't know why. If I start a video to see how a game plays and the guy brings it up on steam instead of a paper map and cardboard counters then I back out and look elsewhere. No idea why 😂

When I play solitaire I don't play to win, I play to see what happens. Although I enjoy playing with a friend, I mostly play solitaire for reasons of simple logistics. I can play solo at any time, and that is pretty much daily for me. I don't have to travel, I don't have to coordinate schedules, I can simply walk into my study and sitdown to a game and play as many turns as I wish. I prefer playing in the early morning. No one wants to come over at 5am and play for an hour or so. I play two fisted solo because most solitaire games amount to rolling lucky dice (even more than two player games 😁). One notable exception is Hill of Doves. Solitaire games seem to rely more on maximizing your dice rolls, and less on strategy, to me.

Lots to look forward to. Hope you stay charged up.

My shelf of shame - finished 2 games. As soon as I finish Manilla savage Streets I'll start #3 Battle Hymn. Another 1980s game I only played once. Its the Pacific theater version of Ambush.

Nice Video. On the narrative side: It turned out that's not good for the americans to put 7-years old generals in charge. Surprisingly they didn't know what they were doing. 😉 Nice small game.

Excited for Italia: A Farewell to Arms!

PC war games got me into tabletop war games…specifically the Campaign Series. Played that from the moment it came out as individual games, East Front, West Front, etc. Still play it today.

Great video, Zilla! Love the update! I don't even know where I would store Iron Squad, let alone set it up! And I love that hat!!

I got Steel Division 2 during the summer sale which I'm slowly figuring out. My current favorite game is Stellaris. No board games.

Interesting about people playing board games on pc. Wise Guy History does quite a bit of this now on his KZfaq channel, using Vassal. I find Vassal very useful for the bigger games, such as Stalingrad 42, which I just don't have space for on my table. Although I do own the board versions, I suspect that I will be playing Unconditional Surrender, Bitter Woods and Ardennes II the same way.

Great info. My grandfather fought at Gallipoli as a sapper (not the initial landings) so this has definitely piqued my interest.

Surveying the boyz

Also I'm glad you seem to have a good understanding of what a review should be...I don't think alot of online content that do reviews do the review justice. They're just too shallow

I think for your shelf of Shame, a good one to get you back in the groove would be RAF Battle of Britain. It's pretty easy to play and the rules are laid out very well, following the sequence of play making finding out what to do at a particular part quite simple

Great video, some of those results were quite surprising the only one I expected was how many people play solo. Love the Jays hat!

68% solitaire gaming doesn't surprise me at all. It's quite difficult to find local players. Blame it on us men who (unlike women) don't do a good job of making or cultivating new friends.

My hats off to you. KZfaq is very difficult IMO. I tried a wargaming channel and made about 12 videos then gave up. It's easier to just watch yours!

lands of the mesozoic!

Starting warfighter special forces

Congrats on the vacation. You don't look as tired, more rested. Well done.

Pls another SGS strategy scenario!!!

I was one of those who commented about Twilight Struggle on the last video. The number of digital adaptations of wargames or wargame-adjacent games is growing, slowly but steadily. And I'm not talking Vassal, I mean like, with rules enforcement like the TS app or on Rally the Troops. So I think you could definitely "corner the market" on that niche if you talked about those games, how their adaptations work, if they're good or buggy, etc etc. I don't think there are any other KZfaqrs talking about those, at least, not that I have seen. And I find myself spending more and more time on them, and learning new games on RTT for example (and then buying the games I learned!). Definitely some food for thought for you! And these monthly updates / news videos are always ones I watch right away now; other videos get watched later, but I watch these as quickly as possible, definitely enjoy them! Cheers from Montreal!

Looks like loads of good content coming up! Excited to see what’s next!

Statecraft piques my interest. I live near Detroit so I’m not local.

My first wargame(s) used Operation Warboard rules by Gavin and Bernard Lyall. I've been trying to get through my unpainted plastic boxes of shame. I've turned it into a spreadsheet which has a max score at the moment of 1224, my current score is 494 so 40% done. I've found the need to track to get it done. Like you, had a bad time playing in May and June 7 hours across the 2 months, July is at 24 hours played with 2 days left, may get to 28 hours if I'm lucky with the gaming group.

I think it depends what is played around the place you live.

This game is too expensive, 79 USD+20 USD shipping! 😒Do you know if they will sell it in the U.S. at a cheaper rate?

For those intending to play this game I recommend watching the Australian film “Gallipoli” if you haven’t already. The Gallipoli campaign helped to establish a national identity for Australia & New Zealand. Seven Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions at Lone Pine. The charge at the Neck, so tragic. Hope this game helps in educating those not familiar with the ANZAC legend. Apologise for my rant.