If you listened to our podcast conversation with legendary game designer Rick Priestley, you heard him suggest the reason Warmaster failed to take off may have been because the retail staff weren't interested in promoting it. Today Greg accepts Rick's challenge and tracks down someone with experience working for Games Workshop. "North" (as he's known on YouTube) has a channel discussing all things Games Workshop with the benefit of years working for them at the retail level in the UK. In a recent video on his own channel, North reflected on the consequences of GW abandoning Specialist Games and getting away from its roots as a design studio. You know...a workshop that made new games. It's a fun watch and directly related to our discussion about Warmaster--one of the many games killed when GW put Specialist Games out to pasture.
In today's podcast, we talk to Northern Exile about Warmaster, about what it's like to work for the largest wargame company in the world, and how that company continues to evolve. We even discover a dirty little secret at the end. North is a historical wargamer! Thanks again to North for participating and speaking so openly and freely. If you enjoy that kind of talk, check out his channel, Northern Exile.
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59:32
Rick Priestley Talks Warmaster
Games Workshop released Warmaster in 2000 as its first epic scale, mass battle game set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. But did you know Warmaster was supposed to be released two years earlier? Or that the inspiration for Warmaster's iconic command and control system came from a trip Rick Priestley took to Gettysburg battlefield? Today on Little Wars FM podcast, Greg connects with the author and creator of Warmaster, Mr. Rick Priestley himself, to learn about the origins of the game and pry for insider information about what happened to it. Why did Games Workshop delay the game, deny it a big starter box release, and then fail to fully embrace the concept? What about the short-lived Battle of the Five Armies boxed set that used the Warmaster rules years later?
In upcoming podcasts and interviews we'll talk to members of the Warmaster community today, over a decade after Games Workshop abandoned the game. A thriving fanbase of players still enjoys Warmaster and a free, updated version of the rules is available for download. We'll be exploring all of this and much more. Our thanks to Rick for generously taking so much of his time to join us for this chat!
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1:14:58
How to Film Board Games
Today on Little Wars FM we're joined by Gary Blevins of Board Game Nation. Last year Gary produced a viral YouTube sensation with his multi-part video series recapping the 2023 Axis & Allies World Championship. Not only did he film and edit a series, he played in the championship and advanced to the finals. Did he win? We won't spoil the ending, but we will spoil the topic of today's podcast!
Gary discusses the challenges of presenting board game recaps in a compelling, edited format. The format of his series inspired our own first foray into board games on Little Wars TV--our popular Shogun episode. So join us for a fantastic discussion about board games, YouTube, and how to keep viewers hooked!
Our thanks again to Gary for joining us. Check out his channel, subscribe, and go get addicted to his Axis & Allies World Championship Series.
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1:03:42
15 Questions with Eric Farrington
For our club-versus-club Thermopylae wargame against Mark's Game Room, we used Men of Bronze as the rules for our land battle. Today, the author joins Little Wars FM for an in-depth discussion. Eric Farrington is the author of multiple game systems and he talks to Greg about his past and future projects. Eric also reflects on working with Osprey Games as a publisher and how their development process works. You can follow Eric's wargaming hobby updates on his blog, Blood & Spectacles, where he is extremely active.
As a reminder, you can also visit us at Little Wars TV for access to our modified quick reference sheet for Men of Bronze, where we adapted the original rules for mass battle combat. You can find that PDF on our "Free Stuff" page under the Thermopylae episode notes. Our thanks to Eric Farrington for coming on the podcast to talk about his wargame design process!
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1:04:53
Hail Agrippa! (feat. Mark Backhouse)
Greg talks to author and game designer Mark Backhouse about a 2013 article written in WSS Magazine called "Hail Agrippa." That article is freely available here, from WSS. A decade ago, Mark turned to Warlord Games' "Hail Caesar" rules when seeking out a mass battle, ancient naval system. With a few modifications, he turned the popular land-battle system into a trireme-smashing, quinquereme good time!
In this interview, Mark talks about how he modified an existing game and what philosophy he brings to projects like this. He also discusses his own rule development and what he's working on next! Mark is very active posting wargaming content to social media and is also a prolific author in Wargames, Soldiers, & Strategy. You can find more "Hail Agrippa" coverage in the latest summer issue of the magazine, where Mark & Greg co-authored a 6-part ancient naval campaign for the Philippi Campaign.
We hope you enjoy Episode #51 of Little Wars FM! And if you missed our Actium wargame on YouTube, be sure to visit Little Wars TV and watch the tabletop game. Did Antony and Cleopatra rewrite history? You'll find out!
Join us as we explore historical wargames, interview game designers, and occasionally sip a dram of fine Scotch! Little Wars FM is a premium podcast supported by the patrons of Little Wars TV, the largest historical wargaming channel on YouTube. To listen to every episode of the show, join us on Patreon!
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