This week, guest blogger Jake
Hey Gurl, how about a little Hex & Violence?
asks the tough question
WAR GAMES, WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?
and invites you to come and play a few of his favorites with him. Take it away, Jake.
I’ve been a eurogame fan for a decade, and an Ameritrash fan for two, but only in the past few years have I really gotten into into wargames. Looking back, none of this should surprise me. Aside from the plastic-filled dicefests Risk and Axis & Allies, games specifically about war are tucked away in the darkest sub-niche within the niche that is tabletop games. People don’t get exposed to them in college like they do D&D, Catan, hard drugs, and STI’s.
Dude, pass me that Players Handbook.
The games sometimes have funny symbols, use technical manuals for rulebooks, and are usually the ugliest on the market (St. Petersburg aside). Besides all of these unsexy traits, wargames are actually great, and I’ve finally come around to appreciating how marvelous they can be.
So I’m starting a new wargame event at the Raygun Lounge. It’s called Hex & Violence, and it starts at noonish on Sundays. Show up and try some of the finest examples of contemporary wargaming, including , Twilight Struggle, 1812: The Invasion of Canada, and many more.
The legendary “Happy Invasion” will not be available as it has been out of print for years.
I’m happy to teach anything I bring, and while many (if not most) wargames are for 2 players only, there are many games for more, and even the occasional game for fewer. This is not an event for painted miniatures games such as Warmachine, or a nostalgia-fuelled foray into Risk. You can of course just grab a table and do that, but trust me, you’ll be missing out on some of the most engrossing experiences you can have in a tabletop game.