Hello, is this thing on?  Does it still work? Yes, in the spirit of all things Easter, this podcast has risen, or at least, roused itself from its slumber.  In this catch-up issue, James and Mike get together on air for the first time since last October.  No interesting guest, just us.    In a little over an hour, we talk about: Hot Lead, which took place just before Easter and of which James is justifiably proud of his team.   You can find his wrap-up of this year’s show at his blog: ...

I'm embarrassed to say that James and I recorded this chat on August 10, and then I totally forgot about uploading it in the business of my day job.  So here we are, two whole months later and I owe big apologies to James and to you dear listeners, all two of you. I vaguely recall that we talked about James' Quar fixation, the forthcoming Napoleon movie, and God knows what else.  So I'll be as surprised listening to this as you will be.  Hopefully we all enjoy it.

Wendy de Wolfe is a Canadian Armed Forces veteran, fine artist and freelance graphic designer, and wargamer with a particular interest in kriegspiels.   For the past year, she's ben running a large Napoleonic kriegspiel set in 1806 in which James and I were among the players, only to recently discover that James was the Prussian CinC.  It was terrific fun.     In this Now It Can Be Told episode, James and I had a terrific time chatting with Wendy about this particular game, what we didn't...

Our blue ribboned panel of veteran HotLead game-masters and ne'er do wells, Keith Burnett, Dan Hutter, Don Perrin and Brian Hall join Mike and James in a shamelessly self-congratulatory chat about what we did, saw, and liked about HotLead, Ontario's premiere miniatures gaming event. In the back third of the episode, the podcast morphs into a bit of a 2024 planning committee meeting, but Lord knows who's still listening by then!

In this episode, we detour from miniatures to chat to Marc Rodrigue, Montreal-based designer of the award-winning French and Indian Wars boardgame, Bayonets and Tomahawks, published by GMT Games.   We talk about Marc's abiding interest in the French and Indian War, and the design process that led to his game.   Marc's also a FIW reenactor, and has some interesting insights to the period from portraying a soldier of the Franche de la marine.   Marc's current projects include an interesting...

Mike and James chat with Roger Chrysler, a wargamer whose family history led him to a deep dive in early Ontario history and the War of 1812.   Roger tells us about his family and their involvement in the war, and we do our own deep dive into the many gaming possibilities (figures, rules, scenarios, books) that this fascinating but poorly known war offers.  If you aren't itching to refight Queenston Heights or Lundy's Lane after listening to this, we don't know what's wrong with you. Also, we...

Not a lot to say about this one except to wish a very Merry Christmas to our listeners, and hoping to have more for you in the new year. Cheers from Mike and James.

In Episode 20, Mike and James speak with Glenn Pearce, the Dean of Canadian Napoleonic Wargaming.     Glenn is the mastermind behind what may be the oldest Napoleonic miniature wargaming group in the world, based out of Toronto, Ontario.  Glenn describes how he and his group made a big decision to go small and only game with 6mm figures.   We also discuss Glenn's work with Baccus as a rules writer, with one set (Ruse de Guerre) published and another on WW2 divisional plus battles in the early...

After a two month absence, which is explained in tedious detail, CWP is back.  No guest this month, just Mike and James having a long overdue natter and catchup. We talk about the Amazon pseudo-Silmarillion series Rings of Power, and whether it will have any influence on wargaming in Middle Earth.  Those who know James will know that he has strong opinions.  Will Games Workshop offer Rings of Power, oooops, sorry, Second Age figures?  No matter, gamers have tons of options for ME suitable...

In the first and longest part of the podcast, Mike speaks with Dr. Robert C. Engen, a Canadian military historian and educator with a passion for wargames.    I spoke with Robert while he's between jobs.  Until recently, he used wargames to teach operational process and planning to mid-career officers at the Canadian Forces Staff College in Toronto, and will be soon be on his way to teach the same thing to the Australian military.  The same job, Robert tells me, only upside down. Robert and...

We're back for Episode 17 of CWP and we're chuffed that we are now over 5000 downloads.   Of course, we have no idea how many of those downloads led to people wiping their hard drives after listening to us for a few minutes, but 5k is 5k, and we'll take it.  Our gratitude to all of you who listen to the podcast and who tell their friends about us. In this Episode, James and I managed despite a spotty Zoom connection to speak with Thomas Moore whose out in Whiterock, near Vancouver, British...

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...

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...

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,...

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:...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Part One: “The Kids In The Hall”: Our interview with guests, Jacob Stauttener and Evan Switzer, borrows its title from the 1990s Canadian comedy show, "The Kids in the Hall".   Two (youngish) grandads, call us The Airfix Generation, put two (youngish) gamers, call them The GW Generation, on the spor to talk about generational differences and crossovers. We talk about crossovers from the kind of turnkey gaming systems that young gamers find in a Games Workshop store to more "obscure"...

In our fifth episode, we talk to Rene Charbonneau, president of what may be Canada's oldest wargaming club in Vancouver, BC, the Trumpeter Tabletop Gaming Society.     We talk about what makes a club a success: planning, a code of conduct, outreach to the community and hospitality to young people.   Trumpeter's big convention, Salute, sounds like a fine excuse for a trip to gorgeous Vancouver in the spring. In our second segment, the Canadian Content Corner, we talk about the Dieppe Raid,...

In our August Podcast, we talk with a true grognard, Don Perrin, a Canuck who now calls Las Vegas his home.  Since Don and James met as cadets and barrack mates many years ago, Don went on to graduate from Royal Military College and serve in the Canadian Army in the RCEME Corps. Don's done practically everything there is to do in the hobby.  He's worked with giants like Frank Chadwick, run a games store, published (and killed!) wargames magazines, manufactured lead figures and now is doing...