This week we're taking a bit of a detour to critique some video-game armor, in this case the armor of Baldur's Gate III. I have been meaning to do a general critique of the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition armor system from a historical perspective for a while, and the massive outsized success of BG3 … Continue reading Collections: The Gap in the Armor of Baldur’s Gate and 5e
Tag: Video Games
Collections: The Great War: Western Front, A Gain of Inches
This week we're looking at The Great War: Western Front, a hybrid turn-based/real-time strategy game about the First World War developed by Petroglyph Games, a renowned maker of real-time strategy titles. Petroglyph generally tend to do games set in science-fiction or fantasy settings, so when this product was announced I was immediately interested to see … Continue reading Collections: The Great War: Western Front, A Gain of Inches
Miscellanea: Victoria III Confirmed! (First Impressions)
This week's post is coming to you all a bit early, as the folks at Paradox Interactive were kind enough to send me a review code for Victoria III - Paradox Interactive's long awaited historical grand strategy game set during 19th and early 20th centuries - so I could have something to say about it … Continue reading Miscellanea: Victoria III Confirmed! (First Impressions)
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIb: Cracks in the House of Islam
This is the back half of the second part of a four part series (I, IIa, IIb, III, IV) examining the historical assumptions behind the popular medieval grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, made by Paradox Interactive. Last time we looked at how the game tried to mechanically simulate the internal structure of the highly … Continue reading Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIb: Cracks in the House of Islam
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIa: Rascally Vassals
This is the second part of a four-part (I, IIa, IIb, III, IV) series examining the historical assumptions of the popular historical grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, by Paradox Interactive. Last time we opened by discussing how CKIII attempts to simulate and represent the distinctly personal character of rule and decision-making in the Middle … Continue reading Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIa: Rascally Vassals
Fireside Friday, July 22, 2022
Fireside this week! I had hoped to have the next post in the logistics and foraging series ready to go for this week but we are also moving house next week and a number of things related to that have gotten in the way. One of those things was Ollie: Ollie 'helping' me pack my … Continue reading Fireside Friday, July 22, 2022
Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIc: Morale and Cohesion
This is the conclusion of the third part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc) looking at the role of the general in commanding pre-gunpowder armies in battle. Last time we looked at how junior officers, when empowered to act independently, could give armies a degree of flexibility and reactiveness on the battlefield but … Continue reading Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIc: Morale and Cohesion
Collections: Expeditions: Rome and the Perils of Verisimilitude
This week we're going to take a long look at Expeditions: Rome, a turn-based tactics RPG by developer Logic Artists, set in the first century BC Late Roman Republic. In particular, we're going to look at how the game both constructs and uses its historical setting. This is a particularly important topic to discuss because … Continue reading Collections: Expeditions: Rome and the Perils of Verisimilitude
Miscellanea: Thoughts on CKIII: Royal Court
This week, we're going to be a bit silly and talk about the recently released Royal Court, a DLC expansion for Paradox's medieval grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, because I think it is attempting something fairly interesting that relatively few strategy games do. This isn't going to be a review - there are a … Continue reading Miscellanea: Thoughts on CKIII: Royal Court
Fireside Friday, November 27, 2020
Hey folks! Fireside this week. A bit of a change-up in terms of the coming attractions. I had planned to start "Textiles, How Did They Make It?" next, but I want to do a bit more reading on some of the initial stages of textile production (that is, the production of raw flax and wool) … Continue reading Fireside Friday, November 27, 2020