| 1815Guy | 22 Mar 2012 11:51 a.m. PST |
Just watching Wargaming News on Sky 235. It's nice to see specialist interests on Sky, but as programme this was unfortunately rather disappointing. Very young target audience imho, very fantasy based. Rather than news per se its just product puff for the next possible fad. Napoleon with robot legs???? Come off it! If you can read this, Beasts of War, more historicals please, and how about some genuine news items? Show reports, upcoming events etc. And how about helping our newbie players with painting techniques or period info. You could do a lot with this format, shame you aren't making more of it. |
| kreoseus2 | 22 Mar 2012 12:25 p.m. PST |
I was looking forward to seeing this the first time I heard it was on, badly disappointed. I tried it once more, and my wife walked into the room, there was I watching this nerdfest, and she looked at the fat nerdy Irish presenter, looked at me, shook her head and walked out of the room. I would have been better if I had been watching porn. |
| Dean AKI | 22 Mar 2012 3:25 p.m. PST |
LOL! I'll give this a wide berth, I'd rather retain some dignity… |
| Yesthatphil | 22 Mar 2012 3:51 p.m. PST |
Very funny comments guys … I haven't dipped into that particular treat yet (and I'm not feverishly scanning for it) |
| The Man With Two Bryans | 22 Mar 2012 11:26 p.m. PST |
Has come up before. Similar conclusions… TMP link |
| Twisted Metal | 23 Mar 2012 12:02 a.m. PST |
I remember back in the 90s, either BBC2 or Channel 4 ran a (very short-lived) wargaming programme which recreated Napoleonic battles (they used colour coded blocks rather than miniatures). I think I must've been the only person who watched it, though, since I've never met anyone else who remembers it! |
| The Man With Two Bryans | 23 Mar 2012 2:08 a.m. PST |
You mean Game of Bore, with Angela Rippon, Iain Dickie and Paddy Griffith link Wargames, like snooker, darts and bowls, are fun to be involved in but not to watch on TV. So expect six hours a day of wargaming on Eurosport within the next 10 years… |
| Gwydion | 23 Mar 2012 2:34 a.m. PST |
link Fascinating idea that it may have been a gameshow!
Gameshow on TV means contestants dragged off the street desperate for their 15 minutes of fame (and they hope as much money as they can scoop into their hot little hands as possible) – hardly surpising the review on a gameshow review site is of the same quality.
Having said that I don't think the company put the money in they originally intended – hence the production values. It really would have been boring however had they used one of the more complex and ultimately less realistic systems to resolve combat rather than the adaptation of the tried kriegsspiel type system they did. Arthur (and Paddy) were masters of summing up the situation, applying the modifiers and calculating the percentage chances of outcomes. Coupled with the involvement of real senior military types and civilian pundits I thought it worked really quite well. Given the proliferation of channels and idiotic lifestyle shows on TV over the intervening 15 years I am amazed nobody has had a punt at redoing something like this (beyond the post modern irony of Time Commanders). |
| Twisted Metal | 23 Mar 2012 4:03 a.m. PST |
Wow, thanks cosmickanga, I was starting to think I'd imagined that show! |
| Yesthatphil | 23 Mar 2012 4:58 a.m. PST |
The Game of War was very good for what it was. Substituting coloured counters for toy soldiers was done for a reason, but ultimately was a poor judgement, I think. It meant a little less was made of a good opportunity than might have been made. |
| Princeps | 23 Mar 2012 5:34 a.m. PST |
I watched about 10 minutes of it (the show mentioned by the OP). Even my 11 year old was horrified by it. |
| 1815Guy | 23 Mar 2012 8:09 a.m. PST |
Game of war was pretty good, I made a point of watching it. Wargaming, but not as we know it, Captain…… (OMG Beasts of War TV have contaminated me!) Looks like we are stuck with Youtube for good wargames content & 'how to' articles. Not that that's a bad thing…. there are some excellent regular posters on that site. |
| Volleyfire | 24 Mar 2012 12:06 p.m. PST |
Presumably no tapes remain of Battleground featuring Peter Gilder and his figures? Made in the 70s I think and I seem to recall there were 6(?) programmes made? Gettysburg was one, it featured on the front of Battle for Wargamers. Can't rember what the others were. I think it was shown in the morning during the school summer holidays before the Test Match started. Now I wouldn't mind viewing them again, as I never saw all 6, if only for a bit of nostalgia's sake, anyone know if they still exist? |
| Deedles | 24 Mar 2012 2:06 p.m. PST |
Volleyfire DougC's blog has more details on BATTLEGROUND - link |
| jeffwt | 24 Mar 2012 4:25 p.m. PST |
Hi, I've read this thread with some interest as I just about remember watching Battleground – I too would like to see them again – but this has led me to this thought. We seem to be in a era where many rulesets have been written for "fast play" where two players can get through a game within an hour or so. So, using such a ruleset as DBA or Impetus, how difficult could it be to get a group of proficient players together to conduct a few battles and for them to be filmed and broadcast on a channel such as Propeller or maybe Youtube. After all, I have just found some old editions of the Master Game – a chess tournement shown BBC2 many years ago – and some have said that DBA is very much like a chess type game with it's square board and equal number of elements for each player etc. Each battle could either be in a logical historical sequence (following the idea from Battleground) e.g. starting with a battle from Roman times, through the Dark Ages and finishing in the Medieval period – or a knock-out competition or something similar to determine an over all champion. If the historical sequence is followed, maybe an introduction to the battle could be used – perhaps get a player or military historian to explain the events surrounding each conflict, weapons used etc. An explanation of the game rules as each battle unfolded would also be needed. In terms of scale, perhaps maybe used 1/72 or larger on a 36" or 48" square board so that the viewers can see what is happening without the camera being too much of an obstacle for the players. But the main idea would be that the battle would be shown in full with minimal editing to fit a 1 hour programme. Any thoughts? |
| Volleyfire | 25 Mar 2012 11:19 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the link Deedles, so someone out there has got 4 episodes on DVD eh? Lucky beggar.If I had £352.00 GBP or whatever the cost is now I'd be off to ITV in Leeds to get my copies of all 6 like a shot. Wonder if Royal Armouries in Leeds would be interested in showing them instead? A Battleground day perhaps….
Reading DougC's blog brought back a wave of 70's nostalgia,ah heady days, until I remembered flared trousers……. |
