Thanks, @stlwarrior –
To reply to your points:

1) I would agree that the idea of gaming Intifadas, Cast Lead, Hezbollah, Hamas / Gaza War, etc., would be best handled at the skirmish 1:1 level, IF … and here’s a big “if” … we’re dealing with true combatants. IDF vs. actual Hamas insurgents in the south or east, Hezbollah militants in the north, that kind of thing. If we’re in the more publicized / politicized arena of Intifada, i.e., teens throwing rocks, skirmish wargaming or really any kind of wargaming becomes an issue.

2) Pandemic-style “crisis management” solitaire or co-op play would seem to be the best way to handle larger views of subjects like the Intifada. The solitaire / co-op angle seems to fit with two factors in particular: One – who really wants to play as the “kids with rocks” against Israeli gunships and Merkavas? Two – were these uprisings really “coordinated?” I don’t think so. Political figures like Arafat or al-Wazir or Yassin certainly played a part and probably helped instigate these, but “control” them? From a wargaming aspect, this makes it tough to work out how the Palestinian player would have any realistic “player agency.”

3) Syria: Yeah, I want to. We’ll see how it goes. You’re absolutely right about the bizarre “geometry” of the Syrian conflict. Usually wars that start with several factions sort of “collapse” quickly into two generalized coalitions. Syria, for a number of reasons, never really did. You have at least six major factions (SAA, FSA, ISIS, Kurds, US, Russians) all involved, and each of which not fighting certain factions … while definitely engaged against other factions. It’s a bizarre “cat’s cradle” of tangled interrelationships: who’s fighting who, how HARD are they fighting, who’s allied with who, and who is staying out of who’s way … THIS week?

3a) I don’t think anyone’s “protesting” any of our modern content. We had a little during the Ukraine series a while back, but that was over three years ago. Of course that wasn’t part of the Ops Center or Sitrep, neither existed at the time. In fact, so far I’d say Sitrep and Ops Center have had a great welcome from BoW / OTT, definitely from the team. In terms of the community, I know that what we produce is not the first choice for lots of people on the site, and that’s totally okay. No one is yelling at us or “protesting” (to my knowledge). They’re enjoying their hobby and we’re enjoying ours. Exactly as it should be.

I don’t want to speak for the whole Sitrep team, but when it comes to the Ops Center, like I say in Episode One, we’re covering the real world here. No Jedi or space marines or wizards or dragons. And the NASTY side of the real world. I can’t always stay away from politics because that’s the narrative that drives these conflicts and thus the wargame (and we all agree that narrative is a huge part of wargaming). All I can promise is that I will always try to avoid taking sides.

4) The “Tango Down” link definitely looks interesting. You know me, I love counter-based wargames. It allows me to build maps, forces, and games in Photoshop and play them with people online, regardless of where we all live. This would have been perfect for Entebbe. Thanks for the tip!