Cult Of Games XLBS: Digital Featherstone – Can A.I Capture The Genius Of Wargaming’s Pioneer?
March 2, 2025 by avernos
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Backstagers, CoGs and OTTers, happy Sunday!
Starwars (and Star Trek) have plenty of scope to tell stories about things that aren’t the Skywalkers (or the bloody Federation/Kirk/Enterprise). As such there is room to ‘break’ the canon without breaking the setting. I’m not sure how one could expand the Bond-universe setting without Bond. Maybe the trick here is to go back to the roots and the original novels ? Make him less of a superspy with gadgets, but more like a damned good spy with flaws? Less spectacle, more cold war era spy shenanigans ? No grand schemes to take over the world, more ‘get rich quick’… Read more »
And as for ‘rules’ that are more like ‘narrative wargaming’ :
“Argueing when …”
https://tabletopmatrixwargames689972109.wordpress.com/
which kind of captures the idea mentioned at 41:00 in the show as the ‘rules’ help you break down your argument into a dice roll (kind of like how a GM estimates difficulties in a rpg).
Happy Sunday!
Much as it pains me, I am coming to realise that using AI is the only way I am going to get anything that involves writing done. The reality of how much time I have versus what I THINK I should have is becoming clear to me. So using AI as a starting point to take hours out of a job, which I can then refine, is allowing me to be a bit more ambitious in my plans.
Bob’s blog, and the replies to it, are well worth a read over regarding it
Maybe you could create a game based on Featherstones lesser known books that he wrote while he was the physio for Southampton Football club or maybe combine the two together like how the magic sponge helped defeat Rommel or Winter Green and how it’s part in the Battle of Hattin destroyed the Crusader forces
the judicious use of oil of wintergreen has gotten me through many a winter’s run or match. I can see why the crusades failed
The sight and smell od 1000’s of troops from the Ayyubid Sultanate army lowering their trews coupled with the smell of Winter Green wafting from their knees would have been horrible
Happy Sunday, A my favourite bunch of cults!
typos are a killer
Ah, short one this week. No, it can’t.
And now to watch what the crew has to say 😉
Happy Backstager Day! 00:00 Who is that? 00:45 That answer took too long! @warzan you know you can talk to us! We’re the Backstagers after all. We take care of our own. 01:45 Length of the headset cable determines the duration of his absence. 02:45 A K9 unit? 05:00 Crash the venue! Don’t take any money with you! 06:00 Lies! 06:45 To complete your collection you need all. Even the ones nobody else wants. 08:00 Politics? 08:15 Skeleton Crew was cool. Goonies in Space! 10:45 Escapism rocks! 14:00 This isn’t XLBS. This is “find alternative titles for shows show” 17:30… Read more »
Happy Sunday.
Five Parsecs & Five Leagues are both very good games.
AI’s maybe a good place to start off with but then you should write it out 100 times in your own words.
What are old wargamers doing to wear out the elbows on their jumpers, that’s the real question?
They sit at the table, elbows on the table, head on their hands, pretending to really think hard on what to do next when in fact all they think is “I need to pee”
this ^
This is how I know I’m too short to be a true gamer, I never sit down during a game cos I cannae see anything
You just need a bigger chair. like a bar stool
+1 for Five Parsecs. It’ll absolutely fit the Star Wars universe and as much blue milk you can manage.
Morning, thanks for 2nd Golden Button and praise. Projects been load of fun, and easy to paint.
For Gerry and Warren here is a thought for you pick an interesting battle..skirmish, and change period.
For example I onceran a game refighting the Battle of Mirbat from the 70’s but reset in Vietnam war. Or if you want to be really out there, copy a Battletech’Novel idea re fight Gettysburg with Battlemech’s which was a computer sim game between Jaime Wolfe, of Wolf’s Dragoons and Grayson Carlye of The Grey Death Legion..
Should keep John painting for months!
i think one of the most overlooked star wars game is Imperial Assault by fantasy flight…an awesome game.
It was a lot of fun and the model range was pretty good for a skirmish board game
Oh, Warren, let’s talk about Cone Wars. It is a big sprawling story, but it’s not about set piece battles. It’s about learning why Anakin Skywalker was the greatest Jedi of all time and why he was so beloved. And his slow, inevitable fall to the dark side. It’s about the arc of Ahsoka’s journey from annoying teenager eager to show she can keep up with Anakin but makes mistakes and is humbled by them but learns how to adapt and overcome those setbacks and comes to a better understanding of the Force and her own place in the galaxy… Read more »
This. The only real issue is that season one is a bit rocky and people give up before getting through it. I ran an RPG campaign for a squad of clones on the back of watching the show. Great fun show and adds a depth to the universe.
Re AI. I’ve just discovered Googles ‘Notebook LM’ https://notebooklm.google/ , which lets you upload PDFs, say of rules books (I’m sure you’d only use ones that are out of copyright / public domain ! ) and ask questions in normal language.
Very handy when learning a new system.
*gasps* @lloyd what he’s always dreamed of!!!!!
Happy Sunday! There this was a show i had too watch twice, bloody brilliant a show after my own heart….make your own rules as you go along.I hope when you do the Featherstone “How to play”, it is filmed in Black and white and you talk in a 1930’s British accent old chap’s??
Seeing Warren again makes my day. Love you @warzan.
@warzan I don’t agree with you about ‘The Acolyte’. That show made horsesh*t look edible. I still love you man!
Hurrah! A Golden Button! Thank you very much for the kind words 🙂 Building these Sludge armies is a hoot and I’m looking forward to doing a battle report at some point to get the game more on the radar. Also congratulations to the other Golden Button winners: loving the confined space of Space Hulk and definitely seeing a kindred spirit in the WW2 project xD Re AI: I’ve been trying to have AI advise me with Battle Tech rules and it has led to mixed results. I caught it in the act of hallucinating at some point. I was… Read more »
Oh, forgot to mention that I loved the discussion on scenarios and especially on rulebookless wargaming. Good show!
ai – this is the way…
The clone wars improves as it went along. They did have some crime on coruscant episodes with police investigations
@avernos Did you also see in the WSS about the Serville war Campaign, maybe of use IIRC thats one on your wargaming radar. Now you have the Minis do you have a ruleset in mind maybe one for yours and Warrens AI game design. Also watching the Hobby Hangout on catch up, I think the actors name you struggled to recall was No. 6 or Patrick Mcgoohan to the the rest of the cogs in the machine. @brennon About the Superhero gaming dilemma, I think with super heros being so defined by DC and Marvel for decades, probably the best… Read more »
@avernos Did you also see in the WSS about the Serville war Campaign, maybe of use IIRC thats one on your wargaming radar. Now you have the Minis do you have a ruleset in mind maybe one for yours and Warrens AI game design. Also watching the Hobby Hangout on catch up, I think the Columbo actors name you struggled to recall was No. 6 or Patrick Mcgoohan to the the rest of the cogs in the machine. @brennon About the Superhero gaming dilemma, I think with super heros being so defined by DC and Marvel for decades, probably the… Read more »