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Saying men and women have different biochemistries is one thing. Claiming that said biochemistry actually causes a given behavior is another thing. Women and men process information differently? Great. How does this lead to behaviorial differences?
I observe with interest the behaviour of my pet goats and sheep
and amongst the notable differences between males and females, there is the reaction to a possible threat. If a sudden noise or movement happens in the nearby forest, the whole flock is alarmed and looks in that direction. Then, if nothing more happens, after a few seconds the (female) goats and ewes lose interest and continue to graze again (practical sense: if there is no danger, let’s graze). But the billygoats and rams (including the castrated males) stand still for 5 minutes or so, still intensely watching at nothing (and pretending they are mounting guard, believing they are protecting the flock…?)But when they want to play (which often happens in spring time) they all have the same games (running around happily and pretending to hit each others’ horns).
both men and women can and do play games. The kinds of games they like are culturally determined, not chemically determined.
Yes I certainly agree. If there are differences, it’s in the perceptions and feelings of the game?
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/I am not reading all this, I would faint on my computer screen!
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Nice table and miniatures. I like the weathered buidings!
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Interesting experiences in this thread.
When displaying a game in a large event I nearly always keep one or two squads in reserve, that can be handled by newcomers who wish to try a few game turns without disturbing the game balance.
Personally I don’t often accept kids in the game, because when we accept them, parents tend to leave hordes of agitated kids at our game table while they go away to watch more interesting things, as if we were some sort of kindergarten staff; and anyway the few kids who are really hooked will probably turn to GW a few years later so they don’t need us spending time for it. Children of wargamers, who can be expected to understand easily how to behave at a game table, are an exception.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/considered to be something that’s not safe for work.
…but King Offa considered that it was safe for him to have one.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Patrice, Patrice, Patrice, Sometimes English has its pitfalls. The correct word is “dike”. “Dyke” means, er, something else.
Thanks Jonathan.
Dictionaries tell me that both spellings… and meanings… are correct. …and can be understood? …in many ways?
If I can comfort you: the same AAR in French has for name “La digue, la digue…”
…the word “la digue” bears no doubt in French, it means a dike on a river or sea inlet. However, “La digue, la digue” appears in the chorus of a French well-known dirty song.
Ahem, I thought I would be forgiven because English is not my native language
…but what will the forum admin think of me, now that you made it clear? 
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Ahem. A few days ago, I already mentioned what I thought was my first wargame (with proper Airfix soldiers) here:
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=77552.msg952860#msg952860
But since you ask, I remember another one before that!
Before Airfix soldiers arrived in France (or before I noticed they had arrived), I was still playing with bigger toy soldiers (not sure of the exact size?)
My aunt, who was (and still is) 14 years older than me, once wanted to play with me. I was a child, she was 20(+?)
For the game, each of us took half of my toy soldiers and half of my toy cars and trucks. I did not notice that amongst the toy trucks she choose, was an excavator.
There were no rules. I made a fortress with some wooden blocks (from some construction toy), I thought that my soldiers were very well protected behind it, and I built all my strategy on that.
My aunt put two of her soldiers in the exacavator’s shovel …and she lifted them on the top of my fortress.
You should never trust your aunt.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Um, I’m not sure I can suggest good English names…
If you are looking for a strange name, find a good name with the word “Star” in it, and replace “Star” with “Étoile”, it will probably sound alien enough?
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Superb! …and correct Fench spelling is: Gendarmes d’Élite
Ooops I wanted to correct someone, and I forgot to type a R (for French) in my post!
<span style=”font-family: ‘book antiqua’, palatino;”>Thanks Patrice- thanks for correcting my French too!
</span> Darrell. You’re welcome.
And there’s a bug somewhere in here, dear Editor? Selecting a part of a message to change its shape often lets technical elements such as <span style=”font-family: ‘book antiqua’, palatino;”> in full view, unless you edit the message again to suppress them? It happened to me too.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Good idea, alas I have no idea what it says.
Basically it explains what we are doing (moving miniatures on a table), that there can be many different game system and miniature scales, that a cavalryman can move more cm than on foot, that dice give some uncertainty but that the game is not dominated by random, that the context of a game can be historical or fantasy or SciFi; and, last but not least, that this hobby encourages creativity and sociability etc
…but we decided not to write that it is also educational: that would make young people run away! 
The idea was to give explanations as simple as possible for visitors, without taking side for any wargame system or taste.
Do you get many non gamers at French games shows then?
The point is that we don’t have many purely wargame shows (or none at all) because there is not so many wargamers, and because when wargame clubs and/or RPG clubs wish to organize a public event in the Social centre etc where they usually play, they can only attract some public and get support from the Social centre director, some sponsors, and the Town council etc, if the event is much larger than the games they usually do, so there are quite large events with all kinds of games, boardgames, etc; and some of the public, families etc, who come for this, have never heard of miniature wargames. Same thing with the miniature models conventions, which can attract different people most of whom are surprised to see us actually playing with the little things.
Introductory games/displays at conventions and shows are nice, but I think there are many potential hobbyists who never come in contact with them. More beginner-friendly introductory material online would be great.
Yes. Our PDF sheet is online; making a bigger document would be a lot of work…
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Superb!
…and correct Fench spelling is: Gendarmes d’Élite
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/I don’t know the rules, nor the context, but I like this :
Dumb down the rules if you can.
One of my favourite sayings is: “Wargames rules are medieval whores in a conquered town!”
…Um, I apologize to all ladies here, this sentence is not a real concept, it’s only a badly-inspired “rhetorical metaphor” (whatever this means, usually an excuse to say it’s pure crap!)
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/I understand your frustration.
Do I detect a hint of irony here?
Transcription is always problematic, whatever the language. There’s no easy fix. Once frustrations have mounted high enough, one may get to believing one can solve it all by simply putting the onus on others to conform to one’s own standards for the sake of purportively self-evident noble ideals like unity and universality, but really, at the end of the day one is just being yet another dictative voice trying to shout down all the others.
Yes, and I’ve been trying hard not to oppress anyone.
…just pointing what the French dictionaries say.In fact (and without being too much dictatorial) I successfully corrected the French Wikipedia from “tachanka” to “tatchanka” (nobody objected because it’s the correct spelling), and BTW I also corrected the “mousquet” French Wiki page; there often is a confusion in French with the meaning of “musket” in English (and I also was happy to inform Greenpeace France about a small mistake in their internet newsletter where they wrote “Pechora” instead of the correct French spelling “Petchora”).
…And all this only proves what amount of time one can lose about stupid things on the internet, instead of doing what I should be doing more seriously in real life.
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Not sure Jonathan if you are asking a question, or sharing your own experience (which is interesting).
I don’t label my miniatures bases (I play skirmish) but for RCW lists and designations I like to use names in Cyrillic because I can read it (although I don’t speak Russian fluently). IMO it is a very personal choice, it depends on what you want to display and explain to the public and to your gaming friends.
My gaming friends don’t know any Cyrillic and would not try to understand it; although they accept that it looks nice on sheets and it gives more role-playing feeling (if a subtitle is provided).
In fact my struggle on Russia-related wargames is not about Cyrillic, it is about writing correctly the French spellings of Russian words! Because native French-speaking players look at the English spellings on the miniatures manufacturers websites, and then they use these English spellings in conversations and forums in French …and that drives me mad
(yes that’s one of my favourite rants). For example, spelling “ch” does not sound the same in French and in English. If a French native speaker sees the word “tachanka” he naturally pronounces it tashanka. If you want him to pronounce more correctly, you must write “tatchanka” in French. On the other hand, “Cheka” is rarely understood by native French speakers if you don’t write “Tchéka”.http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Points system allow more diversity, but are not a guarantee of exact balance; they just prevent players to unbalance the game.
In my own campaigns and rules I ignored the (previously established) points system for some years, and it worked for some times, then we had to reintroduce them because players were raising huge unbalanced armies (although it’s not really a competitive game, but).
How do you cost units in a rock/paper/scissor relationship? On average rock is 50% effective, but that is a meaningless average that never actually applies: rock is 100% effective against scissors and 0% effective against paper. Everything depends on battlefield context, and how do you cost that?
IMO they should have sthe same cost. But then, if the Rock king must fight a Paper army, he would be well inspired to recruit some Scissor auxiliaries; either the game organizer plans them for him, or you allow off-table diplomacy and he must buy them from the Scissor king.
How do you cost something that has a small chance of exerting a very LARGE effect? (e.g. Bard the Bowman taking down Smaug with a single shot to his one vulnerable spot) It’s probably poor GAME design to include such, but fantasy literature is filled with such situations.
I think that you should have a (very small) chance to take out anything (“it works only if you have one chance on a million” wrote Terry Pratchett in his books about the dragons). Otherwise the game has no interest.
If there is a small but not zero chance an enemy mage can take out your top commander with a spirit attack (Saruman versus Theoden) do you spend the points for a guardian angel bodyguard? Or just resign yourself to losing the battle if the die roll goes very badly against you?
This is the player’s choice…
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/A good way to force players to act historically, if you want them to, is to include hints for this in the scenario. Of course you must also give them something to do. In some of my games (but these are skirmish games) we sometimes have large armies beautifully displayed on the table edges, but the players only command small groups and skirmish in the forefront ; the larger contingents are there for the public to see, and can send reinforcements if needed.
there were reenactors there in British and Austrian uniforms (despite there being no Brits or Austrians at the actual historical event). And I thought to myself: “They’re having fun. Good enough!”
That remembers me a re-enactment skirmish and historical camp I organized ten years ago in Waterloo for the 300th anniversary of the first battle of Waterloo (1705-2005). I had managed to invite quite a large group of British and Dutch re-enactors, but I was the only French. Which was a bit of a problem because I couldn’t fight all the other guys alone… So when we arrived on the field (a large park near the town center) we began by some marches and drill and playing drums etc, then I ordered the (red uniformed) British to march to one side of the park, and the (blue uniformed) Dutch to march to the other side. Then, standing in the middle in my French white uniform, I told the (good-humoured) public that I was alone but that anyway they would see what a 1705 skirmish could look like and that I had a cunning plan to win this skirmish. I pointed to the Dutch and I shouted to the Brits: “the enemy is there!” and I pointed to the Brits and I shouted to the Dutch: “the enemy is there!” and I ran to hide myself amongst the public and there was a skirmish between the allies! and everyone was happy
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Interesting subject.
As you mention in your blog, some women can be included as “leaders”, others as “rank and file”.
Female leaders do not need fighting ability (although some of them can fight). In the late Middle Ages it happened that important women had to wear armour to inspire their troops, Joan of Arc is not the only one. Apparently it could happen if a very important noblewoman was alone to defend her lands (being a widow, or her husband being prisoner).
Jeanne de Flandres (Joanna of Flanders), wife of Jean de Montfort, is said to have worn armour when a French army besieged the Breton town of Hennebont in 1342.
Picture from a later, 15th century, source (Froissart). Note the tabard worn above the armour, it’s shaped as a female dress, and shows the arms of this lady: her husband’s arms on one side (Brittany) and her father’s arms on the other side (Flanders).
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/I’ve seen this “narrative” word often used recently, but I had the impression it was not about wargame rules in themselves, but about what the players want to do with their game. Some players like to build a narrative around what’s happening on the table, others don’t.
You can probably build a narrative with any ruleset, but obviously some rules, and some universes, encourage it more than others.
“My 2nd Battallion attacked the hill, but received heavy artillery fire from the 721st Artillery Battery, and was charged on its left side by the 2503rd Cavalry Rgt” / “I attacked the village with my little troop of pirates, there I found the daughter of the Governor hiding in a house, I brought her back to the beach but some guards were after me and I got a bullet in my head when trying to reach my ship” …are both narrative, but one of these stories sounds more narrative – or more role-playish?
than the other.http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/A great game, I played it a few times many years ago, the games club in Rennes (Brittany) had one.
The idea of players having not a definite army, but a changing set of nobles and forces etc who changed sides occasionaly, was a big surprise in these times (I mean, the time when we discovered this game, not the medieval times)
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/I like to imagine that game characters are real living persons, not game pawns.
I also like the games to be fun; and a bit cartoonish IF it doesn’t hamper the belief that what happens could be true.
I need both: humour, and feeling of realism, to believe in the adventure. So some names may have an humourous meaning, but it must not be so obviously ridiculous that it would ruin the feeling.
For example, one of my favourite characters (sometimes as player character, sometimes as NPC) in our pirate games is a French Governor, “Monsieur de Toulvarère”. This name actually means “hole (of) my ass” if you pronounce it in the Breton language but this meaning is not obvious to all players and the modified spelling reminds of “Lagardère” a well-known French novel swashbuckler hero.
And my Governor has a NPC niece: “Mademoiselle Clotirisse”… all ship captains (players) always want to meet her in private, even when it’s not included in their mission!
…and no, this is NOT sexist. A gay friend once complained that there was no NPC for his taste in the game, so it happened that the Governor also has a nephew! whose name is: “Aymé Biennofont de Toulvarère”… aaargh I won’t translate this one, but it is not obviously ridiculous, it fits in the period…
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Excellent!
With so many troops it’s bigger than a small skirmish
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/It is very painful.
I also decided to switch to acrylic some years ago.
Since then, I’m still unable to finish anything – but it’s not because of the acrylic, it’s because I am psychologically(?) blocked to varnish the painted miniatures and to accept them to be finished, because somehow I want them to be very much nicer than what I did with Humbrol but in fact I am not a better painter.
Um, I think that someday I’ll have to buy some liquid yuck for wooden furniture and wash the little buggers with it and see what happens…
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/I did not even know that 3mm armies could exist
I remember a long time ago I was playing with 1:72 Airfix and my father said: these toys are so small I can’t see them!
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/Hi John.
BTD was not always easy to order from in the past, it’s great news if it’s working well again.
I’ll share your question around me, but IMO the most important thing for new additions would be compatibility with other popular 28mm ranges?
http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/
