Rob Zacny

You know, I had misgivings about the conversation we had at the start of this episode. Not that we shouldn't have had it, or that I regretted what we said, but just that I know some people are probably burned-out on hearing about this right now and I like Idle Weekend to be kind of a cool, cheerful place to hear lively discussion. Danielle and I often joke about how we have the most Extremely Real conversations just before we hit record, and then our tone completely shifts. It's one reason I love doing this show: Danielle and our audience help bring me out of whatever funk I might be in, and bring me back to focusing on the stuff I love. This week our pre-show chat didn't happen. So we tackled what was on our minds, and I knew that some people wouldn't enjoy that chat, either because they weren't in the mood or because they disliked our views. So far, I have to say I'm pretty glad that the feedback we're getting back is mostly very positive. I think every week of Idle Weekend is like a public trust-fall with this community, and you guys catch us every time. I was hoping the admin reports I was getting this admin would be about some random lurker, but I can't say I'm surprised to see it was Turrican. Disappointed, but not surprised. It's always a bummer to see someone who has been a community member for a while, even one that has crossed lines repeatedly, finally burn his last bridges. But when someone repeatedly demonstrates he can't separate disagreement from personal hostility to a community that has tried to welcome him, it's time to call it a day. Thanks for being on top of this, readers (and Doug).

Three Moves Ahead 374: Civilization VI Troy "I hate that jerk-ass Montezuma" Goodfellow is joined by Rowan Kaiser, Fraser Brown, and David V. Heron to talk about one of the biggest strategy games of the year: Civilization VI. A new Civilization game is always a cause for celebration. But what has changed? What has remained? Is it a revolution or an evolution? In this case, it turns out to be more of the latter. It's a fun game, it has some great ideas, but at its core it remains the same Civilization game it has been for decades. But... is that a bad thing? Civilization VI Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 370: Dean Essig Bruce welcomes award-winning game designer Dean Essig of The Gamers to talk about his long history of designing wargames. Dean's experience in the military and attention to detail have helped him create long-lasting series that model combat on several different levels. Dean and Bruce discuss the process of playtesting, the challenges of tactical, battalion, and operational level games, double-blind gaming, and why Illinois is such a great state. Tactical Combat Series, Operational Combat Series, Standard Combat Series Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Dean Essig at Boardgamegeek The promised book list: Looking at the reality of what it is like... The Sharp End (John Ellis) Men Against Fire (Marshall)* The Face of Battle (John Keegan) The Soldiers Load and the Mobility of a Nation(Marshall) On Infantry (John English) *Marshall has caught flak in recent years for the methodology used and claims of making up information, regardless the volume Men Against Fire is invaluable and it would be foolish to avoid reading it in one’s studies. And How Forces really interact… Maneuver Warfare Handbook (William Lind)** Fighting Power (van Creveld) Supplying War (van Creveld) Battle Leadership (Adolf von Schnell) Fighting by Minutes (Robert Leonhard) The Art of Maneuver (Robert Leonhard) **A slim volume and pricey on the used market, but absolutely well worth finding.

Three Moves Ahead 327: Kingdom Rob, Rowan, and Fraser apparently got into the catnip this week before getting together to talk about Kingdom. Kingdom is a game about chasing rabbits, usurping monarchies, and losing your hat. It caused Rob to enter a Howard Hughes-esque fugue state, shuffling about in his apartment with tissue boxes on his feet while mumbling about forgetting to bring coins into the woods. Kingdom, Risk of Rain, Terraria Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Sorry if I rubbed you the wrong way. There's a couple things here. And I'm sorry we didn't get to your letter, it was absolutely the other one that I really wanted to read. First, I definitely threw some gasoline on this discussion because I wasn't wild about leaving it off with, "I guess we didn't realize other people looked at the world differently," because I felt that somehow the original aesthetic objection to magical realism had been lost. So if that device somehow puts-off Danielle, or me, I wanted us to at least try and unpack that hang-up rather than simply write it off as a cultural blindspot to be cured with education. In short, I felt like we'd ended up learning about, say, the exact nature and context of "belief in elves" and why that is not some kind of benighted, backwards belief... which I don't think was the original problem. The problem was that, for some reason, works of fiction where elves are woven into the fabric of a world otherwise grounded in familiar, materialist reality seems to piss Danielle off, and I'm not too sure about it either. So why does that device, not the foundations underlying it, act as a turn-off? And I think, for me, that's where the heavy-handed remark comes in. Not that the critique of western civilization and values is heavy-handed and I'm so over it, but that the way this literary tradition tends to state this critique often seems, to me, heavy-handed in its delivery. That got lost, however, because at a certain point the thread of the conversation slipped away from me and I ended up expressing my frustration with western adoption of bastardized version's of other culture's spiritual beliefs at which point one could justly ask whether, at any point, we were actually talking about magical realism. Clearly, more study is required, as has been very well called-out here an elsewhere. But if I came across as condescending, I apologize. My attempt was to drive us toward the point of our original, if poorly thought-out, objection.

Three Moves Ahead 344: Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan Rob is joined once again by David Heron as well as the elusive Julian Murdoch to discuss Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan. Sekigahara fills a fascinating niche in the wargame space by giving a lengthy game experience that is light on rules. It's easy to teach and learn yet still gives the impression of a much beefier experience. Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan, War of the Ring Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 369: The Banner Saga 2 WARNING: The Banner Saga 2 is a story-driven game. Certain plot points will be talked about. Major plot points from the first game are discussed. Such is life in a podcast where the point is to talk about what happens in video games. This week Rob Zacny and Fraser Brown talk about Banner Saga 2, the sequel to the Kickstarter darling that made a splash with its gorgeous graphics and brutal gameplay. The decisions are harder, the battles are more interesting, and lots of people still die. The Banner Saga 2 Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 368: Dark Reign: The Future of War This month's patron-selected game is 1997's Dark Reign: The Future of War. It wasn't the prettiest game, or even the best game. But it was an RTS that existed in the glorious sepia-tinted days when the genre could do no wrong and even the more hamfisted attempts were at least competent given the sliding scale of the time. Rob, David Heron, and Troy "These RTS games make my rheumatism flare up" Goodfellow talk about Dark Reign, the 90's, and KMFDM somehow. Dark Reign: The Future of War, and every other damn RTS that ever existed Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 367: Bite-sized Strategy Rob, David Heron, and Troy "It's dignity, gah - don't you even know dignity when you see it?" Goodfellow get together to talk about strategy games that don't take 100 hours to play. Whether you're burned out on the sprawling grand strategy games that take up more time than most community college degrees or you just don't have enough time left in the day after pursuing your community college degree, shorter games can be better. But why aren't there a lot of compact, quick-to-play strategy games? Why does the general gaming public hate the ones that do exist? Our panel tries to crack the case of the easily digestible strategy game and ultimately leaves slightly depressed. Kingdom, Offworld Trading Company, Invisible Inc., Valkyria Chronicles, Heroes of the Storm, Game of War and stuff, Hearts of Iron IV, Battle of the Bulge, Tharsis, Hero Academy, Hero's Charge, Atlantic Fleet, Heroes of Might and Magic, Horse and Musket, Masters of Orion, Sid Meier's Starships, Atom Zombie Smasher, Flotilla, Civilization V, Unity of Command Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 365: Rimworld Rowan Kaiser, Gita Jackson, and Jonathan Bolding join Troy "Why do I always have to clean the airlock" Goodfellow to talk about Rimworld. Rimworld joins a prestigious line of games in the relatively new genre of "It's like Dwarf Fortress, BUT - " by adding its own sci-fi survival twist. While still in Early Access, Rimworld has recently made its way to Steam to bring its procedurally-generated madness to the masses. Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Fraser Brown and Rowan Kaiser join Troy "Restart" Goodfellow to talk about Endless Legend. Most of them agree that Endless Space was good... but not great. Does Endless Legend pick up the slack and become a game for the ages? One thing is certain: it sure is purty. Fraser's review at PCGamesN. Rowan's review at IGN. Listen here.

Three Moves Ahead 366: Modern Warfare Bruce is joined by game designer Mitch Land to talk about the Next War series of games and modern warfare. Modeling modern warfare is its own challenge as designers attempt to get the most accurate data possible and then abstract it to a playable game. Mitch talks about modeling and performance data, why aircraft carriers are important, and the processing of printing and publishing a game. Silver Bayonet, Next War: Poland, Crisis Korea, The Next War, Mrs. Thatcher's War, Next War: Korea, Next War: Taiwan Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Okay, we're not picking favorites among our guests from last year, but former intern Soren Johnson and designers Jon Shafer and Dave Heron were our most recurring guests in 2012 and it seemed like a great time to hear them weigh in on their favorite games from last year. Perhaps inevitably, a fight breaks out over how to classify FTL. RIP Soren. It wasn't a strategy game, but we can all agree it was pretty good. You'll be missed. Listen

Three Moves Ahead 364: Pet Peeves Certain sins are unforgivable. Poor interface, an over-abundance of tooltips, and apparently ship designers. Let's get one thing straight: I - Michael, who writes these notes every week - like ship designers. I liked Gratuitous Space Battles, I like them GalCiv, I like them any way I can get them. So while I've never been on the show to defend my case on this particular topic, I'm writing the notes. Do I get to editorialize? Sure I do. Who's going to stop me? Troy? Ship designers are always a delight. If you don't like them, then this week you can listen to Rob, T.J. Hafer, and Rowan Kaiser go through their lists of strategy game pet peeves. Gratuitous Tank Battles, Stellaris, Crusader Kings 2, Total Annihilation, and many more Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 362: Alternate Histories Rob Zacny, Rowan Kaiser, and TJ Hafer range the hills of Gettysburg and traverse the Pacific in a show that talks about games that alter the course of history. Hearts of Iron IV inspired this discussion about how we can change the outcome of historical events to something even more plausible than reality. Hearts of Iron IV, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Europsa Universalis IV, Sid Meier's Gettysburg!, Ultimate General: Gettysburg, Sid Meier's Antietem!, Gary Grigsby's War in the East, STAVKA OKH Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa, Total War: Attila, Battles of Napolean, Crusader Kings II Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 360: Hearts of Iron IV Rob is joined by Bruce, Jonathan Bolding, and Fraser Brown to discuss the latest in Paradox Interactive's stable of historical games, Hearts of Iron IV. This latest entry in the series returns us to World War II, except it's not always World War II, but that's kind of the point, except when it's not. Despite a few glaring oversights in documentation, the panel has plenty of good things to say about the joy of being "historish". Tune in to find out: is the whole game great, or just Parts of Iron? Hearts of Iron IV Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 363: Sid Meier's Pirates! Rob, Fraser, and Troy "I'm tired of swabbing the poop deck" Goodfellow get together to revisit Sid Meier's Pirates! We all know who Sid Meier is, and we all what pirates are. So let's just cut to what you're here for: Troy "I'm wanted on three continents for my ample booty" Goodfellow, Troy "My parrot crapped on my shoulder" Goodfellow, Troy "Ramming broadsides is my specialty" Goodfellow, Troy "How do I make a sandwich with two hooks" Goodfellow, Troy "I've got barnacles but I can't say where" Goodfellow, Troy "Stop calling me 'Shark Bait'" Goodfellow Sid Meier's Pirates!, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 348: Civilization at 25 In this very special Three Moves Ahead, Rob is joined by Civilization designers Jon Shafer and Soren Johnson to talk about Civilization. The venerable strategy series turns 25 this year, and Rob already took the one joke I had about how it can now rent a car. Oh well. Jon and Soren give their takes on the other entries in the series and give some insight into their design decisions for Civ IV and V. Civilization 1, Civilization 2, Civilization 3, Civilization 4, Civilization 5, Civilization 6 j/k lol Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Tom Chick joins Rob to talk about their feelings toward Company of Heroes, and why they both feel a bit disappointed. Tom thinks the game's economy is broken and it's become too armor driven, while Rob is really depressed by the faction design. And yet Rob still likes it, while Tom finds it ultimately pointless. Listen

Three Moves Ahead 361: Pacific War Strategic Games Bruce welcomes back game designer Mark Herman to talk about games covering the Pacific War in World War II. Mark's expertise comes in the form of his two Pacific games, Pacific War (1985) and Empire of the Sun (2005). Bruce and Mark cover a wide variety of board games, diving into what makes or breaks a strategic game in this theater. Pearl Harbor (GDW), War in the Pacific (SPI), Victory in the Pacific (Avalon Hill), Pacific War (Victory Games), Empire of the Rising Sun (Avalon Hill), East Wind, Rain (Task Force Games), Fire in the Sky (Multi-Man Publishing), Empire of the Sun (GMT Games), War of the Suns (Multi-Man Publishing), Axis Empires: Dai Senso! (Decision Games) Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Weekend May 13, 2016: Just, like, your opinion, man The weekenders examine the curious case of a game critic who... gave his opinion on a video game. Then the game's publisher told its fans that it's ok for a critic to do such a thing. It's the curious case of Stellaris! Elsewhere, the weekenders ponder sexism in games they enjoy and tackle Captain America: Civil War. Stellaris, Fallout 4, Street Fighter 5, Alien: Isolation, The Witcher 3, Dragon's Crown, Captain America: Civil War Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Weekend June 18, 2016: We Happy E3 It's the big E3 show, with a roundup of the games that looked the most interesting at this year's massive industry trade show. But it's also a sober week, as we spend much of our mailbag time pondering the industry's reaction to the Orlando tragedy. It's two Big Topics for the price of one this weekend. Dishonored 2, Prey, Xbox One S, Project Scorpion, Project Neo, Recore, Playstation VR, God of War, Farpoint, Gwent, Battlefront: An X-Wing Mission, Grow Up, Sea of Thieves, South Park: Fractured But Whole, Death Stranding, We Happy Few, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Battlefield 1, Steep, Watch Dogs 2, For Honor, Forza Horizon 3, Star Trek: Bridge Crew, The Last Guardian, Detroit: Become Human, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7, Warcraft (film), Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

In the beginning, there was Panzer General and it was good. Soon after that came Panzer General 2 and it was even better. After that was another game we don't talk about. Fast forward a decade or so to Panzer Corps and things were back to good, unless you asked Troy, and some time after that we reach this week's topic of Panzer Boat. Rob, Tom, Bruce, and Troy "HMCS Uganda" Goodfellow get together to talk about Order of Battle: Pacific, a game that superficially shares a lineage with the venerable Panzer Corps and other Slitherine games. Rob and Troy took a shine to it while Tom and Bruce decide that they've sung this song, danced this dance, and sunk that carrier before. Hello Kitty is invoked, JRPGs are explained, and the Pacific Theater in general is likened to Warhammer 40K. Read Rob's review at PCGamesN. Listen here.

Three Moves Ahead 350: Aging Gracefully Nostalgia is a powerful thing. Softened memories of sunlit rooms on Saturday mornings and brilliant panzer strategy replace the reality of grueling turn counts and CD-ROM issues. Can you ever really go home again? Is Master of Orion really as good as we recall? (The answer to both is: no.) Rob Zacny, Rowan Kaiser, Sean Sands, and Troy "I don't Google during a podcast" Goodfellow wheel their chairs into the whist room to talk about games that have aged gracefully and games that have not. Vampire: The Masquerade, Battle for Middle Earth, Impossible Creatures, Master of Orion, Rise of Nations, Medieval Lords, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Warcraft 2, Planescape: Torment, Elder Scrolls, TIE Fighter, Imperialism, Age of Empires, Rise of Legends, Anno 2070, Need for Speed, Steel Panthers, Age of Rifles, Panzer Corps, Final Fantasy, Max Payne, Wizardry 7, Myst, Under a Killing Moon, Myth, Dark Reign, Battlezone, Seven Kingdoms, Sacrifice, Messiah, Civilization Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Three Moves Ahead 358: Battlefleet: Gothic Armada This week's show features another game chosen by our Patreon backers: Battlefleet: Gothic Armada. In the grim dark future there is only war, but here in the present there is... well, still only war, just mostly in the form of Games Workshop games with "war" in the title. Rob, Rowan Kaiser, and freelance writer Jonathan Bolding to talk about this boardgame adaptation and agree it's a gorgeous visual feast that also embraces the glorious tradition of Warhamminess. Battlefleet: Gothic Armada Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes