I recently added a new article to the Line of Departure Online Features site.  This is another military history project, and a pretty extensive one, dealing with Patton's campaign in Brittany immediately after the Normandy breakout.  Long-planned, it was supposed to secure the port capacity of the…

Just in time for the New Year, the latest issue of Line of Departure is ready to go into the mail, by the end of business on December 31.  This one covers the following:

• Sedan, May 1940 (World at War) - Review
• Field Commander Rommel (DVG) - Analysis
• Firepower (Avalon Hill) -…

Today, I updated Line of Departure Online Features with a couple of new articles, both by me, and of an academic nature.  One is an analysis of the Battle of Mortain, the failed German counteroffensive in Normandy, August…

Are you interested in classical warfare, and especially the conflicts between the Romans and German tribes along the Rhine?  If so, please read on.

I'm developing John Prados' game on the Battle of Teutoburger Wald in 9 CE, in which the Germans annihilated three Roman legions. The game is for the TPS line, and is a quick-playing design distinguished by its lack of a combat results table. Instead, there are competitive die rolls to resolve combat, with dice added according to…

Now, for a limited time, Line of Departure offers sequences of recent back issues, available in groups of four or eight, at reduced prices.  So catch up on your wargaming reading at low cost, with magazines ready to ship to you now.  These include two theme issues, covering modern tactics, and another on World War II on the Eastern Front.

For more on…

The newest issue of Line of Departure is available, to be published this coming week.  Issue 71 reviews Washington's Crossing (Revolution Games), with other articles on Red Sun Rising (SPI), We Shall Fight on the Marne (White Wolf Games), and The Arab-Israeli…

As I posted about three months ago, I attended a conference held by the New York Military Affairs Symposium, commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812.  There, I presented a paper on British Strategy toward the northeast of the United States, also putting it into the context of the larger war against Napoleon.

Since then, there has been a fair amount of interest among history people to see it published on the web.  Today,…

I'm in New York City for the last night of a long weekend.  I had the distinct honor of being invited to present a paper to  the War of 1812 commemorative conference staged by the New York Military Affairs Symposium, supported by a grant from the New York Council for the Humanities.  My paper deals with British strategy on the frontiers with New York and New England, arguing that the…

The newest Line of Departure, marking the magazine's twentieth anniversary, is now available.  This issue focuses on World War II on the Eastern Front, with articles on GMT's Crimea, Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear (Academy Games), Russia Besieged (L2 Design Group), and Panzer…

I've noticed that the longer and more often that I spend on Facebook, including communicating with some of you, the slower that my computer becomes.  I deleted most of the extra, and extraneous apps, that come with the Facebook territory, and that has helped the situation, and frequent disk cleanups also help.  But the problem does not completely go away, and it comes back with a vengeance every time that I spend more time on the site.  Moreover, more than my browser (Firefox) is affected,…

This evening, I uploaded a new article to Line of Departure Online Features.  This one is an academic article on Winfield Scott's campaign to conclude the war in 1847, conducted from the amphibious landing at Veracruz to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.  Because it started as a project for a graduate…

Just in time for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, Rommel at Gazala is going on sale, for a limited time.  Regularly selling for $10.00 for a digital download, it now has a special price of $5.00, exclusively through WargameDownloads.com.  To order your copy,…

The Penn State scandal continues to exude its stench; who could have predicted that one of the most-respected football programs in the country could be laid low by its culture of denial when confronted with sordid allegations of child molestation?  Or that the formerly respected defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, would be the alleged perpetrator, using his…

Today, Anwar al-Awlaki met his end, thanks to a well-directed Hellfire missile fired from a CIA drone in Yemen.  I'm sure his parents will miss him, but probably not very many outside of the ever-dwindling terrorist community.  This follows the termination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan this May.

By chance, on Wednesday I was teaching my undergraduate American…

The newest issue of Line of Departure is now available.  It is a theme issue, covering Modern Tactics: Land, Air and Sea.  The lead review is of the newest edition of Hornet Leader, from Dan Verssen Games, followed by analysis of SPI's Air War, and strategy for Harpoon Classic, for the computer. …

Capitalism is a heartless bitch, intolerant of failure.  Emotion has nothing to do with whether a company survives and thrives, or is consigned to the dustbin of business history.  We've seen iconic corporations go that way, with Pan Am, TWA, the Pennsylvania Railroad, Jones & Laughlin Steel, and many others.

Usually I have a hard time getting emotional about a major business failure, beyond sympathy for those who lose their jobs.  But those emotions seldom extend to the…

The National Post in Canada has presented some really remarkable coverage of Afghanistan over the last few years, some of which I've passed along here.  Today, the paper looks back at Canada's long war in the country, as the Canadian combat role comes to an end.  The result is one of the best articles that…

Today, I uploaded a new article on Line of Departure Online Features.  This one is an unusually scholarly piece, expanded from an essay that I had to write for a graduate historiography class I took at American Military University over the winter,…

I am just thrilled to be the one to post on ConsimWorld that Osama bin Laden is no longer stealing the oxygen of normal people, or otherwise polluting the earth with his vile presence.  After ten long years, justice is done.

Fox…

Last night, during the pre-game show for the NCAA basketball championship, ESPN2 carried this feature on La Roche College's basketball program, and Coach Scott Lang.  I find this well worth watching, and not just because I'm on the La Roche faculty.

Winning for…