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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 1d

Granted, I’ve read and appreciated several excellent books about #WW2 women, but #AgentZo is THAT book.

Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 1d

Wife’s friend has long flight for vacation, needs book suggestions.

Wife: What was that book about the #WW2 woman you liked so much?

Me: #AgentZo?

Wife: Yeah. Didn’t you hear the author speak in DC at the Spy Museum?

Me: Yes, @claremulley.bsky.social (spells name).

Wife: Yes, that one. Thanks.

Book on a reddish table with a printed e-ticket for an event sticking out of it. The book is a a non-fiction biography of a WW2 Polish courier and resistance fighter, Agent Zo, by Clare Mulley (the title and author spashed in type across the top and bottom of the cover). The middle illustration, in black and white, shows the back of a woman in a coat and satchel slung over one shoulder walking down a European street, flanked by the words “The untold Story of A Fearless World War II Resistance Fighter.”

“ Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.” — Aeschylus German troops await a charge from U.S. Marines at Belleau Wood. We h...

Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 4d

Finished Great Bridge #wargame board deployed...at the location where, 250 years ago, the Culpeper Minutemen mustered before setting off for Williamsburg and ultimately their crucial role at the Battle of Great Bridge. Spent the day talking about and gaming the battle.

#GamesForLearning

Shot of a folding table with a miniature wargaming diorama set up. Sting along brads in the wooden frame create a grid of squares for playing a game. Stands of paper soldiers occupy key locations, crossing a bridge and assembled behind barricades. Table draped with blue cloth, with two folding stands with signs about the battle and game.

Close-up of the wargame table, showing string grid squares and paper ranks of British soldiers, grenadiers in front, marching down a road and across a wooden bridge. Flocked foam terrain rises out of a glistening model swamp.

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 5d

Forgot to mention this piece features @gamingthepast.bsky.social (all the way at the end) and his “Cycle of Gameplay and Analysis” chart that reminds us of the relationship of learning, gameplay, and reflection.

Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 8d

#HobbyGamesRecce
I review the repertoire of #miniature #wargames I’ve run at conventions and other public events over the years — suitable for entertaining and educating kids and newcomers — and offer a general invitation for institutions to play and learn.

#GamingThePast #GamesForLearning

Event Game Repertoire

“ Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.” — Aeschylus German troops await a charge from U.S. Marines at Belleau Wood. We h...

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Reposted by Peter Schweighofer

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 5d

Priorities.

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 7d

WIP on my Battle of Great Bridge #wargame board. A few touch-ups and spray matte on the flocking and I’m ready to string up the grid. Photos of breastworks and bridge in place with Peter’s Paperboys British and Patriot militia.

#GamesForLearning

Top-down view into a miniature wargaming diorama in progress. Wooden bridge and breastworks in place over river and at end of causeway respectively. Patriot militia lurk behind the breastworks; British troops march across the bridge and narrow causeway.

View across an earthen causeway — with British troops in the foreground — which ends at some log breastworks behind which lurk Virginia patriot militia paper soldiers.

View of a wargame diorama showing paper soldier British troops marching over a bridge over a river, with a cannon waiting to cross in the foreground.

Different view of a wargame diorama showing paper soldier British troops marching over a bridge over a river, with a cannon waiting to cross in the background.

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 8d

#HobbyGamesRecce
I review the repertoire of #miniature #wargames I’ve run at conventions and other public events over the years — suitable for entertaining and educating kids and newcomers — and offer a general invitation for institutions to play and learn.

#GamingThePast #GamesForLearning

Event Game Repertoire

Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 8d

Flock this! WIP on my Battle of Great Bridge #wargame board. River/marsh glossed. Grass and sand flock on land drying. Big mess, but hoping it all works well with breastworks and (adequate) bridge.

#GamesForLearning

Top-down view into a miniature wargaming diorama in progress. The marshy surfaces have a gloss to indicate water. with clumps of doormat reeds, while the land surfaces have a layer of greenish flock and some sand on them, with a brownish road running through it all, along a causeway, and across the place where the bridge belongs.

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 10d

WIP on my Battle of Great Bridge #wargame board. Surfaces base painted, spot foliage in place, road set down, painted, washed (awaiting drybrushing). Bridge base in place (more to come). Peter’s Paperboys redcoat unit on board for size. Next step: flocking land, glossing river/swamp.

Top-down view into a miniature wargaming diorama in progress. A thin wooden frame encloses painted islands of polystyrene foam amid a straight, blue river and marshland dotted with model bushes and rushes. A stained wood bridge base spans the river. A stand of Peter’s Paperboys redcoats marches down the road for size reference. A gridded map in the center shows the historical painting on which the map is based, the 1775 Battle of Great Bridge.

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 10d

Any chance the talk will be accessible online for those of us who missed it?

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 12d

WIP on my Battle of Great Bridge #wargame board. Wood frame with poster board on foam core, lots of polystyrene foam, plaster filler. Lord Rawdon’s period map included for reference, with a grid for the game and imposition on the board. Still lots of work to do before next weekend’s event.

Top-down view into a miniature wargaming diorama in progress. A thin wooden frame encloses islands of polystyrene foam on blue poster board, with smears of plaster forming a low riverbank and covering some seams. A gridded map in the center shows the historical painting on which the map is based, the 1775 Battle of Great Bridge.

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 14d

My son made his HS debate team (new this year). It’s the first activity in which he’s shown any interest. They’re raising funds to cover various team fees.

Times are tough for everyone, but any bit you can donate would help a worthy cause for smart kids. Many thanks.

tinyurl.com/EVDebateFunds

tinyurl.com

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 16d

Gotta love the #ColonialWilliamsburg Art Museums. As you enter, right near the main restrooms, you’ll find a display of period chamber pots.

What looks like a white and blue porcelain gravy boat in a museum display with a legend on the base below: “Chamber Pot...Elongated chamber pots were often called ‘coach pans,’ referencing their use during travel. Their elongated shape was a more ergonomical design for women.”

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 16d

While in #Williamsburg we ran some games at the #CallToArms #tabletop game convention, including a Skirmish Kids event, “A Slice of Belleau Wood,” with 54mm figures...like this German machine gun position (photographed by my son).

Picture of 54mm soldiers in a miniature wargame based on Belleau Wood in WWI. Several gray-clad German soldiers in coal-scuttle helmets (the Stahlhelm rather than the pointy topped Pickelhaube) linger around a raised grassy earthworks sheltering a machine gun team, with various model woods behind them.

Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 16d

Spent the weekend in #Williamsburg VA. Visited the Governor’s Palace gardens at #ColonialWilliamsburg as part of our father-son weekend.

Older overweight white guy with a white beard, glasses, and tan rimmed hat standing in front of some European style gardens in late season, flowers of varied colors in a bed running back intot he gardens, with a wall of greenery on the right and a white fence with brick post in the back.

Watch Read Play: The Battle of Britain

Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 22d

#HobbyGamesRecce
My copy of Fighters of Europe arrived recently, perfect inspiration for exploring the #WW2 #BattleOfBritain from the “Watch, Read, Play” perspective, a means of enticing folks to explore history in media, books, and games.

#wargames #GamesForLearning #GamingThePast

“ I have promised the F ü hrer that we will clear the skies and completely destroy the RAF. I expect my orders to be obeyed!” — Hermann ...

WEG Memoirs: Intro Adventure Game

Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 23d

Thanks. It was an interesting project for WEG back then in many ways. A streamlined synthesis of elements from various editions (ack, the Wild Die...) hearkening back to the days of first edition.

I wrote about it three years ago in greater detail, though not much from a rules perspective.

“ This is one of the best intros to RPGs I’ve ever seen.” – Andrew Rilstone, Arcane magazine T his year’s GAMA trade show recently wra...

“ Your library is your paradise.” — Erasmus French Regency style chess pieces and box, early 20th century. I have among my collection se...

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · 29d

#HobbyGamesRecce
I take a look at some of the historical #boardgames in my collection — games from history, not about it — and some related books. They’re common games available to everyone at some level, from across regions and cultures and time.

Historical Games

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · Sep 28

Trying to figure out what style of #chess pieces these are... Searching the internet hasn’t really helped.

Lineup of six chess pieces in a particular yet unknown style to me.

Lineup of six chess pieces in a particular yet unknown style to me, with the box they came in, a wooden slide-top box with “Schach” stenciled on top.

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · Sep 26

Hard to believe more than 80 years after someone wrote these words people still haughtily accept propaganda, spin, and lies at face value without question, willingly spread them like a disease, fail to consider their ramifications, and use them to justify further atrocities. Sic transit mundus.

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Detail of an old envelope. The word “Geöffnet” is stamped on the left in thick Fraktur font (“Opened,” meaning it has been opened by the Nazi censor). On the right one sees a partial stamp, including part of a swastika in a wreath circle.

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Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · Sep 26

“...would have written in the headlines that, in the weeks leading up to and during the 18-day war, the ‘noble’ Poles most brutally killed nearly 60,000 ethnic Germans, from infants to the elderly, without making a distinction between the sexes.”

#WW2 #Poland #propaganda

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Excerpt from a letter. Fountain pen script on old paper, in German.

Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · Sep 26

CW: Nazis

From a letter from Germany to friends in America, March 18, 1940:

“It would be interesting to me to know if anyone over there has published an account of how things actually played out in Poland. I do not think, for example, that the Times or the Herald Tribune...”

#WW2 #Poland

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The Convention Game Gamble

Peter Schweighofer @schweigbskysocial.bsky.social · Sep 23

#HobbyGamesRecce

In preparing for an upcoming game convention, I examine the risks I usually take, how I manage my anxiety beforehand, and a few strategies I rely on to better prepare for a positive outcome.

#TTRPGs #Wargames

“ Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T. S. Eliot Middle-earth 54mm miniatures game, wit...