Interview with Frank Chadwick - YouTube (Concordia University)

Another headline Wargames designer .. Frank Chadwick: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNFRbHrmcjg&list=PLKWSTkN5DHsjuHV2ZCUz6yQCeWR3G3z0a

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Chadwick

Interview with Jo Miranda - YouTube Link (Concordia University)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRkgGy12X3s

Long talk but interesting! Almost as interesting as reading the games, magazines and books in the background. What ship was that bottom right? I am guessing a US battleship although it reminds me of HMS Vanguard with the transom stern. My guess is that it must be a US one, despite a copy of Avalon Hill's "Jutland" boardgame lying on top of it! 

Hard to get excited when Bots are reading your posts!

I must admit I have been put off posting any Blog stuff as I have been reading about Big Tech strip-mining all manner of free Internet content to "improve" their AI Models .. how that exactly that makes sense (as in "improving" anything given that there is no quality control), makes me ponder!

I feel as if I should put out a disclaimer like Penguin Random House puts in all their new materials. 

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems

Whether that actually makes a difference, who know?  

Footnote: 500,000 hits on the 1/10/2026 .. really? I hate to think what the AI "token" count is costing the planet here! 

Hinton on AI

Hinton on AI - already conscious?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7t1Q_p2gZs

RUSI Article - Measuring Lethality: Army Combat Power and Force Design (Not a Good Day for Lanchester)

A friend sent me a link to this interesting RUSI article, which ruminates around the topic of - "if you cannot be as big as the enemy can you be "bad ass badder than them instead". This is "bad ass as" in "more lethal" .. so are we talking Tiger tanks against Shermans again? Please read on to find out more and what it means for the UK against the Russian threat (see link below): 

https://static.rusi.org/measuring-lethality-rusi-apr-26.pdf

It also seemed to suggest policy making and reality are remarkably different, especially if you pretend everything boils down to an equation!

To quote from the paper (on page 27): 

The concept of the Lanchester Equation, modelling the relative accumulation of advantage of an aggregate force as attrition is suffered in engagements[39], is perhaps the perfect demonstration of a very sound theory when it is mathematically represented – with remarkably little utility in assessing any real-world military outcomes[40].

[39] Frederick William Lanchester, Aircraft in Warfare: The Dawn of the Fourth Arm (London: Constable and Co., 1916), pp. 39–66. 

[40] Michael J Artelli and Richard F Deckro, ‘Modeling the Lanchester Laws with System Dynamics’, Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology (Vol. 5, No. 1, 2008), p. 7.

From 1916 to 2008 to 2026 the debate about Lanchester seems to go on and on. The problem seems to lie when people try and apply Lanchester as a general for all case, instead of when Lanchester conditions are met. The trouble is you only seem to know when these conditions are met, after the event. Then there is teh problem of retrofitting the data to suit your needs.

Note: People who "like Lanchester" don't seem to like wargaming as a participant but rather see it as a simulation "stand back" process where they are just dice chuckers. To me that if wrong, to wargame you have to take agency and responsibility. Anecdotally I keep seeing "Lanchestarians" losing their flanks and manoeuvring backwards on the table top. Harsh, but er, true!

Cold War Space Race: CCCP goes Lunar with Soyuz and US NASA Saturn 1B - CoW Game Prep 2026 (WD)

This is a blast from the past and down Airfix memory lane I go. The lunar lander (The Eagle) which was part of the Saturn 1B (IIRC) was hidden in an unassembled, primed and "brown washed" state for such a long time. All it took was for possible inclusion in my Conference of Wargamers (CoW) game 2026, "The Earth Prepared" to jolt it towards the painting tray (see below, not sure about the hole in the roof, but I think that is where it attached to the orbiter Columbia - I quite like how it has come out): 

The big boys rockets - the diminutive Soyuz in comparison to one of the 'smaller' American rockets, the Saturn 1B (see below, a stretch goal for the game is to get the Saturn V, currently hiding in the loft, assembled and painted too): 

Note the little Yuri on the launch pad, a tiny dot towards the front of the CCCP (LHS) launch pad.

FREE GAME: WWII Pacific Logistics - Fleet Train (Louis Coatney)

Just when I thought there was not much to LinkedIn somebody goes and posted an interesting game link! Click bait it is not, thank you Lou Coatney (see link to his website - not LinkedIn, below):   

https://www.coatneyhistory.com/FleetTrain.htm

Remember the quote: "Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics."