You Should Watch Wargame Culture

Play-Cast Name: Chainmail Battles Where I Listened: Purple Druid Presents: Wargame Culture Where It's Available: YouTube System: Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures

Chainmail

Thoughts and Review

Wargame Culture, or Purple Druid Presents: Wargame Culture, is a small, relatively new YouTube channel wherein the host, Purple Druid (forgive me, friend, if you have stated your name elsewhere in the videos I have not watched),     Update: Pre-Publication!
Between the writing of this article and its publication, I actually was able to connect with the host of Wargame Culture on Discord!

Resulting from that conversation, I have updated the posting a bit to reflect some stuff he'd clarified for me - but I have not re-written the whole thing: be on the lookout, though, for an episode of the podcast to drop in the proximitous future starring our friend Purple Druid!regales the watcher with his love and hobby around miniature gaming. It is not an RPG actual play - per se - but instead a culmination of his experience: acquiring, assembling, and painting wargames miniatures.

For the purposes of this review - I am speaking to one playlist in particular: the title of the Play-Cast Name above, Chainmail Battles; although I have watched other videos, including his Solo Wargaming playlist, because of a current interest of mine in Chainmail, specifically, I will focus on the aforementioned collection of videos.

What I Like

First and foremost - and the reason I write this review - I really like the expose that this channel provides, the deep dive and practical evaluation, of the rules as written and procedures to follow in the Chainmail game. He's confessed, himself, that he's learning the game - the purpose of the video series is to get a bead on it and to enjoy it. In so doing - I have seen him do things, seen him make calls, and thought, "Huh... I don't remember that" - at which point I have to go back to my rulebook and re-read the section in question. In particular, the artillery rules come to mind - shooting long versus shooting short. I had no recollection of calling to fire long or short - though, admittedly, I am less interested in black powder and cannon than I am in more dark-age technology tier encounters: which may explain the skimming - but seeing him call in advance before rolling: that made me look it up to confirm what I thought I knew. Can't get enough Wargame Culture via obscure OSR review sites? Follow him on Twitter!

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It's a learning experience for me to watch him play: which is the half the purpose of this review series - and foremost, as I said, among the virtues I find in this channel.

Continuing along the lines of learning - in the highlighted playlist, PD (you don't mind if I call you PD, do you, Purple Druid?) cites when he makes mistakes. He watches his own playbook on edit and - for the benefit of all watchers - highlights where missteps were made along the way in terms of the rules and one can think about how that rule might impact the outcome compared with what happens. This has a twin function - first, as I mention, it helps you see what the effect of certain rules are; but second: it is a reminder, a brand in the brain that makes those points stand out: which, to me, is helpful - because if a dedicated and long-time wargamer forgets something, that means that others who are of the same ilk (or others who might be newer to wargaming) might fall into the same missteps or the same assumptions. Purple Druid takes us along for the ride as he makes mistakes and learns from them: and the viewer benefits from his experience.

Lastly - a particular point of interest for me - our man PD is a long-time wargamer. He has experience with, as evidenced by other minis in his collection and other videos on his channel, dozens of other miniatures games: ranging from fantasy to historic. From that, he's able to draw on those memories, those experiences, and compare Chainmail with them: analyzing the impact of Chainmail compared to - say - the mass combat in other editions or iterations of the D&D game. I would personally be curious to hear more musings on that subject - but: for the confines of Chainmail - I'll be brief: because of his ability to cross-analyze, other, younger gamers with experience in a smaller portfolio of games may be able to find common ground, benefiting from his comparisons to their games of choice when attempting to understand Chainmail as it plays.

Things To Note

I will not add a "Things I Dislike" section to this review, but instead will replace with a section, "Things To Note" - that is, elements of the channel that you'll want to keep in mind before taking me at this post's title's word. First among them - Wargame Culture in general, and the Chainmail Battles playlist, is a wargame. It is not designed, as far as I'm aware, to create a campaign narrative. It is not designed, as of this writing, to tell the story of the intrepid protagonists as they unravel the mysteries of a sandbox world. It might be one day. Who knows? PD may take an interest to OSR streaming one of these days - the host, himself, plays LFG - but, as of this writing, and as of this play review, the Chainmail Battles playlist is just that: battles played using Chainmail: just like other videos on the site are according to their names - a video called "unboxing" is an unboxing.

Another thing to note, the author holds no pretense of being an artist when it comes to the videos. His miniatures and terrain are painted - painted better than I use to paint mine and moreover, they are, as far as I know, all painted: something that any wargamer who had played in a club or hobby shop setting before will immediately respect!     Why aren't you rating the big dogs?
Purple Druid Presents is - doubtless - a smaller channel. And there are numerous good big wargaming channels - at least one I enjoy and have recommended in other media is also playing Chainmail. But - having a limited margin and catering to the foremost desire to help you - the reader - to find a product that will teach you about a game you may want to learn, two things are important to me: first, quality - and Wargame Culture: Chainmail Battles is high quality as an educational resource; and two, sticking up for the little guy.

I'm a little guy too - and I recognize that, when I produce content (good, bad, or indifferent) - the signal is proportional to exposure. It's important to stick up for the talented little guy where you can: because a good thing shouldn't go to waste in the obscurity of third-page search results.But knowing that, the videos are simply laid out - they have some short intro music, they have the channel icon and some images of miniatures or wargaming parephenalia, usually pertinent to the episode, and then it moves directly into the shot. Editing thus being minimal - don't expect a huge production: expect to see what the video states is in it.

To conclude on this section - one element of this channel that piqued my curiosity - all of the older videos are 15 minutes or less: when a single battle can take as many as four videos to complete. In at least one case, the host mentions that he has to load them short or YouTube will complain. This stuck out to me because - routinely - on other wargaming (and RPG gaming) channels, the videos are much longer than 15 minutes: 2 to 4 hours is typical of an actual play. I, myself, have videos that exceed the 15 minute mark: all of them, come to think of it, do. While I can't troubleshoot the tech - the videos are all new (or, new this year, at least) - but the channel, itself, is old - appearing to be a user channel from 2008: maybe that's the difference? A grandfather clause or account type?

Regardless: take this information for what it's worth. Having gotten a chance to speak with the host on Discord, he's actually gotten it fixed and will start - as of now - being able to post longer videos. But if you do better with shorter segments - this will work to your advantage: if you do better with longer segments... hopefully you like the theme music! It doesn't damage the experience for me, because it is not intrinsically a good or bad thing - it depends, as I mention, on your preference - I present it as information only.

In Conclusion

Wargame Culture, I've rated Chainmail - because that's what he's playing! Get it? But more seriously - Wargame Culture: Chainmail Battles is a great resource for someone curious about Chainmail and how it plays. The videos are short, but they are linked together - making them easy to watch - and the focus is on the mechanics: making them remarkable as educational tools. It's important to note that's what it is - don't come here for plot, don't come here for voice acting, and don't come here expecting and RPG - but once you're in the right frame of mind, you're gold!

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