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I was sent this the other day, and since I know there's a few folks on here interested in the wargaming of days gone by, I thought I'd repost it here. The video is a TV series from 1978 called Battleground, and I for one found it rather interesting. Not only the idea of wargaming actually on television (most of the show is basically a 'battle report' of sorts) but the use of it to teach (very basic) history. The rules are neither here nor there, I think they're a homemade system built for simplicity over anything else, but this is still quite a fascinating piece of wargaming history (and if nothing else, you get to see the battle of Gettysburg played out over some fantastic terrain). I have to say, I'd definitely watch a series like this nowadays, but I doubt one would ever get made.

I liked that.

That's pretty cool. It would be interesting to watch people play 40k on TV like this, although I don't think it would work as wargaming is such a niche hobby (The guy in the show said this was the final of only 6 episodes).

You actually can watch wargames on a TV nowadays. I owned a tube TV for the last dozen years until it broke this summer, and now that I have an HD Smart TV, I use it for watching batreps all the time: 40K, WFB, Bolt Action, Warmahordes, and old-school Specialist Games. It certainly beats the majority of garbage on cable!

Youtube app, Armyman?

I like watching dungeon crawls on TV - Challenge is repeating old episodes of Knightmare.

 Vermis wrote:
Youtube app, Armyman?

Yup. I'm not even a big tech nerd, but it's fairly easy to use once you find a few channels that you enjoy.

That was actualy quite interesting ! I didn't quite follow the rules but I wasn't payign full attention. I think a proffesional modern version of this on youtube would actually do well, especially if they covered a bigger range of games and genres.

Thanks for sharing

There was a short lived Wargaming show on Channel 4 in the late 90s called Game of War I think. There where no miniatures though, just markers on a map. But the players where respected gamers and historians. I remember Wargaming guru Paddy Griffith and Richard Holmes acting as players.

I think it ran for a mere 3 episodes (Naseby, Waterloo & Balaclava) and to the best of my knowledge its never been repeated. But I distinctly remember it. Anyone else remember it?

There was a more recent programme on British TV called Time Commanders that basically did the same thing virtually - essentially the competitors played out a battle in Rome: Total War.

 Paradigm wrote:
II have to say, I'd definitely watch a series like this nowadays, but I doubt one would ever get made.

I used to say the same thing about Poker!

 LuciusAR wrote:
There was a short lived Wargaming show on Channel 4 in the late 90s called Game of War I think. There where no miniatures though, just markers on a map. But the players where respected gamers and historians. I remember Wargaming guru Paddy Griffith and Richard Holmes acting as players.

I think it ran for a mere 3 episodes (Naseby, Waterloo & Balaclava) and to the best of my knowledge its never been repeated. But I distinctly remember it. Anyone else remember it?

imdb does, and apparently Angela Rippon presented it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3540820/

I don't, which surprises me until I remember that I don't remember most of the 90s.

Remember 'Game of War', was a bit young to work out what on earth was going on but given the tables looked amazing even then I couldn't work out why they were using coloured plastic tokens.

Could probably do a decent job these days with a bit of CGI thrown in as well.

I've seen MtG tourneys on ESPN before. If they can make a card game between two geeks exciting, imagine what they could do with a tabletop game with proper production values. Of course, there is actual significant monetary prizes attached to those tourneys, so that might make some difference to the people who decide what makes it on TV.

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 the_Armyman wrote:
I've seen MtG tourneys on ESPN before. If they can make a card game between two geeks exciting, imagine what they could do with a tabletop game with proper production values. Of course, there is actual significant monetary prizes attached to those tourneys, so that might make some difference to the people who decide what makes it on TV.

Magic also has a couple advantages with a match lasting less than an hour, and stuff is happening the whole time, where-as a 40k batrep has to be heavily edited for time. Also, Magic has rules, and there are people who can interpret those rules accurately, which is a pretty big divergence from a GW game.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
That's pretty cool. It would be interesting to watch people play 40k on TV like this, although I don't think it would work as wargaming is such a niche hobby (The guy in the show said this was the final of only 6 episodes).

That's a common season length in the UK. Look at Red Dwarf, Blackadder, etc.