Monthly Update - Wargaming & Boardgames | 20k Subscriber Giveaway Celebration | June 2025

0:00 Hi everybody, I'm Zilla Blitz and welcome to the June 2025 monthly update. The video where we talk about games we've played over the past month, upcoming upcoming stuff on the channel, new games in the house. Usually there's a board gaming, historical gaming topic of interest that we talk about. And there is a theme for this one. This episode is packed with stuff, but there's a theme for this one because in May the channel hit 20,000 subscribers, which I'm not I'm not that focused on numbers, but I'm extraordinarily grateful for everybody who follows and subscribes to the channel. And so, I'm happy and I want to give away stuff. So, giving away three giveaways in this channel and I'll talk about those momentarily, but we'll also talk about games I played, new games in the house.

0:45 The survey on the drawing we'll do at the end of the channel in the upcoming war games video earlier in the month was on the balance between board wargaming and PC wargaming. So, that will be our topic of conversation towards the back end of the video. advanced squad leader update, solo game of the season, a new little mini adventure if people would like to participate in that. So, lots of things to talk about in this episode. But first, let's start with a a little brief overview of the giveaways, which will be described in greater detail at the end of this video. Giveaway number one, I'm extremely grateful for the Patreon supporters on the channel. So, this was any paid Patreon member as of May 31st uh in last month is eligible for a $50 gift certificate drawing that I'll be pulling out there. And I'll provide details on that at the end.

1:33 Second giveaway, $50 gift certificate. And these gift certificates will be to either Noble Knight Games or Steam, whichever you would prefer. And if neither of those work, we'll figure something out. Uh $50 store gift certificate giving away to just anybody who comments on this video in a particular way. details of that one will be at the end of this video as well. Third giveaway, $25 gift certificate to people who comment and like a and follow the my Blue Sky account. So, I'll provide details to that at the end of the channel as well. And then lastly, this isn't a giveaway, but I want to create a video that highlights uh historical board gaming content creators that are starting out on their journey. And I'll talk more about this later, but if you are a board wargaming content creator, historical gaming content creator, stick around for the end of the video because I would like to feature your channels on an upcoming video and more details at the end on why and then how that'll work. So, we'll talk about all those things as we go forward, but we have tons of things to talk about.

2:34 This video is sponsored by Noble Knight Games. They are one of our channel sponsors, and they are a board gaming retail store in Wisconsin that ships all over planet Earth. They sell used war games, out of print stuff, hard to find stuff. So, if you're looking for something, chances are they might have it. Now, they just finished up their big spring sale, but still prices are usually pretty good on most stuff, unless it's like a really extremely rare out of print thing, but they do have those. So, uh, if you do use one of the links to the the Noble Knight Games, which is down below in the video description, thank you very much as it helps out the channel. Also, at the end of this video, we'll be giving away the $50 store gift certificate to Noble Knight Games, unrelated to the other giveaways we're doing to people who entered the contest through the upcoming War Games video earlier in the month.

3:20 Lots of stuff to do. We'll keep it all sorted out as we go forward. Let's start out with games played since the last monthly update. A good number of them, over 40 games played. Uh uh probably over half of those are Euros or other types of board games, but a good number of historical board games in there. A few of them to highlight. Getsburg, A Time for Heroes. Uh this is a two-player game from Warthingington Publishing that you can play. The Battle of Gettsburg. It has a sol dedicated solo rules that were published post uh release and then it's highlighted originally designed as a two-player game. Really like this one. If I were to give a War Game of the Month award, and I haven't I guess we just invented it. So yeah, our game of the month goes to Gettsburg, A Time for Heroes. That's the one I've enjoyed the most this month. Uh really fun two-player game. The rules take a little bit of a hill to climb, but uh not an insurmountable obstacle by any means.

4:13 Really easy game to teach. I think this is a great game that would be if you've got war game adjacent friends who you think you might be able to entice into playing a war game because you can probably teach them the game in 15 minutes. Uh plays fast. The it's it's got some depth to it. Even though there's one scenario, it plays deeper than its rules. So, I've I've really enjoyed my time with that one. Hrien's Wall. It's not a war game. I guess someone will post that there. Yes. But it's a fun kind of scratch and write game. It's not a rolling, right? Cuz I don't think there's there's no dice in it, right? But anyway, you're building a wall and trying to build up your outpost along Hrien's wall. I've played it I think three times now since over the past month and I'm still kind of I'm doing that. I play it on board game arena and I haven't read the rules yet. So, I kind of don't know what I'm doing still, but I'm getting there. Um, I like it a lot. It's a It's a fun game, and I have the physical version, too. So, I'm going to pull that out at some point soon. Uh, Relic Wars, a fantasy tactical dual skirmish game from Flying Pig Games. Kind of their first venture out into, I would say, probably non-traditional war games. And I'm not sure that Kickstarter is going to make it, but I enjoyed my time with that game. That that's fun. And uh there's a couple of videos up on the channel on that game as well. Shores of Tripoli. I play it. I play I probably mention this game every single monthly update. It's kind of one of my meat and potatoes game, but I usually fire up a couple of games on Rally the Troops and last month was no exception. I think actually I lost both of the games. I I that's probably one game that I'm pretty decent at now. So I usually win, but I know these last two games that I got just

5:44 crushed. Once as the US and then once as the Tripolitan Pirates. So, um, but I'll get back in there in June. So, if you're looking for a game, let me know down in the comments. Guest of Robin Hood played another game of Guest of Robin Hood. I think I think I'm just dense with coin games because I' i'm played this game, I think, eight times now in the past 2, three months. And I think I'm finally getting it, but there's still things that I'll, you know, in the last game there were about two or three things that's like, oh, why am I just learning this now? And so, I'm I'm starting to figure it out and it's starting to make more sense. and I'm hoping to use that as kind of a lever into more complicated coin games. I really like Guest of Robin Hood, though. It's especially as a two-player coin game. It's got a bunch of strategies in it. I'm kind of learning what they are and just really enjoying kind of picking up a game or two of that each month and making my way through those. Night Fighter Command from War Diary Publications where you play, it's a solo game where you take charge of a British bow fighter, which was a night fighter in World War II, and you go hunt German bombers over England.

6:44 Uh, I really wanted to like this one. I for a couple reasons I I struggled with it a little bit. Uh but I really like it as a simulation of what it's presenting. I thought the game has some real uh some some amazing qualities in terms of its ability to recreate all of the mechanics and aspects of what it would be like to be a knight fighter in that situation in 1941. It's a really cool system to look at the for longer gameplay. I it didn't really capture my uh what's the right word for it? capture my hold my interest I guess would be the right way to say it for longer gameplay but I'm glad I get the chance to just play and spend a couple hours with it too. Quartermaster General East Front played a learning game of that which was interesting. I want to go back to it. I it's it's a very this might be another one of those war game adjacent games that you could use to bring a lot of people into wargaming. Um I played it again kind of learning on board game arena. I haven't read the rules yet, so really don't know that much about it yet, but I got to the end of the game and said, I think there's a good game here if I knew what the rules were. So, I I'll play it again. And then, spoiler alert, if you uh if you haven't seen the la the latest episode of Raiders of the Deep, that was a good series. I'll leave it at that. Um, and I'm looking for another long series to do. So, I'm thinking Western Front Ace, uh, Something Leader would be another one to do. Uh, Storm of Steel maybe or JU87, Stuka Ace, those kind of those four. If you have thoughts as to which one of those longer series uh, you might like

8:16 to see on the channel, let me know. I want to try to have one longer series that might take several months to do at what, one or two videos, three videos, four videos a month. So, looking for another one of those to start out. And then another game of root was played as well. I really need to understand I'm at that level where again it's kind of coin adjacent. So it just takes me for whatever reason takes me a while to get into my thick head the strategies and the tactics for all of the different factions and being able to understand how to foil other factions and do what I'm supposed to do. So uh but I liked my way working my way through those. It's someday I'll be I'll grow I'll be a grown-up coin gamer maybe. Other stuff bunch of wingspan bunch of white castle which I do not understand the rules for either but I'm trying. And then Forest Shuffle. I've been playing a lot of Forest Shuffle. I like that one. Playing in a tournament now on Board Game Arena 2. Small World, Ticket to Ride, Vidiculture, Distilled is really good.

9:10 And then The Lost Adventures of Arnack, Let's Go Japan. So, a bunch of other stuff in there, too. But it's been a good month of gaming. Looking forward to more games coming up. If you're paying attention to games played, yes, you might notice what wasn't there. Advanced Squad Leader. I still have the Ratville. not ratville, the rat scenario, the stalenrad scenario set up and I dug back into it the other day, but it was it'd been like about four weeks since I was played it last and I realized I kind of forgot the rules again already. So, I got I kind of hit a wall. So, I need people to yell at me in the comments and tell me to get back to finish that game. I It's going to it when you learn something the second sign second time, you always learn it stronger. And learning relearning things is a part of learning, right? I mean, I work in education. I know that. So, I just got to sit down and dig back into it. It's still on the table. So, I'm not giving up and and I have news related to that coming up later in the video because I think I have what might be really good news for the channel for the next 3 months, but I'll talk about that momentarily. As always, I'd like to say thanks to the supporters of the channel in these monthly updates, especially the Patreon supporters who uh many of whom have been with the channel for this long journey to 20,000 subscribers. Uh new Patreon members in the past month, Harold John Vogle, uh Harold John Vogle, uh Mike Chapman, Scott from Vale, Mr.

10:24 Quimper, and Jeff Rowden. Thanks so much everybody for jumping on board and supporting the channel. A number of people providing support uh donating via Kofi too. Catgh Edoro Ivan Singer Jim and DHM Carver. Thanks very much. And then a generous super thanks contribution from Theodore about two weeks ago. So thank you everybody so much for all the support you provided. I mentioned in the last update that I had a 4-year-old Mac that I use for video editing was really getting slow. there's no space on the drives and so I was getting nervous when tariffs came in and so I ordered a new Mac that's going to speed up the editing process so much. So that's what the funds have gone for with that and I'm still I still owe a little bit on that. So I'm going to I keep using some of the funds for that. But the next thing I aim to get is a second camera for playthroughs. I talked about this list a little bit in the last monthly update too, but that'll allow me to show me and show the game board. So that's kind of the next goal and that that quest for 1% better kind of thing.

11:21 Thank you everybody for your support. So when I walk the dog or sometimes just randomly things pop into my head and over the past month or so had a couple of side quest ideas that I want to go off on. So these are side quests. Side quest number one came about when I've noticed a lot of times people either it might be the Patreon Discord, it might be YouTube comments, it could be on social media or just casual conversations someplace else in the world, but people will talk about a game they're playing and two or three people happen to be playing the same the game at the same time. And I thought, wouldn't it be kind of interesting if we could get a small group of people to commit to playing the same game at the same time? So, I'm just going to go ahead and go for it. I did connect with people on the Patreon Discord. And I think there might be two or three other people that would be on this mini quest with me. But the idea is to pick one game that kind of we all share in common in our shelves of shame or shelves of opportunity, however you like to call them, and then make a commitment over the next three months. So this is a very lowkey back burner. Just jump in and kind of dip in, dip out like Yugoslavia.

12:23 Uh try to play this game. And game number one is a game from my shelf of shame and shelf of opportunity, Empire of the Sun. So, over the summertime, this is going to be the solo game quest of the summer. Over the summertime, I'm going to try to play Empire of the Sun and get to a point where I'm competent at the game. That is my side quest for the summer to play Empire of the Sun and get there. So, there's a lot of games to be played. There's a lot of things to do, but this one is going to be a focal point. I would invite you to join in if you've got the game and haven't played it yet or played it a little bit, but haven't really gotten to the place where you would call yourself competent at it yet. uh jump in and share your comments on how you've enjoyed the game or how you enjoy the game. And I will probably be tracking this in the monthly updates over the next three months, too. And uh I'm going to get started on the rules, get a game set up in the next week or two here. And uh off I go to Empire of the Sun. I'm really looking forward to this one. There's probably if you talked about one game, so I usually call it a shelf of opportunity and sometimes a particular game goes beyond that. It's like, yeah, that's a shelf of shame.

13:27 If I think of one game that I feel like I should play as a War Gamer that I haven't played yet, it's that one. So, this is going to be a huge step forward in my Shelf of Shame challenge. Side quest number two. I had an idea the other day. So, one of my goals in life is to v visit all 50 states. Um, I've had this goal for a long time and I've got to 47. There are three states left. But then I thought, wouldn't it be kind of cool to go to every state and play a board game in every state? And I just checked and I was surprised that wow, I don't have that many. There's only seven states that I can be certain of that I've played a board game in. Now, places like Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, I probably played a game in when I was a kid cuz I grew up in Massachusetts, right? Uh, and I probably played games there, but I can't be certain. New York maybe, but I'm not counting them. There might be a couple of other states where I I've played a game visiting or traveling, but I don't know for sure.

14:27 I've got seven states. That's it. And so now I'm going to go in this other side quest. Can we play Can I play a board game in every state? This will be a long This side quest I It's a side quest because I'm not totally focused on it, but it's going to be a long side quest and I'll keep you posted how it goes. I might get a couple of new states by the next monthly update. Fingers crossed. We'll see how it goes. And by all means, join me. I'd be curious to hear how many states or countries, provinces, territories, other geographical containers you want to use that you've played board games in in your lives, too. I think one person on social media on Blue Sky said, I think they said 13 might have been the highest we've heard so far. It's surprisingly few, which you I've been to 47 states, but I've probably played I mean, to be fair, I was away from board games and war games for 30 years when our kids were little.

15:21 I mean, we played, but we played at home or, you know, visiting relatives. So, those are the ones that we got. But anyway, yeah, join along with me. Can we get 50 states? Play a board game in every state. I might get two states before the next update. New and in the house. Take a look at things that have come in in the past. I think it's been five, six weeks since we did a last monthly update. I didn't think there were that many and then I put them in a pile and it's Yeah, there's that many. But let's go through them. Uh, first up, Fellowship of Simulations just sent along a copy of Vendi 93. This will be my first Fellowship of Simulation games to to to check out. This is the Young French Republic against Royalist insurgents in 1793. Card driven game for two players. I also noticed that there is a soliter mode inside as as well. So, looking forward to checking this one out. This will be the first Fellowship of Simulations game that I've played.

16:14 Um, excellent production quality. Looks like it's been finely tuned and I've heard really good things about their game. So, thanks to them for sending this along and I look forward to checking it out. GMT Games latest P500 shipping. I picked up two things by Swords and Bayonets by Richard Berg. This is the Great Battles of the American Civil War series. Known for its complexity, right? This is definitely a a highly on the upper end of complexity for war games, but the reason I wanted to pick this one up is that the counter set for it is relatively small. So, the particular engagements don't have a lot of counters and they've kind of been a big battle playbook in this too for helping for learning. So, I think this one in the series more than the other games in the series is a good segue into learning the series. So, that's why I wanted to get this one. Um, I just finished making a tray kit for it for Cube for Me Games. So, looking forward to that. The other thing I got was the Battles of the American Revolution tripack. I don't have it here because it's on the kitchen table. I'm making the cube for me trade kit for that one now. So, I've just got it set up there.

17:15 Random story connected to the American Revolution tripack on the kitchen table. My wife and two kids are in Japan. Everything's fine. We It's a long story. The very very short re reason is old cats and so one of us has to do cat duty and that person is me. And that's fine. It's all good. So, they're gone for two weeks. I haven't been home alone by myself for this long probably since I've been married. This is the longest I've been in a doicile by myself. But so I miss my family and kids. But the cool thing is that literally every surface in the house has a board game or board game on it now. It is so much fun. Uh anyway, that has nothing to do with anything. But let's go back to new and in the house. Uh two games from Form Square came in. These are the second I haven't opened this one yet. Maida 1806 from Andrew Ror form square games. The first one that he created was Bonapart's Eastern Empire. Number of interesting mechanics in these games. Some really innovative thinking. So I'm looking forward to checking out the second game in the series. And not wasting any time, games three and four, Santa Mara and Capri. Uh two games are in this volume three of this one. So it takes you up to the campaign campaigns three and four and three volumes now in their um series here. So, this is uh pretty cool. I'm looking forward to checking those out.

18:30 Really interesting art style and cool mechanics in these. I mentioned this one, but Night Fighter Ace came in from War Diary Publications. Very small box. Look at that. That's one of the smallest war game boxes I've seen. I'll get the second pile. There's more. Uh Noble Knight Games had their sale now. I And actually, when people use links on front on in the video descriptions to purchase things from Noble Knight, I get a small percentage in store credit. And I had enough placed up saved up to make an order. I placed my order two days before that everything went on sale, so I didn't get the discount prices. But that aside, uh I after talking to Vokco on his top seven war games interview and he talked about how this was his favorite card driven game, uh I got Wellington and you need two to four play. I'm looking forward to trying this one. I I'm really excited about this. I just heard he was eusive in his praise for this one. So I'm looking forward This is about the peninsula war in Spain back in the age of Napoleon. And then I'm gradually trying to get the Blind Swords System games and I haded I wanted to get free shipping and I had just enough credit to do it. So I got Prelude to Vixsburg. This is a new one. I haven't opened it yet. It's just come in. And then Sedric Attacks 2. So two more games in uh that Blind Swords system. I really like this system and so I want to kind I want to collect them all at some point.

19:44 I'm not in any rush. Another game that I'm very curious to try. This has been kind of my golden grail type of game, and I've yet to find one that is exactly what I would like to play. Uh, but Golden Age of Piracy is a Compass Games game where you get to live the life of a pirate. And I don't know what it's like, but I want to give it a try someday. I'm thinking this would be a really cool game to make. I've yet to find a pirate board game that does what I want it to do, but I'm looking forward to giving this one a try. One more. Unom I posted a lot of stuff on tactical combat systems, assault tactical, right? So, I've posted a whole series on that in the past year and then I did a lot lot of lock and load stuff. Now, I'm kind of gradually making my way into advanced squad leader. And every time I post a tactical war game video, at least three people in the comments put, "Have you tried old school tactical?" every single time. I bet if you look at every single tactical video on the this channel, there's at least two or three comments that say, "I really like Old School Tactical. Have you tried that yet?" So, Old School Tactical had a reprint of their volume one on Kickstarter a while ago, and I debated and vacasillated and didn't make up my mind. And then at the last second, in a moment of weakness, I said, "Okay, I'm going to do it." And so, I ordered Whoops, a little bit shiny there. Old school tactical. And this one also just came in a little while ago. This is uh Flying Pig Games tactical World War II combat system. So many people have been eusive in their praise in this saying

21:15 that it's got just the right blend of complexity and simplicity and speed of play and fun and tactics. So I'm looking forward to try it out. I also added in their Stalingrad expansion because Stalingrad, right? I mean you got to do that. So that's everything new and in the house stuff to play over the summer. Speaking of summer, that brings to the next thing I usually like to take a couple minutes to talk about what's coming up on the channel. A very unique opportunity. It's I I'll kind of make the story, long story short, is that uh usually in the summers I I work and I'll pick up a lot of grant related work, other projects and side projects. Both of our kids are out of college now, which means that our financial demands are a little bit less. And with the current economic, climate, and grant funding, a lot of those opportunities that would have provided some work in the summer aren't really as easy to get right now. Let's just leave it at that.

22:11 And so I'm thinking I might not work for the first time in the summer. I mean, I have a little bit of I have some projects and a few things to do, but for the most part, for the first time in about 10 years, I might not work in the summer. I think everything's going to be okay financially. I'm not too worried about that because again our kids are out of college so that helps a ton. So I think I can do this. And what I'm thinking now is I've been making a list of things I want to do in the summer. And one of them is to lean into board games and the YouTube channel more than I normally do to see if I would like it doing it twice as much as what I usually do. So usually I spend about 20 hours a week in it. Two hours a night on week nights and then about 10 hours give or take plus or minus five on weekends. And now I think maybe I could double that and try it and see what it's like. I've got a list of projects I want to do with the channel, other things. So, I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do. I've got a week to figure this out, but and there is some work feelers out there that I might take advantage of. Um, if people do have board gaming projects and they're looking for someone hired on a contract for the summer, let me know. I am available and I would be probably interested in a board gaming contract.

23:18 I'm not sure. It depends on what the project would be. Uh, the other part of this too is that I'm thinking if I did that, I've got a bunch of board games that I've designed in note form or paper prototypes and been playing around with ideas to pick one of those and try to get a workable prototype and get some play testing going on that. And I would probably share that journey in video form. I'm I'm not expecting to make a good game. I'm a firm believer that the first three or four things you make aren't going to be as good as the fourth or fifth thing you make. So, you got to kind of go through the process and make a couple things bad before you're going to make something really good. But, you never know. Sometimes you strike lightning and sometimes it works out well the first time. But, the goal would be to get a workable prototype by the end of the summer. So, that's another thought I had. Nothing settled. I might still end up working a lot. There's some other people I'm talking to and I'll know these over the next week. But you might, the bottom line is you might see a bunch more YouTube content over the summertime if I do try that with the idea of what would this be like to do foolish time rather than as a hobby. So would I hate it? Who knows? I don't. So I kind of want to try it though. But uh that's probably the biggest thing to talk about in terms of what's coming up on the channel. Otherwise, I'll kind of share new content ideas and stuff as they're going forward. Two more things to do. We've got all of our giveaways to do that I'll outline at the end of this episode. But we have one big thing left to do, which is to talk about the survey results. So, in the upcoming War Games video I did about a month ago where we people who entered that survey will be

24:48 in for the drawing for the Noble Knight gift certificate. And I was curious how many people watching this channel uh which you know the most of the content, not all, probably 75% of the content is on tabletop board games, tabletop war games. I'm was curious how many people watching upcoming war games episode which is particularly focused on tabletop board war games play PC war games as well and that's what the survey was about some of the interesting things around that and so and then people could add a comment too. So, I thought I would go through those survey results. We'll talk about them. As usual, things were very surprising. I did not think the numbers would come out the way they did. So, the first question was 222 responses. Do you play PC war games? Before I show you the results, what do you think was a percentage on an upcoming War Games tabletop board games video said that they play PC War games?

25:40 There you go. Answer is 70%. That surprised me. Now, there might be a reason why it's as high. Okay, we'll talk about that when we show when I show you some of the comments. But seven out of 10 viewers of the channel also play PC war games in one shape, manner, or form or another. Then uh thinking about your PC wargaming time compared to your board wargaming time, what's the ratio? 63% said they spend more time playing board war games, which is about what I would expect. 23% said they spend more time playing PC war games, and 11% about the same. And then there was a fraction 3% that don't play either type which is fine. It's okay. We anyway just find happiness. It's all good. So that was kind of what I expected. I thought that you know twothirds of the viewers would probably playing board games more than PC war games. Um in addition to PC war games, do you play other types of PC games was the third question. 72% said yes. So, uh, it it does say that there are a significant percentage of the channel audience is playing PC games in addition to board games. That's cool. So, the next question I was curious about, if people did play other PC games in addition to war games, what types of other games do people play? And so, that I created a little bit of a simplified categorical list of PC war game PC games. Uh, 30 16% said they don't play PC games. Uh 60% said they play war games. This one I thought was very

27:10 interesting. Uh strategy games like Crusader Kings 3 was also 59%. So I'd put like Paradox games in there. Civilization would be in there. And so a a significant overlap between those games and people that play PC war games. Now not necessarily an overlap, but the same percentage, right? An overlap would be reading something into the data that's not there. But I thought that was very interesting because that's me, right? My my favorite PC game like strategy game, war game is Crusader Kings 3 by far. It's it's a not by far, but it's ahead of all the others right now. It's been that way for a while. And so there is an overlap. I think there's a lot of similarity in gameplay and they're they're games that make you think, right? And war games make you think and strategy games on the PC make you think. And so I think there's probably a huge similarity in gameplay buttons that they're checking off for you for those two types. RPGs like Balders's Gate was 37%. So significantly less than the highest category, but still the third highest category on there. And again, I that makes sense, right? There's a lot of thinking involved, especially in turn-based role playing games. And you could throw in things like uh XCOM might even be in there, too. That's kind of a tactical shooter roleplay game type of game.

28:25 Survival games was low, 16%, first-person shooters, 28% of viewers play first-person shooters. I don't anymore because to get good at them, they take so much time. And I do notice my reflexes are slower compared to teenagers. So, it's it's not a pretty sight. Other types, uh, 30%. And so, very interesting to see the breakdown there. Thank you again to everybody that's answered this. And now I want to talk a little bit about I also added a box that said type in whatever you want in relation to the survey and there was a number of interesting results and I'm going to kind of tease out some themes. I'd say about half of the people that answered the survey put in a comment of some type manner or form in the the survey uh in the in this empty box too.

29:11 One that was a very common one that came up a number of times. I'm a big fan of squad-based tactical strategy RPG style PC games like XCOM, Jagged Alliance 3, Forgotten But Unbroken. And that again, I can totally see that they're they're games for slow people that give you time to think. And I put myself in that category. I'm not making fun of you. They're games that give you time to think. They're very cerebral. They're tactical. You're trying to develop strategies and solve problems. Huge overlap between that and tabletop war games. So, this came up a number of times, specifically people mentioning games like XCOM. Uh, this one I think is very much me. As I was reading this, I said, I probably could have written this except for some of the numbers. I started out playing war games many years ago. As our family grew, I dropped most of that and did some PC games, including a few war games. Then about a dozen years ago, I dropped all the PC stuff and got back into exclusively board gaming. I like seeing the whole board and the tactical feeling of the counters map. dabbled in Vassel but not much that I could have written that so that that's was interesting although I still play PC stuff so maybe not but um 95% prefer board games for war games to switch off from digital and I love the analog tactical feel of physical games that's that's me I and just people around the board you know digital's gone I like technology and I like computers but it's so nice to step away from it and just be in a space with other human beings no technology and everything's in front of you and you're just touching the things that you're you're playing with kind of thing. So, totally can get that. The

30:43 flip side of that, a number of people mentioning uh the kind of the benefits you would expect to PC games where it doesn't take up space. Um it's you can just leave it and come back to it. You can get deeper, more complex games because the computer's handling all that math. Setup is easy. So, and get to play against a solo opponent because most of the games have AI, which a lot of the reasons people talked about for PC games being attractive. I thought this one was funny. It's not really connected to anything, but I only place Adid Civilization 6 and only in spurts of two months every 10 years. It's got nothing to do with anything, but I just thought it was funny. Cracked me up. So, uh, it's and this one, this is, I think, important for for a couple reasons. Um, it's unclear whether your question includes Vassel modules as PC war games. Yes, you're right. Another person said that does playing a war game on Vassel or board game arena count as a PC game? Um, that's a I probably should have clarified that more. And so that makes me wonder about that number. Although based on the comments that people wrote, most of the times when they were talking about PC war games, I'd say 80% of them put what I was thinking of, which was nonvassel, non board game arena types of things. I was thinking games specifically built for the PC, not board war games that you can play on Vassel.

31:59 So that was the intent behind it. And I'd say 80% of the comments seem to reflect that thinking. But it would bring that 70% number down a little bit for people that included things like Vassel as being a PC game, right? If that's the only thing they play. So maybe 10% 60% of the viewers would be playing PC games too. This one is interesting. I thought and I I kind of think I agree. It would be cool if the if more the we're working through it fantasy war game genre genre very popular on PC made its way over to Hex Encounter board war games. Burning banners, right? Divine Wright. Very few Hex Encounters fantasybased war games. Maybe that's one of my summer game design projects. Another one in the comments that made me laugh. I would play more PC games if I was technical enough to make it work on a laptop. John Tiller's campaign series is all I have and if it crashes I am toast. That's funny. Um, and then people mentioning specific PC games they like.

33:00 These were the ones that came up. John Tiller is one mentioned a number of times. Total War got mentioned a bit. Crusader Kings 3 got mentioned a bunch. And then Civilization was another game that people mentioned a lot of. So, thanks everybody for answering all the questions. It was really interesting for me to read through the comments and just to see these numbers. It's always fascinating for me to learn more about you because that helps me get ideas for for content and where to focus energies and a lot of things that I like. So, as always, I'm always picking between four or five different types of videos I can make when I'm trying to make one. So, thanks everybody for answering the survey. Oh, and now it's the time to give away stuff. Uh, this is the 20,000 subscriber appreciation giveaways. Let me provide instructions. So, instruction set number one. This is for the general $50 store certificate to either Steam or to Noble Knight Games. Um, I'll be getting whatever one you want. And if you want to split it, that's fine, too.

33:54 Um, the question, all you have to do to enter this one, this is open to anybody. All you have to do to enter into this one is put a comment down below with your game of the year so far. And it doesn't have to be a game published in 2025. So, if you just found Panzer Blitz and that's all you're playing, you can put Panzer Blitz down there. And in your answer, put #game of the year altogether, no spaces. And that's what I'll key the search off of when we pick the winner. I'll be picking the winner for that one probably in the next up, excuse me, upcoming War Games video. So, what's your favorite game of the year? It could be a PC game. It could be a regular board game. It could be a historical game. Take it any which way you want. It could be a game from 1965 or a game that just came out a month ago. Up to you. What's your game of the year so far? Giveaway number two, another $50 gift certificate is only for people that were paid Patreon members as of May 31st. So, if you're not a paid Patreon member now and you sign up now, you you can't join this one. This is to show appreciation for people that have been longtime supporters of the channel.

34:56 To enter into that one, you do have to do one thing. I'm going to post there's a post on the Patreon channel that says giveaway. Reply to that comment and whoever replies to that reply to that post. Whoever replies to that post will be in the drawing. It should be very obvious. It'll be the top one on the on the Patreon channel for a little bit. So, that's the second giveaway. Third giveaway, $25 store gift certificate to Noble Knight Games or Steam is uh on my social media account on Blue Sky. So, if you have a Blue Sky account or you want to create one, that's fine, too. You have to do three things to the post that talks about the giveaway. You have to like it. You have to comment on it and you have to follow my account. And then about two weeks from now, I'll pick a winner from that and they'll I'll give away a $25 store gift certificate to them as well. There's one more giveaway that'll be after this where I'm going to do the drawing for the people that entered the contest about the PC Wargaming and that'll come next. This might, by the way, I'm thinking this is going to be the longest monthly update ever cuz I've been talking for a long time, but that's okay. Um, I apologize for the length, but hopefully it's moderately entertaining as we talk about these things. So, um, what's this next thing? So, I The YouTube channel has 20,000 subscribers. That's not a big channel in the YouTube universe. As FM Lama so famously said, we are but specks of sand on the beach of YouTube, right? So, it's 20,000 isn't big, but it's it's it is not teeny anymore, I guess. And one thing that I will never forget is what

36:27 it's like to have a small YouTube channel. People see 20,000 subscribers and they think, "Wow, you know, it must have come easy." It didn't. Two numbers. It took me 7 months to get 100 subscribers. It took me two years, almost two years to get the first thousand subscribers. Uh you when you have a small YouTube channel, it's so impossibly hard to get people to watch what you create. And there are tons of YouTube channels out there that make cool stuff that are just in that stage where people don't know about it and it's just really hard to get people to find your channel. And I remember what that's like. It kind of there's a Japanese saying this is you have to be a person who can struggle for nothingness. Um you know I think my 30th video got 12 views. No comments you know that's like it you know. Um, and so there's a lot of just doing something for no reason at all. Just and then why? You don't even know why. Sometimes you're like, I make these things and nobody watches them, right? So, it's lonely stuff down there and it's hard to get going. And I've made my point. Um, but I what I want to do is try to help some of you, some content creators out there that are in that place that I've been in. I'm just a little bit further ahead in the journey now. There's a lot of good YouTube channels out there that are making historical board game content and I want to help people find them and help see if we can drive more traffic to your channels. So, uh, I'm going to put a special survey up. The link is down in the video description. If you have a YouTube content, if you have a YouTube

37:58 channel and it's a historical board gaming channel and you're creating content for it, uh, put your details in there and I'll ask for just a link to what you think your best video is or one of your better videos or latest videos, whatever it is. and um I'm going to try to highlight a handful of channels on an upcoming video. So, by entering this, you're giving me permission to grab a snippet of your video and show it on the channel and talk a little bit about your channel. Now, I think I'm going to be able to highlight about 10. That's roughly my goal. And I do have some criteria that I want to talk about. First up, you have to have less than 1500 subscribers. Um you have to been been making YouTube content. You have to be actively creating content. So, I'm looking for someone who's posted like about four videos in the past month. And then you have to be at this for a while. So, you know, six months with a library of content. So, I'm looking, you know, six months is probably you've got 30, 40 videos like that. So, I'm looking for active content creators in that beginning stage who have been at this a while because a lot of people do it for a month and then stop. And so, I'm looking for people who have been at it for a while. These are the types of channels I want to find. So, uh, put your information up there. I'll take a look at the channel. I'll be able to highlight probably 10. So, I don't know how many people will post in this. It could be 50, it could be five, I don't know. But if you would like your channel featured on a special video about uh historical board game content creators to help bring views to your channel so people can see the cool stuff you're making, feel free to enter your name into that and I'll try my best to get you uh get word out on that. And I want

39:29 to try to create a list of everyone that's there, but I I won't highlight everybody that's there. Hopefully, that will make sense. the form will explain more, but I would love to help you on your journey. And it's a win-win, too, because viewers find cool new channels that they probably didn't know existed. And there's a lot of good stuff out there with channels that have less than 1500 subscribers. The last thing to do is to give away. This is the Noble Knight sponsored uh contest. We're giving away $50 store gift certificate to Noble Knight Games from the one of the 222 people that enter answered the PC Wargaming survey. So, I've got all 222 names entered into our random name picker. Let us pick a name at random. Good luck to all our contestants. We have Vince A3748 is our winner. Congratulations to Vince. I'll reach out to the email you entered the contest in and then we'll get you sorted out with the store credit. Well, I'm pretty sure set a record for the longest monthly update.

40:29 try to keep these at 30 minutes, but I didn't keep track of how long I've been talking. It's been more than that, I'm sure. Anyway, thanks so much for watching and thank you as always. It's been a cool journey to 20,000 subscribers, and I am looking forward to the future journey in whatever form it brings up. And thank you for the likes, comments, subsort, the community, and all kinds of support that people have given. Uh the community is what made it so cool. I wouldn't be doing it without all of other you. That's been the best part of it. So, I'm looking forward to the future. Uh, please remember all the things we talked about like enter into the contests and the drawings and if you've got a YouTube channel making historical board game content and it fits those criteria, enter it into that and we'll try to get you featured on upcoming video. And uh, I think that's that's everything. Thanks for watching everybody. Have a great