History, Medieval, Retrospective
Stuart Gorman
The Battle of Castillon – A Reflection

Today is the anniversary of the battle of Castillion. A year ago today I submitted the final draft of my manuscript for Castillon: The Final Battle of the Hundred Years War to my editor. Now, once again on the anniversary of the battle, my book is out and I thought it would be interesting to write something about the experience of writing it. 

If I’m honest, though, I feel kind of disconnected from the book now. I finished it over a year ago, and while I’ve re-read it in that time as part of proofreading and making the final tweaks to the text, as a project it has felt finished for a long time. In the intervening time I moved to South Korea and started a new job, and I haven’t had much time to think about what that day in 1453 might mean to me still. 

The Battle of Castillon – A Reflection

Ed Ostermeyer

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Infernal Machine by Ed Ostermeyer and Jeremy White

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Infernal Machine by Ed Ostermeyer and Jeremy White

As part of my journey through the American Civil War in tabletop games, I have spent a non-zero amount of my life playing solitaire games set in America during the years 1861-1865. This has been one of the less pleasant aspects of my project, because an overwhelming number of these games focus on the Confederacy, and their designers have generally shown little interest in exploring why that is or what they are saying by designing a solitaire Confederacy simulator. This has led to some truly bizarre gaming experiences, although also maybe some of my better reviews, if I’m allowed to toot my own horn a bit.

I was, of course, immediately curious when I saw the announcement from GMT Games that they would be publishing a solitaire game about building submarines (or fish boats, as they were called at the time) during the American Civil War (ACW). The C.S.S. Hunley has had a surprising afterlife despite its non-existent impact on the war as a whole – it manages to warrant a piece in Ben Madison’s Jeff Davis, for example, even if it isn’t really worth including at the strategic scale. However, a more zoomed in examination of this topic, especially one partly by Jerry White, who has some experience working with difficult topics, suggested that Infernal Machines might be worth a look. That all said, I was also very pleased to hear that Infernal Machines would also feature a campaign as the Union, so you are not forced to fight for slavery if that isn’t something you are comfortable with. I am getting ahead of myself, though, for now let’s look at the game itself.