Henry Hyde's Battlechat 117 with Professor Gary Sheffield

In his latest podcast on his BATTLECHAT channel, Henry Hyde interviews Professor Gary Sheffield ... who happens to be both an old friend of mine and my occasional online wargaming opponent.

On his website, Henry describes their discussion as follows:

Battlechat 117 with Professor Gary Sheffield ... in which we discuss all things warfighting, and our thoughts about how some aspects of our discussion can be incorporated into our wargames.

Well, what a discussion! This is a real meant-and-potatoes chat about some of the nitty-gritty aspects of warfare, deep diving into some of the visceral aspects of battle, such as SLA Marshall's theories about how many men actually used their weapons and the brutal realities of bayonet fighting. Gary also has a lot to say about the concept of 'Big Men', those individuals who, in a critical moment of battle, can suddenly make all the difference between success and failure.

We also look into some of the psychology around training, battle and loss of key men, and jut what it takes to turn well-mannered civilians into soldiers capable of killing not just at a distance with firearms or artillery, but also quite literally at 'the sharp end'.

In all of this, Gary (who last appeared on the show in Episode 99) references the very latest research he is doing for his next book, and it's a real insight into the kind of background reading that an academic military historian needs to do in creating a piece of work that brings something new to the academic table, sometimes overturning old theories with new evidence, and sometimes being inspired by the latest trends in military history, all of which seem to be paying much more attention to modern work around psychology and sociology as well as classic references about strategy and tactics.

I hope you enjoy this chat – one of the longest battlechats of recent times – as much as I did, and find something of value and thought-provoking enough to make you reconsider some aspects of your own games.

I was able to listen to this discussion before it was released to the general public (I am one of Henry's Patreon supporters), and it was one of the best podcasts that I have heard in a long time.