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Boardgames To Go 235D - Davecember 2024 (David Thompson)

·20 min·1 clip
Mark Johnson launches 'Davecember,' a month-long series interviewing multiple board game enthusiasts all named Dave.
This episode is part of the 'Davecember' series on Boardgames To Go, where host Mark Johnson interviews various board game enthusiasts all named Dave. Guest David Thompson, a game designer known for WWII titles like Undaunted, answers a set of standardized questions. Thompson first explains his naming preference, noting he goes by both David and Dave interchangeably. He shares his gaming background, starting with RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and Palladium's Rifts in childhood, then transitioning to board games about 12-13 years ago after hearing about thematic Ameritrash games on a podcast. Thompson discusses his current project, an American Civil War game, which surprises him as he previously had negative interest in the topic due to growing up in the South and discomfort with Lost Cause narratives. He contrasts this with his WWII work, emphasizing his focus on skirmish-level games where individual stories are central, a scale he links to his RPG roots. The conversation turns to game data, with Thompson critiquing another Dave's collection statistics as unreliable due to incomplete recording. He recommends lesser-known historical games like 'Maria' and shares his 2024 game of the year, 'Founding Fathers,' a 14-year-old design he rediscovered and now loves after playing it at a convention. The episode concludes with host thanks and listener engagement details.

As heard by us

A warm conversation about personal-scale history, role-playing roots, and approaching Civil War game design with care.

The playful "Dave Sember" business opens an easygoing interview about historical games built at the scale of individual lives. The guest usually works in World War II, where detailed records allow him to follow particular people instead of relying on broader unit histories.

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Why you'd press play

You'll hear why Dave Sember builds historical games around individual people rather than anonymous units.

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