Wargaming
Encyclopedia
A wargame is a strategy game
that deals with military operation
s of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby
dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as a military exercise
or war game. Note that hobby wargamers have traditionally run the two words together, but the military has generally kept them separate; it is not a hard and fast rule, however. Although there may be disagreements as to whether a particular game qualifies as a wargame or not, a general consensus exists that all such games must explore and illuminate or simulate some feature or aspect of human behaviour directly bearing on the conduct of war, even if the game subject itself does not concern organized violent conflict or war
fare. The business wargames
exists too, but in general they are only role playing games based on market situations.
Wargames are generally categorized as historical, hypothetical, fantasy
, or science fiction
. Historical games by far form the largest group. These games are based upon real events and attempt to represent a reasonable approximation of the actual forces, terrain, and other material factors faced by the actual participants. Hypothetical games are games grounded in historical fact but concern battles or conflicts that did not (or have yet to) actually happen. Fantasy and science fiction wargames either draw their inspiration from works of fiction or provide their own imaginary setting. Highly stylized conflict games such as chess
are not generally considered wargames, although they are recognized as being related. Games involving conflict in other arenas than the battlefield, such as business, sports or natural environment are similarly usually excluded.
The modern wargaming hobby has its origins at the beginning of the 20th century, with the invention of miniatures games in which two or more players simulated a battle as a pastime. During the 1950s the first large scale, mass produced board games depicting military conflicts were published. These games were at the height of their popularity during the 1970s, and became quite complex and technical in that time.
Wargaming has changed dramatically over the years, from its roots in miniatures and board wargaming, to contemporary computer and computer assisted wargames; however, both miniature and board wargames maintain a healthy, if small, hobby market with lighter games being popular with many 'non-wargamers'.
. Some are fundamentally simple—often called "beer-and-pretzel" games—whereas others attempt to simulate a high level of historical realism. These latter games may produce long rulebooks that encompass a large variety of actions and details. These games often require a considerable study of the rules before they can be played. Wargames also feature a range of scales, from games that simulate individual soldiers, to ones that chart the course of an entire global
or even galactic
war.
Wargames are generally a representational
art form. Usually, this is of a fairly concrete historical subject (such as the Battle of Gettysburg
, one of several popular topics in the genre), but it can also be extended to non-historical ones as well. The Cold War
provided fuel for many games that attempted to show what a non-nuclear (or, in a very few cases, nuclear) World War III
would be like, moving from a re-creation to a predictive model in the process. Fantasy
and science fiction
subjects are sometimes not considered wargames because there is nothing in the real world to model, however, conflict in a self-consistent fictional world lends itself to exactly the same types of games and game designs as does military history.
Because of these attitudes, there are many games and types of games that may appear to be a wargame at first glance, but are not accepted as such by members of the hobby, and many that would be considered debatable. Risk
could be considered a wargame; it uses an area map of the Earth and is unabashedly about sending out armies to conquer the world. However, it has no readily-discernible timeframe, and combat is extremely abstract, leading many to not consider it as an actual wargame, or only tangentially as one.
The highest percentage of war-themed games that are not wargames come from the video game industry. Most markedly real-time strategy
games (such as StarCraft
) deal with combat nearly exclusively, but the gameplay-enhancing conventions of the genre also destroy realism. For example, in actual combat, vehicle armor is generally a binary proposition. Either the round penetrates and the vehicle is knocked out, or it does not and the vehicle is unaffected. RTS games make a habit of giving a vehicle a "health bar" that generally allows it to survive even powerful single shots, but each hit reduces its health by some amount, allowing a high volume of rifle fire to knock out a well armored tank. Other notable genre conventions include the construction of buildings and vehicles within the timeframe of a battle (i.e., hours, if not less) and a lack of any command and control, supply, or morale systems.
A major determinant of the complexity and size of a wargame is how realistic
it is intended to be. Some games constitute a serious study of the subject at hand, whereas others are intended to be light entertainment. In general, a more serious study will have longer, more detailed rules, more complexity, and more record keeping. More casual games may only bear a passing resemblance to the subject, although many still try to encourage the same types of decision making as the player's historical counterparts, and thereby bring forth the "feel" of the conflict.
Wargames tend to have a few fundamental problems. Notably, both player knowledge, and player action are much less limited than what would be available to the player's real-life counterparts. Some games have rules for command and control and fog of war
, using various methods. While results vary, many of these mechanisms can be cumbersome and onerous in traditional games. The "edge of world problem" raises the issue of what to do at the artificial boundary of the physical edge of a board game, in contrast to real life where there is no "edge" and units off-board can have a tangible effect on a scenario. Computer wargames can more easily incorporate these features because the computer can conceal information from players and act as an impartial judge (even while playing one side). However, due to interface issues, these can still be found to be as frustrating to the player as traditional methods.
need to study war
fare and to 'reenact' old battles for instructional purposes. The stunning Prussia
n victory over the Second French Empire
in the Franco-Prussian War
of 1870-1871 is sometimes partly credited to the training of Prussian officers with the game Kriegspiel, which was invented around 1811 and gained popularity with many officers in the Prussian army. These first wargames were played with dice
which represented "friction", or the intrusion of less than ideal circumstances during a real war (including morale
, weather
, the fog of war
, etc.), though this was usually replaced by an umpire who used his own combat experience to determine the results.
The first specific non-military wargame club was started in Oxford
, England
, in the 19th century. Naval enthusiast and analyst Fred T. Jane
came up with a set of rules for depicting naval actions with the use of model ships, or miniatures around 1898 (Reprinted 2008). The 1905/6 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships
includes a revised edition for "The Naval War Game".
H.G. Wells
' books Floor Games
(1911) and Little Wars
(1913) were attempts to codify rules for fighting battles with toy soldier
s (miniatures), and make them available to the general public. They were very simple games, and in some ways just provide a context for shooting spring-loaded toy cannons at toy soldiers, but "in his Appendix to Little Wars, Wells speaks of the changes required to convert his admittedly simplistic rules into a more rigorous Kriegspiel." However, Wells also states in his rules that combat "should be by actual gun and rifle fire and not by computation. Things should happen and not be decided," in opposition to the general nature of Kriegspiel play.
In 1940 Fletcher Pratt
's Naval War Game was first published. The game started in New York, but other clubs formed around the USA. Jack Coggins
was invited by Pratt to participate, and recalled that Pratt's game involved dozens of tiny wooden ships—built to a scale of about one inch to 50 feet—spread over the living room floor of his apartment. Their maneuvers and the results of their battles were calculated via a complex mathematical formula, with scale distances marked off with tape measures. The game's popularity grew and moved to using a ballroom for games with 60 or more players aside. The game was respected by the Naval War College and serving naval officers regularly participated in games For an evaluation of the Fletcher Pratt Game versus reality see Chapter 10 of The Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame book. link
All of these games were meant to be accessible to the general public, but actual play was made difficult owing to the expense of purchasing an army or navy's worth of miniatures. As leisure time and disposable income generally rose through the 20th Century, miniatures games slowly gained a following. Most gaming groups informally wrote and/or revised their own rules, which were never published. In 1955 Jack Scruby
started producing miniatures using RTV rubber molds, which greatly reduced their expense, and he turned this into a business (Scruby Miniatures) in 1957 and started publishing War Game Digest. It, and its successors, put fellow miniatures enthusiasts in touch with each other, and provided a forum for ideas and locally-produced rules to be shared with the rest of the hobby.
Around the same time in the UK Donald Featherstone
began writing an influential series of books on wargaming, which represented the first mainstream published contribution to wargaming since H.G Wells. Titles included : Wargames, Advanced Wargames, Solo Wargaming, Wargame Campaigns, Battles with Model Tanks, Skirmish Wargaming. Such was the popularity of such titles that other authors were able to have published wargaming titles. This output of published wargaming titles from British authors coupled with the emergence at the same time of several manufacturers providing suitable wargame miniatures (e.g. Miniature Figurines, Hinchliffe, Peter Laing, Garrisson, Skytrex, Davco, Heroic & Ros) was responsible for the huge upsurge of popularity of the hobby in the late 1960s and into the 1970s.
Meanwhile, the first modern mass-market wargame, based on cardboard counters
and map
s, was designed and published by Charles S. Roberts
in 1952. After nearly breaking even on Tactics
, he decided to found the Avalon Hill
Game Company as a publisher of intelligent games for adults, and is called "The father of board wargaming". The modern commercial board wargaming industry is considered to have begun with the publication of Tactics II in 1958, and the founding of The General Magazine
by Avalon Hill in 1964. In 1961, AH published Roberts' Gettysburg
, which is considered to be the first board wargame based entirely on a historical battle. D-Day and Chancellorsville
, the first commercial games to use a hexagonal mapboard, were also published that year.
Avalon Hill had a very conservative publishing schedule, typically about two titles a year, and wargames were only about half their line. By the end of the 1960s
, a number of small magazines dedicated to the hobby were springing up, along with new game companies. The most important of these were undoubtedly Strategy & Tactics
, and the company founded to save it from failing: Simulations Publications, Inc.
(SPI). Under SPI, S&T started including a new game in every issue of the magazine, which along with the regular games SPI was publishing vastly increased the number of wargames available.
Coupled with an aggressive advertising campaign, this caused a tremendous rise in the popularity of wargaming in the early 1970s, with a large number of new companies starting up. Two of these would last for some years: Game Designers' Workshop
(GDW), and Tactical Studies Rules
(TSR). TSR's medieval era miniatures game, Chainmail
(1971) included a fantasy supplement that led to a new phenomenon that would become much bigger than its parent hobby, role-playing games (RPGs). (For a better look at these developments see the history of role-playing games.)
The seventies can be considered the 'Golden Age of Wargaming', with a large number of new companies publishing an even larger number of games throughout the decade, powered by an explosive rise in the number of people playing wargames. Avalon Hill's PanzerBlitz
(1970), Panzer Leader
(1974), and Squad Leader
(1977) were particularly popular during this time, with their innovative geomorphic mapboard
system. Wargames also diversified in subject, with the first science-fiction wargame (Galactic Warfare, published in the UK by Davco) appearing in 1973
and one of the longest lasting and most successful (Star Fleet Battles
, published by Task Force Games
) appearing in 1979
; and in size with both microgame
s such as Steve Jackson's Ogre
, and "monster games" appearing during the decade.
The boom came to an end, and was followed by the usual bust
in the early 1980s, most markedly with the acquisition of SPI by TSR
in 1982
. The hobby never truly recovered from this, and is today much smaller than it was during the seventies. Numerous factors have been implicated in the decline, including the rise of gaming alternatives (such as RPGs), the ever increasing complexity of wargames, and changing demographics and lifestyles.
During the 1980s, much of the market for wargames was dominated by roleplaying games. Then, when personal computer
s became available, gamers could simply "sit down and play" without learning masses of rules, clearing physical space, and finding and coordinating schedules with opponents. However, in 1983 Games Workshop
published Warhammer Fantasy Battle
, initially as a "Mass-combat Role Playing Game", which quickly moved to dominate the fantasy wargaming market. When collectible card game
s arrived in the 1990s, the gaming market became even more competitive. By this time, many wargame publishers were already long gone.
Despite the decline, wargaming continues to survive in different forms. Advanced Squad Leader
(1985) became a niche hobby in and of itself, and Axis and Allies
(1984) was very popular with the mass market audience and Games Workshop
's Warhammer Fantasy Battle
(1983) spawned a long-lasting line popular miniatures games including the successive editions of Warhammer and the science-fantasy Warhammer 40,000
game. The genre of 'card-driven games' emerged with the publication of We the People
by AH in 1994, and continues in current releases from GMT. Battle Cry
(2000) and Memoir '44
(2004) proved that light wargames can still be commercially successful, as long as the rules are clear and accessible, and the components are high in quality. Block wargames, such as those published by Columbia Games
remain quite popular. Companies like GMT Games
and Multi-Man Publishing
continue to survive and publish highly detailed hex and counter wargames.
Miniature wargaming typically involves the use of 6–54 mm painted metal or plastic miniatures for units, and model scenery placed on a tabletop or floor as a playing surface, although other open areas such as gardens and sandboxes are sometimes used. Games with miniatures are sometimes called tabletop game
s, tabletop wargames, miniature wargames
, or simply wargames. Miniatures games generally measure distance for movement and range with a string or tape measure.
Miniature wargamers generally prefer rule sets that can be used for any battle in a particular era or war, instead of a specific event, as is common in board wargames. Because armies and terrain can be combined in all possible ways, miniatures wargaming is generally more varied and flexible than other forms of wargaming. The preparation also tends to be more time consuming and expensive. Miniature wargamers typically enjoy painting miniatures and constructing terrain, and this is an important part of the hobby for them.
Because information cannot be displayed on a miniature figure as conveniently as on a cardboard counter, miniature wargames often lack the complexity and detail of some of the heavier board wargames.
The popularity of miniatures wargaming stayed relatively stable during the boom and bust of board wargames. Today, games such as Warhammer Fantasy Battle
, Flames of War
, Field of Glory and the newer collectible miniatures game
s continue to recruit new interest into the oldest form of the wargaming hobby.
, and especially Britain
, they are a relatively minor part of the hobby. The genre is known for a number of common conventions that were developed early on, but these do not necessarily appear in all board wargames.
The early history of board wargaming was dominated by Avalon Hill
, even though other companies, such as SPI
, left their own permanent marks on the industry. With the purchase of Avalon Hill by Hasbro
, no one company is identified with the hobby as a whole. GMT
and Decision Games are two of the more influential board wargame companies in existence today.
).
An early card wargame would be Nuclear War
, a 'tongue-in-cheek game of the end of the world', first published in 1966 and still published today by Flying Buffalo
. It does not simulate how any actual nuclear exchange would happen, but it is still structured unlike most card games because of the way it deals with its subject.
In the late 1970s Battleline Publications
(a board wargame company) produced two card games, Naval War and Armor Supremacy. The first was fairly popular in wargaming circles, and is a light system of naval combat, though again not depicting any 'real' situation (players may operate ships from opposing navies side-by-side). Armor Supremacy was not as successful, but is a look at the constant design and development of new types of tanks during World War II.
The most successful card wargame (as a card game and as a wargame) would almost certainly be Up Front
, a card game about tactical combat in World War II published by Avalon Hill in 1983. The abstractness is harnessed in the game by having the deck produce random terrain, and chances to fire, and the like, simulating uncertainty as to the local conditions (nature of the terrain, etc.).
Dan Verssen Games is a specialist designer and publisher of card games for several genres, including air combat and WW2 and Modern land combat.
Also, card driven games (CDGs), first introduced in 1993, use a deck of (custom) cards to drive most elements of the game, such as unit movement (activation) and random events. These are, however, distinctly board games, the deck is merely one of the most important elements of the game.
s have had a profound impact on wargaming. Computers allow gamers separated by many miles to play a game. They also handle many of the tedious aspects of wargaming, such as highly technical rules and record keeping. Finally, with the development of artificial intelligence
, computers can actually serve as opponents, and thus provide opportunities for solitaire gaming.
In the video game industry, "wargames" are considered a subgenre of strategy game
that emphasizes strategic or tactical warfare on a map. These wargames generally take one of four archetypal forms, depending on whether the game is turn-based or real-time and whether the game's focus is upon military strategy or tactics.
Many contemporary computer strategy games can be considered wargames, in the sense that they are a simulation of warfare on some level. The mechanics and language have little in common with board and miniature games, but the general subject matter is popular. That said, most war-themed computer and video games are generally not considered wargames by the wargaming hobby. This usually occurs because of if there is a perception that slavish attention to 'realism' it will cause a game to be rejected as 'uninteresting' or boring so the mass-market video games tend to be easier to get into, and quick to play.
On the other hand, many 'unrealistic' video games do include fog of war
, meaning that what is visible on the map is limited to what is within a certain range of the player's units. This is a feature often talked about in traditional wargames, but traditionally impractical to implement outside of a computer. And not all games are equally 'unrealistic'. For example, the Total War games are a successful RTS series that is historically based, and the Hearts of Iron
game series looks at World War II
-era politics.
as regards to wargaming. Two different categories can be distinguished: local computer assisted wargames and remote computer assisted wargames.
Local computer assisted wargames are mostly not designed toward recreating the battlefield inside computer memory, but employing the computer to play the role of game master by storing game rules and unit characteristics, tracking unit status and positions or distances, animating the game with sounds and voice and resolving combat. Flow of play is simple: each turn, the units come up in a random order. Therefore the more units an opponent has, the more chance he will be selected for the next turn. When a unit comes up, the commander specifies an order and if offensive action is being taken, a target, along with details about distance. The results of the order, base move distance and effect to target, are reported, and the unit is moved on the tabletop. All distance relationships are tracked on the tabletop. All record-keeping is tracked by the computer.
Remote computer assisted wargames can be considered as extensions to the concept of PBEM gaming, however the presentation and actual capabilities are completely different. They have been designed to replicate the look and feel of existing board or miniatures wargames on the computer. The map and counters are presented to the user who can then manipulate these, more-or-less as if he were playing the physical game, and send a saved file off to his opponent, who can review what has been done without having to duplicate everything on his physical set-up of the game, and respond. Some allow for both players to get on-line and see each other's moves in real-time.
These systems are generally set up so that while one can play the game, the program has no knowledge of the rules, and cannot enforce them. The human players must have a knowledge of the rules themselves. The idea is to promote the playing of the games (by making play against a remote opponent easier), while supporting the industry (and reducing copyright
issues) by ensuring that the players have access to the actual physical game.
The four main programs that can be used to play a number of games each are Aide de Camp, Cyberboard, Vassal
and ZunTzu. Aide de Camp is available for purchase, while the other three are offered free. Vassal is in turn an outgrowth of the VASL (Virtual ASL) project, and uses Java
, making it accessible to any computer that can run a modern JVM, while the other three are Microsoft Windows
programs.
In some early PBM systems, six sided dice rolling was simulated by designating a specific stock and a future date and once that date passed, the players would determine an actions outcome using the sales in hundreds value for specific stocks on a specific date and then dividing the NYSE published sales in hundreds by six, using the remainder as the dice result.
Nuclear Destruction, by the Flying Buffalo
was an early PBM game in 1970. Origins Award
Hall-of-Fame member Middle-earth PBM
is still active today.
Reality Simulations, Inc. still runs a number of PBM games, such as Duel2 (formerly known as Duelmasters), Hyborian War, and Forgotten Realms: War of the Avatars.
saw a shift of people playing board wargames from play-by-mail (PBM) to play-by-email (PBEM) or play-by-web (PBW). The mechanics were the same, merely the medium was faster.
At this time, turn-based strategy
computer games still had a decent amount of popularity, and many started explicitly supporting the sending of saved-game files through email (instead of needing to find the file to send to the opponent by hand). As with all types of video games, the rise in home networking solutions and Internet access has also meant that networked games are now common and easy to set up.
Beyond this, there are a few other characteristics that are used to define wargames. Another element that tends to be assumed is the environment, or type of warfare (land, naval, air) depicted, at least if the subject matter is land warfare (a game on naval or air warfare will specify such if not immediately obvious). The most common genres that categories are explicitly based on is the period or era of the game, and then the scale
of the game. Naturally, games concerned with a particular combination of period, scale and environment tend to emphasize similar features.
and naval wargames are also popular, and go all the way back to the beginnings of the hobby. Aerial warfare
is relatively recent, and wargames on the subject are usually tactical games simulating dogfights, there are relatively few dealing with just the air war of a larger conflict. Dealing with multiple elements complicates the model of the simulation side of a wargame, so games with a true combined arms
approach tend to be strategic in nature, where all aspects are abstracted to a greater degree. While there are some near-future possibilities for space warfare
, there are very few 'serious' games on the subject, and wargames set in space are almost purely in the genre of science fiction.
, the American Civil War
, and the Napoleonic Wars
are the most popular historical categories, with other subjects generally being broken down as Ancients
, Middle Ages
, Early Gunpowder, and Modern
. Note that much of history from 1800-1950 is often not reflected well in general parlance as they are overshadowed by the 'big three', games on other subjects in this era are often referred to by the actual war they deal with. Unsurprisingly the various periods and wars, especially the better known ones, are usually referred to as initials or acronyms. Thus 18th century is usually broken down into sub periods such as 'WSS' (War of Spanish Succession), 'WAS' (War of Austrian Succession), 'SYW' (Seven Years War) and 'AWI' (American War of Independence). Some rules will take a broad brush approach, and cover a large period of time, such as 'Black Powder' which advertises as covering both 18th and 19th centuries, and have period specific sub-rules. Others concentrate purely on one war, such as 'Beneath the Lily Banners' (or BLB as it is often called) concentrates purely of the War of Spanish Succession.
Early 'modern' wargaming, as popularised by Grant and Featherstone, usually broke down the history into "Ancients", usually Biblical and Classical eras, "Horse and Musket", covering the 18th and 19th centuries, and "Modern", World war Two onwards.
In the early days, wargames were either historical, or somewhat abstract. Tactics II, the first general commercial board wargame, featured a fictional landscape with two made up countries but whose armies had capabilities based on contemporary conventional forces. Analogous to those, are the 'contemporary' games, ones that simulate current forces and postulate what an actual war involving them would be like. These were popular during the Cold War
, but have faded with the fall of the Soviet Union. During the 1970s, fantasy and science fiction made themselves felt as genres that could work inside of wargames. These tend to be more varied, as different assumptions can lead to vastly different types of warfare, but there has been no real concern with subdividing the genres more closely.
Finally, wargames do not necessarily have to involve traditional concepts of warfare and battles and games can enact typical film genres such as gang battles, crime and law enforcement. Similarly martial arts or even non-combat situations and adventures can be gamed where there are other objectives that require strategy combined with the elements of chance (dice/cards etc.) to be achieved.
Designers/Developers
See also List of miniature wargames.
Strategy game
A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome...
that deals with military operation
Military operation
Military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state's favor. Operations may be of combat or non-combat types, and are referred to by a code name for the purpose...
s of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby
Hobby
A hobby is a regular activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure, typically done during one's leisure time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...
dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as a military exercise
Military exercise
A military exercise is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat...
or war game. Note that hobby wargamers have traditionally run the two words together, but the military has generally kept them separate; it is not a hard and fast rule, however. Although there may be disagreements as to whether a particular game qualifies as a wargame or not, a general consensus exists that all such games must explore and illuminate or simulate some feature or aspect of human behaviour directly bearing on the conduct of war, even if the game subject itself does not concern organized violent conflict or war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
fare. The business wargames
Business War Games
Business war gaming or business wargaming is an adaptation of the art of simulating moves and counter-moves in a commercial setting. Unlike military war games, or fantasy war games which go back hundreds of years to the days of Prussia and H.G...
exists too, but in general they are only role playing games based on market situations.
Wargames are generally categorized as historical, hypothetical, fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, or science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
. Historical games by far form the largest group. These games are based upon real events and attempt to represent a reasonable approximation of the actual forces, terrain, and other material factors faced by the actual participants. Hypothetical games are games grounded in historical fact but concern battles or conflicts that did not (or have yet to) actually happen. Fantasy and science fiction wargames either draw their inspiration from works of fiction or provide their own imaginary setting. Highly stylized conflict games such as chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
are not generally considered wargames, although they are recognized as being related. Games involving conflict in other arenas than the battlefield, such as business, sports or natural environment are similarly usually excluded.
The modern wargaming hobby has its origins at the beginning of the 20th century, with the invention of miniatures games in which two or more players simulated a battle as a pastime. During the 1950s the first large scale, mass produced board games depicting military conflicts were published. These games were at the height of their popularity during the 1970s, and became quite complex and technical in that time.
Wargaming has changed dramatically over the years, from its roots in miniatures and board wargaming, to contemporary computer and computer assisted wargames; however, both miniature and board wargames maintain a healthy, if small, hobby market with lighter games being popular with many 'non-wargamers'.
Overview
Like all games, wargames exist in a range of different complexitiesGame complexity
Combinatorial game theory has several ways of measuring game complexity. This article describes five of them: state-space complexity, game tree size, decision complexity, game-tree complexity, and computational complexity.-Measures of game complexity:...
. Some are fundamentally simple—often called "beer-and-pretzel" games—whereas others attempt to simulate a high level of historical realism. These latter games may produce long rulebooks that encompass a large variety of actions and details. These games often require a considerable study of the rules before they can be played. Wargames also feature a range of scales, from games that simulate individual soldiers, to ones that chart the course of an entire global
World war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
or even galactic
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
war.
Wargames are generally a representational
Representation (arts)
Representation is the use of signs that stand in for and take the place of something else. It is through representation that people organize the world and reality through the act of naming its elements...
art form. Usually, this is of a fairly concrete historical subject (such as the Battle of Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
, one of several popular topics in the genre), but it can also be extended to non-historical ones as well. The Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
provided fuel for many games that attempted to show what a non-nuclear (or, in a very few cases, nuclear) World War III
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
would be like, moving from a re-creation to a predictive model in the process. Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
and science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
subjects are sometimes not considered wargames because there is nothing in the real world to model, however, conflict in a self-consistent fictional world lends itself to exactly the same types of games and game designs as does military history.
Because of these attitudes, there are many games and types of games that may appear to be a wargame at first glance, but are not accepted as such by members of the hobby, and many that would be considered debatable. Risk
Risk (game)
Risk is a strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers . It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde in France. Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players...
could be considered a wargame; it uses an area map of the Earth and is unabashedly about sending out armies to conquer the world. However, it has no readily-discernible timeframe, and combat is extremely abstract, leading many to not consider it as an actual wargame, or only tangentially as one.
The highest percentage of war-themed games that are not wargames come from the video game industry. Most markedly real-time strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
games (such as StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
) deal with combat nearly exclusively, but the gameplay-enhancing conventions of the genre also destroy realism. For example, in actual combat, vehicle armor is generally a binary proposition. Either the round penetrates and the vehicle is knocked out, or it does not and the vehicle is unaffected. RTS games make a habit of giving a vehicle a "health bar" that generally allows it to survive even powerful single shots, but each hit reduces its health by some amount, allowing a high volume of rifle fire to knock out a well armored tank. Other notable genre conventions include the construction of buildings and vehicles within the timeframe of a battle (i.e., hours, if not less) and a lack of any command and control, supply, or morale systems.
A major determinant of the complexity and size of a wargame is how realistic
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
it is intended to be. Some games constitute a serious study of the subject at hand, whereas others are intended to be light entertainment. In general, a more serious study will have longer, more detailed rules, more complexity, and more record keeping. More casual games may only bear a passing resemblance to the subject, although many still try to encourage the same types of decision making as the player's historical counterparts, and thereby bring forth the "feel" of the conflict.
Wargames tend to have a few fundamental problems. Notably, both player knowledge, and player action are much less limited than what would be available to the player's real-life counterparts. Some games have rules for command and control and fog of war
Fog of war
The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
, using various methods. While results vary, many of these mechanisms can be cumbersome and onerous in traditional games. The "edge of world problem" raises the issue of what to do at the artificial boundary of the physical edge of a board game, in contrast to real life where there is no "edge" and units off-board can have a tangible effect on a scenario. Computer wargames can more easily incorporate these features because the computer can conceal information from players and act as an impartial judge (even while playing one side). However, due to interface issues, these can still be found to be as frustrating to the player as traditional methods.
History
Modern wargaming originated with the militaryMilitary
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
need to study war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
fare and to 'reenact' old battles for instructional purposes. The stunning Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n victory over the Second French Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
in the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870-1871 is sometimes partly credited to the training of Prussian officers with the game Kriegspiel, which was invented around 1811 and gained popularity with many officers in the Prussian army. These first wargames were played with dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
which represented "friction", or the intrusion of less than ideal circumstances during a real war (including morale
Morale
Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group, is an intangible term used to describe the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others...
, weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
, the fog of war
Fog of war
The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
, etc.), though this was usually replaced by an umpire who used his own combat experience to determine the results.
The first specific non-military wargame club was started in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, in the 19th century. Naval enthusiast and analyst Fred T. Jane
Fred T. Jane
John Fredrick Thomas Jane was the founding editor of reference books on warships and aircraft . He also once kidnapped Victor Grayson MP in a political stunt....
came up with a set of rules for depicting naval actions with the use of model ships, or miniatures around 1898 (Reprinted 2008). The 1905/6 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships
Jane's Fighting Ships
Jane's Fighting Ships is an annual reference book of information on all the world's warships arranged by nation, including information on ship's names, dimensions, armaments, silhouettes and photographs, etc...
includes a revised edition for "The Naval War Game".
H.G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
' books Floor Games
Floor Games
Floor Games is a book written in 1911 by H. G. Wells. It is a light-hearted, sometimes humorous discussion about the theory, purpose, and methodology of playing a variety of children's games with models, miniatures, and other props....
(1911) and Little Wars
Little Wars
Little Wars is a set of rules for playing with toy soldiers, written by H. G. Wells in 1913. Its full title is Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books.Little Wars is considered by some...
(1913) were attempts to codify rules for fighting battles with toy soldier
Toy soldier
A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes knights, cowboys, pirates, and other subjects that involve combat-related themes. Toy soldiers vary from simple playthings to highly realistic...
s (miniatures), and make them available to the general public. They were very simple games, and in some ways just provide a context for shooting spring-loaded toy cannons at toy soldiers, but "in his Appendix to Little Wars, Wells speaks of the changes required to convert his admittedly simplistic rules into a more rigorous Kriegspiel." However, Wells also states in his rules that combat "should be by actual gun and rifle fire and not by computation. Things should happen and not be decided," in opposition to the general nature of Kriegspiel play.
In 1940 Fletcher Pratt
Fletcher Pratt
Murray Fletcher Pratt was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and history, particularly noted for his works on naval history and on the American Civil War.- Life and work :...
's Naval War Game was first published. The game started in New York, but other clubs formed around the USA. Jack Coggins
Jack Coggins
Jack Banham Coggins was an artist, author, and illustrator. He is known in the United States for his oil paintings, which focused predominantly on marine subjects. He is also known for his books on space travel, which were both authored and illustrated by Coggins...
was invited by Pratt to participate, and recalled that Pratt's game involved dozens of tiny wooden ships—built to a scale of about one inch to 50 feet—spread over the living room floor of his apartment. Their maneuvers and the results of their battles were calculated via a complex mathematical formula, with scale distances marked off with tape measures. The game's popularity grew and moved to using a ballroom for games with 60 or more players aside. The game was respected by the Naval War College and serving naval officers regularly participated in games For an evaluation of the Fletcher Pratt Game versus reality see Chapter 10 of The Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame book. link
All of these games were meant to be accessible to the general public, but actual play was made difficult owing to the expense of purchasing an army or navy's worth of miniatures. As leisure time and disposable income generally rose through the 20th Century, miniatures games slowly gained a following. Most gaming groups informally wrote and/or revised their own rules, which were never published. In 1955 Jack Scruby
Jack Scruby
John Edwin "Jack" Scruby was a manufacturer of military miniatures whose efforts led to a rebirth of the miniature wargaming hobby in the late 1950s.-Scruby and Wargaming:...
started producing miniatures using RTV rubber molds, which greatly reduced their expense, and he turned this into a business (Scruby Miniatures) in 1957 and started publishing War Game Digest. It, and its successors, put fellow miniatures enthusiasts in touch with each other, and provided a forum for ideas and locally-produced rules to be shared with the rest of the hobby.
Around the same time in the UK Donald Featherstone
Donald Featherstone (wargamer)
Donald F. Featherstone is a British author of more than forty books on wargaming and military history. He wrote classic texts on wargaming in the 1960s and 1970s....
began writing an influential series of books on wargaming, which represented the first mainstream published contribution to wargaming since H.G Wells. Titles included : Wargames, Advanced Wargames, Solo Wargaming, Wargame Campaigns, Battles with Model Tanks, Skirmish Wargaming. Such was the popularity of such titles that other authors were able to have published wargaming titles. This output of published wargaming titles from British authors coupled with the emergence at the same time of several manufacturers providing suitable wargame miniatures (e.g. Miniature Figurines, Hinchliffe, Peter Laing, Garrisson, Skytrex, Davco, Heroic & Ros) was responsible for the huge upsurge of popularity of the hobby in the late 1960s and into the 1970s.
Meanwhile, the first modern mass-market wargame, based on cardboard counters
Counter (board wargames)
Boardgame counters are usually small cardboard squares moved around on the map of a wargame to represent armies, military units or individual military personnel. The first modern mass-market wargame, based on cardboard counters and hex-board maps, was Tactics, invented by Charles S. Roberts in 1952...
and map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
s, was designed and published by Charles S. Roberts
Charles S. Roberts
Charles Swann Roberts was a wargame designer, railroad historian, and businessman. He is renowned as "The Father of Board Wargaming", having created the first modern wargame in 1952, and the first wargaming company in 1954...
in 1952. After nearly breaking even on Tactics
Tactics (game)
Tactics is generally credited as being the first board wargame. It was designed by Charles S. Roberts in 1952, and self-published in 1954 under the company name of The Avalon Game Company...
, he decided to found the Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...
Game Company as a publisher of intelligent games for adults, and is called "The father of board wargaming". The modern commercial board wargaming industry is considered to have begun with the publication of Tactics II in 1958, and the founding of The General Magazine
The General Magazine
The General Magazine was first published in 1964, as a bi-monthly periodical devoted to supporting Avalon Hill's line of wargames, with articles on game tactics, history, and industry news...
by Avalon Hill in 1964. In 1961, AH published Roberts' Gettysburg
Gettysburg (game)
Gettysburg is a board wargame produced by Avalon Hill which re-enacts the American Civil War battle of Gettysburg. It was originally published in 1958, and was the first board wargame based on a historical battle....
, which is considered to be the first board wargame based entirely on a historical battle. D-Day and Chancellorsville
Chancellorsville (game)
Chancellorsville is a two-player board wargame produced by Avalon Hill which re-enacts the American Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville. It was originally published in 1961, and republished in 1974. The game was designed by Wargaming Hall of Fame designer Charles S. Roberts.Chancellorsville was a...
, the first commercial games to use a hexagonal mapboard, were also published that year.
Avalon Hill had a very conservative publishing schedule, typically about two titles a year, and wargames were only about half their line. By the end of the 1960s
1960s in games
This page lists board games, card games, and wargames published in the 1960s.-Significant games-related events in the 1960s:* Parker Brothers is bought by General Mills ....
, a number of small magazines dedicated to the hobby were springing up, along with new game companies. The most important of these were undoubtedly Strategy & Tactics
Strategy & Tactics
Strategy & Tactics is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue...
, and the company founded to save it from failing: Simulations Publications, Inc.
Simulations Publications
Simulations Publications, Inc. was an influential American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s...
(SPI). Under SPI, S&T started including a new game in every issue of the magazine, which along with the regular games SPI was publishing vastly increased the number of wargames available.
Coupled with an aggressive advertising campaign, this caused a tremendous rise in the popularity of wargaming in the early 1970s, with a large number of new companies starting up. Two of these would last for some years: Game Designers' Workshop
Game Designers' Workshop
Game Designers' Workshop was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers.-History:Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973...
(GDW), and Tactical Studies Rules
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
(TSR). TSR's medieval era miniatures game, Chainmail
Chainmail (game)
Chainmail is a medieval miniatures wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the game with fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association member Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly, and the game was first published in 1971...
(1971) included a fantasy supplement that led to a new phenomenon that would become much bigger than its parent hobby, role-playing games (RPGs). (For a better look at these developments see the history of role-playing games.)
The seventies can be considered the 'Golden Age of Wargaming', with a large number of new companies publishing an even larger number of games throughout the decade, powered by an explosive rise in the number of people playing wargames. Avalon Hill's PanzerBlitz
PanzerBlitz
PanzerBlitz is a tactical-scale board wargame of armoured combat set in the Eastern Front of the Second World War. The game is notable for being the first true board-based tactical-level, commercially available conflict simulation...
(1970), Panzer Leader
Panzer Leader (game)
Panzer Leader is the sequel to Avalon Hill's Panzerblitz game. Like its predecessor, it is a tactical platoon level hex and counter board wargame depicting WWII tank and infantry combat on the Western European front...
(1974), and Squad Leader
Squad Leader
thumb|Squad Leader game package.Squad Leader is a tactical level board wargame originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by Hall of Fame game designer John Hill and focuses on infantry combat in Europe during World War II...
(1977) were particularly popular during this time, with their innovative geomorphic mapboard
Geomorphic mapboard
A geomorphic mapboard is a game board that can be configured in different ways and reused to create different playing surfaces. The concept was introduced in PanzerBlitz, though the number of configurations was low...
system. Wargames also diversified in subject, with the first science-fiction wargame (Galactic Warfare, published in the UK by Davco) appearing in 1973
1973 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, and miniatures games published in 1973. For video and console games, see 1973 in video gaming.-Significant games-related events of 1973:*Game Designers' Workshop founded....
and one of the longest lasting and most successful (Star Fleet Battles
Star Fleet Battles
Star Fleet Battles is a tactical board wargame set in an offshoot of the Star Trek setting called the Star Fleet Universe. Originally created in 1979 by Stephen V. Cole,...
, published by Task Force Games
Task Force Games
Task Force Games was a game company started in 1979 by Allen Eldridge and Stephen Cole. Mr. Cole left the company in the early 1980's, but continued to design the company's best selling Star Fleet Battles game. Mr. Eldridge sold the company to New World Computing in 1988...
) appearing in 1979
1979 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 1979. For video and console games, see 1979 in video gaming.-Significant games-related events of 1979:...
; and in size with both microgame
Microgame
A microgame is a board game or wargame packaged in a small set. Microgames enjoyed popularity during the 1980s...
s such as Steve Jackson's Ogre
Ogre (game)
Ogre is a board wargame first released in 1977 as the first Metagaming Concepts Microgame, designed by Steve Jackson.Its basic premise is that it is an asymmetric-forces gameset in the late 21st century....
, and "monster games" appearing during the decade.
The boom came to an end, and was followed by the usual bust
Boom and bust
A credit boom-bust cycle is an episode characterized by a sustained increase in several economics indicators followed by a sharp and rapid contraction. Commonly the boom is driven by a rapid expansion of credit to the private sector accompanied with rising prices of commodities and stock market index...
in the early 1980s, most markedly with the acquisition of SPI by TSR
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
in 1982
1982 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 1982. For video and console games, see 1982 in video gaming.-Game awards given in 1982:...
. The hobby never truly recovered from this, and is today much smaller than it was during the seventies. Numerous factors have been implicated in the decline, including the rise of gaming alternatives (such as RPGs), the ever increasing complexity of wargames, and changing demographics and lifestyles.
During the 1980s, much of the market for wargames was dominated by roleplaying games. Then, when personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s became available, gamers could simply "sit down and play" without learning masses of rules, clearing physical space, and finding and coordinating schedules with opponents. However, in 1983 Games Workshop
Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
published Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
, initially as a "Mass-combat Role Playing Game", which quickly moved to dominate the fantasy wargaming market. When collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
s arrived in the 1990s, the gaming market became even more competitive. By this time, many wargame publishers were already long gone.
Despite the decline, wargaming continues to survive in different forms. Advanced Squad Leader
Advanced Squad Leader
Advanced Squad Leader is a tactical-level board wargame, originally marketed by Avalon Hill Games, that simulates actions of approximately company or battalion size in World War II. It is a detailed game system for two or more players . Components include the ASL Rulebook and various games called...
(1985) became a niche hobby in and of itself, and Axis and Allies
Axis and Allies
Axis & Allies is a popular series of World War II strategy board games, with nearly two million copies printed. Originally designed by Larry Harris and published by Nova Game Designs in 1981, the game was republished by the Milton Bradley Company in 1984 as part of the Gamemaster Series of board...
(1984) was very popular with the mass market audience and Games Workshop
Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
's Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
(1983) spawned a long-lasting line popular miniatures games including the successive editions of Warhammer and the science-fantasy Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...
game. The genre of 'card-driven games' emerged with the publication of We the People
We the People (game)
We the People is a board wargame about the American Revolution, published by Avalon Hill in 1994 and designed by Mark Herman. It was one of the first card-driven wargames, a style that has since become very influential in current wargame design....
by AH in 1994, and continues in current releases from GMT. Battle Cry
Battle Cry (game)
Battle Cry is a board wargame based on the American Civil War, designed by Richard Borg and published by Avalon Hill in 2000.While superficially similar to conventional board wargames, it borrows from miniatures wargaming with its use of plastic figures and its simplified rules.The map is initially...
(2000) and Memoir '44
Memoir '44
Memoir '44 is a light wargame, or war-themed strategy board game, created by Richard Borg, for two players. The game can also be played with up to six players if played in teams and up to eight players in the "Overlord" scenarios that require two copies of the game...
(2004) proved that light wargames can still be commercially successful, as long as the rules are clear and accessible, and the components are high in quality. Block wargames, such as those published by Columbia Games
Columbia Games
Columbia Games is a maker of board and role-playing games including Hârn and a variety of games, mostly wargames using blocks instead of the more conventional chits...
remain quite popular. Companies like GMT Games
GMT Games
GMT Games, probably the most prolific of the wargame companies in the 1990s and 2000s, was founded in 1990. The current management and creative team includes Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Mark Simonitch, and Andy Lewis...
and Multi-Man Publishing
Multi-Man Publishing
Multi-Man Publishing, LLC is a game company formed by baseball player Curt Schilling and his partners to keep the game series Advanced Squad Leader in print. MMP operates some of the former Avalon Hill games under license from Hasbro, Inc...
continue to survive and publish highly detailed hex and counter wargames.
Miniature versions
Tabletop game
Tabletop game is a general term used to refer to board games, card games, dice games, miniatures wargames, tile-based games and other games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface...
s, tabletop wargames, miniature wargames
Miniature wargaming
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming that incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play...
, or simply wargames. Miniatures games generally measure distance for movement and range with a string or tape measure.
Miniature wargamers generally prefer rule sets that can be used for any battle in a particular era or war, instead of a specific event, as is common in board wargames. Because armies and terrain can be combined in all possible ways, miniatures wargaming is generally more varied and flexible than other forms of wargaming. The preparation also tends to be more time consuming and expensive. Miniature wargamers typically enjoy painting miniatures and constructing terrain, and this is an important part of the hobby for them.
Because information cannot be displayed on a miniature figure as conveniently as on a cardboard counter, miniature wargames often lack the complexity and detail of some of the heavier board wargames.
The popularity of miniatures wargaming stayed relatively stable during the boom and bust of board wargames. Today, games such as Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
, Flames of War
Flames of War
Flames of War is a World War II tabletop miniatures wargame produced by the New Zealand company Battlefront Miniatures Ltd...
, Field of Glory and the newer collectible miniatures game
Collectible miniatures game
Collectible miniatures games or CMGs are a form of miniature wargaming that is also similar to collectible card games — the primary difference being that while CCGs are card-based games, CMGs feature miniature figures....
s continue to recruit new interest into the oldest form of the wargaming hobby.
Board versions
In the United States, board wargames are often equated with the entire hobby of wargaming. In EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and especially Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, they are a relatively minor part of the hobby. The genre is known for a number of common conventions that were developed early on, but these do not necessarily appear in all board wargames.
The early history of board wargaming was dominated by Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...
, even though other companies, such as SPI
Simulations Publications
Simulations Publications, Inc. was an influential American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s...
, left their own permanent marks on the industry. With the purchase of Avalon Hill by Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
, no one company is identified with the hobby as a whole. GMT
GMT Games
GMT Games, probably the most prolific of the wargame companies in the 1990s and 2000s, was founded in 1990. The current management and creative team includes Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Mark Simonitch, and Andy Lewis...
and Decision Games are two of the more influential board wargame companies in existence today.
Card versions
Because of their nature, cards are well suited for abstract games, as opposed to the simulation aspects of wargames. Traditional card games are not considered wargames even when nominally about the same subject (such as the game WarWar (card game)
War is a card game typically involving two players. It uses a standard French playing card deck. Due to its simplicity, it is played most often by children.-Gameplay:The deck is divided evenly among the two players, giving each a down stack...
).
An early card wargame would be Nuclear War
Nuclear War (card game)
Nuclear War is a card game designed by Douglas Malewicki, and originally published in 1965. It is currently published by Flying Buffalo, and has inspired several expansions...
, a 'tongue-in-cheek game of the end of the world', first published in 1966 and still published today by Flying Buffalo
Flying Buffalo
Flying Buffalo Incorporated is a Scottsdale, Arizona game company that publishes role playing games, card games, gaming materials, and runs Play-by-mail games....
. It does not simulate how any actual nuclear exchange would happen, but it is still structured unlike most card games because of the way it deals with its subject.
In the late 1970s Battleline Publications
Battleline Publications
Battleline Publications was a board wargame company founded by Steven Peek in 1973. Output was relatively low at first, with each game being funded by sales of the one before, but their games were generally well-respected. Several were re-published by Avalon Hill, and their second game, Wooden...
(a board wargame company) produced two card games, Naval War and Armor Supremacy. The first was fairly popular in wargaming circles, and is a light system of naval combat, though again not depicting any 'real' situation (players may operate ships from opposing navies side-by-side). Armor Supremacy was not as successful, but is a look at the constant design and development of new types of tanks during World War II.
The most successful card wargame (as a card game and as a wargame) would almost certainly be Up Front
Up Front
Up Front is a World War II card-based wargame. It was designed by Courtney F. Allen and published by Avalon Hill in 1983. Hasbro now owns the franchise which is currently licensed to Multi-Man Publishing....
, a card game about tactical combat in World War II published by Avalon Hill in 1983. The abstractness is harnessed in the game by having the deck produce random terrain, and chances to fire, and the like, simulating uncertainty as to the local conditions (nature of the terrain, etc.).
Dan Verssen Games is a specialist designer and publisher of card games for several genres, including air combat and WW2 and Modern land combat.
Also, card driven games (CDGs), first introduced in 1993, use a deck of (custom) cards to drive most elements of the game, such as unit movement (activation) and random events. These are, however, distinctly board games, the deck is merely one of the most important elements of the game.
Computer versions
As in all aspects of modern life, personal computerPersonal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s have had a profound impact on wargaming. Computers allow gamers separated by many miles to play a game. They also handle many of the tedious aspects of wargaming, such as highly technical rules and record keeping. Finally, with the development of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, computers can actually serve as opponents, and thus provide opportunities for solitaire gaming.
In the video game industry, "wargames" are considered a subgenre of strategy game
Strategy game
A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome...
that emphasizes strategic or tactical warfare on a map. These wargames generally take one of four archetypal forms, depending on whether the game is turn-based or real-time and whether the game's focus is upon military strategy or tactics.
Comparison with traditional versions
On the other hand, many 'unrealistic' video games do include fog of war
Fog of war
The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
, meaning that what is visible on the map is limited to what is within a certain range of the player's units. This is a feature often talked about in traditional wargames, but traditionally impractical to implement outside of a computer. And not all games are equally 'unrealistic'. For example, the Total War games are a successful RTS series that is historically based, and the Hearts of Iron
Hearts of Iron
Hearts of Iron is a grand strategy computer game developed by Paradox Interactive and published by Strategy First, set in the years 1936-1948. In the game you can control any one nation as World War II unfolds. It was released for Windows-compatible PCs in 2002. A Macintosh version was also...
game series looks at World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
-era politics.
Computer-assisted versions
In recent years, programs have been developed for computer-assisted gamingComputer-assisted gaming
Computer-assisted gaming and computer-asssited wargaming refer to games which are at least partially computerized, but where on important part of the action is not virtual but performed in real life or on a miniature terrain. Regulation of the game can be done completely by a computer or partly...
as regards to wargaming. Two different categories can be distinguished: local computer assisted wargames and remote computer assisted wargames.
Local computer assisted wargames are mostly not designed toward recreating the battlefield inside computer memory, but employing the computer to play the role of game master by storing game rules and unit characteristics, tracking unit status and positions or distances, animating the game with sounds and voice and resolving combat. Flow of play is simple: each turn, the units come up in a random order. Therefore the more units an opponent has, the more chance he will be selected for the next turn. When a unit comes up, the commander specifies an order and if offensive action is being taken, a target, along with details about distance. The results of the order, base move distance and effect to target, are reported, and the unit is moved on the tabletop. All distance relationships are tracked on the tabletop. All record-keeping is tracked by the computer.
Remote computer assisted wargames can be considered as extensions to the concept of PBEM gaming, however the presentation and actual capabilities are completely different. They have been designed to replicate the look and feel of existing board or miniatures wargames on the computer. The map and counters are presented to the user who can then manipulate these, more-or-less as if he were playing the physical game, and send a saved file off to his opponent, who can review what has been done without having to duplicate everything on his physical set-up of the game, and respond. Some allow for both players to get on-line and see each other's moves in real-time.
These systems are generally set up so that while one can play the game, the program has no knowledge of the rules, and cannot enforce them. The human players must have a knowledge of the rules themselves. The idea is to promote the playing of the games (by making play against a remote opponent easier), while supporting the industry (and reducing copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
issues) by ensuring that the players have access to the actual physical game.
The four main programs that can be used to play a number of games each are Aide de Camp, Cyberboard, Vassal
VASSAL Engine
The VASSAL Engine is a game engine for building and playing online adaptations of board games, tabletop games and card games. It allows users to play in real time over a live Internet connection, and also by email . It runs on all platforms, and is free, open-source software...
and ZunTzu. Aide de Camp is available for purchase, while the other three are offered free. Vassal is in turn an outgrowth of the VASL (Virtual ASL) project, and uses Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
, making it accessible to any computer that can run a modern JVM, while the other three are Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
programs.
Play-by-Mail (PBM)
Wargames were played remotely through the mail, with players sending lists of moves, or orders, to each other through the mail.In some early PBM systems, six sided dice rolling was simulated by designating a specific stock and a future date and once that date passed, the players would determine an actions outcome using the sales in hundreds value for specific stocks on a specific date and then dividing the NYSE published sales in hundreds by six, using the remainder as the dice result.
Nuclear Destruction, by the Flying Buffalo
Flying Buffalo
Flying Buffalo Incorporated is a Scottsdale, Arizona game company that publishes role playing games, card games, gaming materials, and runs Play-by-mail games....
was an early PBM game in 1970. Origins Award
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
Hall-of-Fame member Middle-earth PBM
Middle-earth PBM
Middle-Earth PBM is a turn-based, strategy play by email and play-by-mail game set in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, including elements from ICE's Middle-earth Role Playingunder licence from GSIL....
is still active today.
Reality Simulations, Inc. still runs a number of PBM games, such as Duel2 (formerly known as Duelmasters), Hyborian War, and Forgotten Realms: War of the Avatars.
E-mail and traditional versions
Since e-mail is faster than the standard postal service, the rise of the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
saw a shift of people playing board wargames from play-by-mail (PBM) to play-by-email (PBEM) or play-by-web (PBW). The mechanics were the same, merely the medium was faster.
At this time, turn-based strategy
Turn-based strategy
A turn-based strategy game is a strategy game where players take turns when playing...
computer games still had a decent amount of popularity, and many started explicitly supporting the sending of saved-game files through email (instead of needing to find the file to send to the opponent by hand). As with all types of video games, the rise in home networking solutions and Internet access has also meant that networked games are now common and easy to set up.
Types
While wargaming is a genre itself, it can be categorized into a number of sub-genres. The most obvious division is by the categories given above. i.e., miniatures, board, computer, etc. This is so obvious, in fact, that most people verbally (and mentally) skip over it. A person might discuss (depending on context) 'board games' or 'wargames' and assume the other element without feeling any need to state 'board wargames'.Beyond this, there are a few other characteristics that are used to define wargames. Another element that tends to be assumed is the environment, or type of warfare (land, naval, air) depicted, at least if the subject matter is land warfare (a game on naval or air warfare will specify such if not immediately obvious). The most common genres that categories are explicitly based on is the period or era of the game, and then the scale
Scale (spatial)
Spatial scale provides a "shorthand" form for discussing relative lengths, areas, distances and sizes. A microclimate, for instance, is one which might occur in a mountain valley or near a lakeshore, whereas a megatrend is one which involves the whole planet....
of the game. Naturally, games concerned with a particular combination of period, scale and environment tend to emphasize similar features.
Environment
The bulk of wargames concentrate on land warfare, the oldest of all types of warfare, and generally the easiest to simulate. Naval warfareNaval warfare
Naval warfare is combat in and on seas, oceans, or any other major bodies of water such as large lakes and wide rivers.-History:Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Land warfare would seem, initially, to be irrelevant and entirely removed from warfare on the open ocean,...
and naval wargames are also popular, and go all the way back to the beginnings of the hobby. Aerial warfare
Aerial warfare
Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare, including military airlift of cargo to further the national interests as was demonstrated in the Berlin Airlift...
is relatively recent, and wargames on the subject are usually tactical games simulating dogfights, there are relatively few dealing with just the air war of a larger conflict. Dealing with multiple elements complicates the model of the simulation side of a wargame, so games with a true combined arms
Combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...
approach tend to be strategic in nature, where all aspects are abstracted to a greater degree. While there are some near-future possibilities for space warfare
Space warfare
Space warfare is combat that takes place in outer space, i.e. outside the atmosphere. Space warfare therefore includes ground-to-space warfare, such as attacking satellites from the Earth, as well as space-to-space warfare, such as satellites attacking satellites.It does not include the use of...
, there are very few 'serious' games on the subject, and wargames set in space are almost purely in the genre of science fiction.
Historical period
As wargames are generally historical, games are generally grouped into periods. These divisions mirror the scholarly divisions of history to some extent, but as certain subjects are very popular, certain wars are a category all by themselves. World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
are the most popular historical categories, with other subjects generally being broken down as Ancients
Ancient warfare
Ancient warfare is war as conducted from the beginnings of recorded history to the end of the ancient period. In Europe and the Near East, the end of antiquity is often equated with the fall of Rome in 476, and the wars of the Eastern Roman Empire Byzantium in its South Western Asian and North...
, Middle Ages
Medieval warfare
Medieval warfare is the warfare of the Middle Ages. In Europe, technological, cultural, and social developments had forced a dramatic transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery...
, Early Gunpowder, and Modern
Modern warfare
Modern warfare, although present in every historical period of military history, is generally used to refer to the concepts, methods and technologies that have come into use during and after the Second World War and the Korean War...
. Note that much of history from 1800-1950 is often not reflected well in general parlance as they are overshadowed by the 'big three', games on other subjects in this era are often referred to by the actual war they deal with. Unsurprisingly the various periods and wars, especially the better known ones, are usually referred to as initials or acronyms. Thus 18th century is usually broken down into sub periods such as 'WSS' (War of Spanish Succession), 'WAS' (War of Austrian Succession), 'SYW' (Seven Years War) and 'AWI' (American War of Independence). Some rules will take a broad brush approach, and cover a large period of time, such as 'Black Powder' which advertises as covering both 18th and 19th centuries, and have period specific sub-rules. Others concentrate purely on one war, such as 'Beneath the Lily Banners' (or BLB as it is often called) concentrates purely of the War of Spanish Succession.
Early 'modern' wargaming, as popularised by Grant and Featherstone, usually broke down the history into "Ancients", usually Biblical and Classical eras, "Horse and Musket", covering the 18th and 19th centuries, and "Modern", World war Two onwards.
In the early days, wargames were either historical, or somewhat abstract. Tactics II, the first general commercial board wargame, featured a fictional landscape with two made up countries but whose armies had capabilities based on contemporary conventional forces. Analogous to those, are the 'contemporary' games, ones that simulate current forces and postulate what an actual war involving them would be like. These were popular during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, but have faded with the fall of the Soviet Union. During the 1970s, fantasy and science fiction made themselves felt as genres that could work inside of wargames. These tend to be more varied, as different assumptions can lead to vastly different types of warfare, but there has been no real concern with subdividing the genres more closely.
Finally, wargames do not necessarily have to involve traditional concepts of warfare and battles and games can enact typical film genres such as gang battles, crime and law enforcement. Similarly martial arts or even non-combat situations and adventures can be gamed where there are other objectives that require strategy combined with the elements of chance (dice/cards etc.) to be achieved.
Unit or map scale
- Grand strategy — military strategyStrategyStrategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...
at the level of movement and use of an entire stateSovereign stateA sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
or empireEmpireThe term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
's resources, with the focus being on a war (or series of wars) usually over a long period of time. Individual units, even armies, may not be represented; instead, attention is given to theaters of operation. All of the resources of the nations involved may be mobilized as part of a long-term struggle. This simulation almost always involves political, economic, and military conflict. At the most extreme end of this is the branch of strategy games in which the player assumes the role of an entire nation-state'sNation-stateThe nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
governmentGovernmentGovernment refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
where not conducting war is a possibility. Axis and AlliesAxis and AlliesAxis & Allies is a popular series of World War II strategy board games, with nearly two million copies printed. Originally designed by Larry Harris and published by Nova Game Designs in 1981, the game was republished by the Milton Bradley Company in 1984 as part of the Gamemaster Series of board...
, RiskRisk (game)Risk is a strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers . It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde in France. Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players...
, and Empires in ArmsEmpires in ArmsEmpires in Arms is an out-of-print board game by Harry Rowland, published by the Australian Design Group in 1983. It was licenced to the Avalon Hill Game Company in 1985. It was nominated for the Charles S...
are examples of this type of wargame.
- Strategic — military units are typically divisionDivision (military)A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
, corpsCorpsA corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
, or armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized, rated by raw strength. At this scale, economicEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
production and diplomacyDiplomacyDiplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
are significant. This sub-genre will often make use of all branches with the whole force of the engaging nationNationA nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
s, covering entire wars or long campaigns.
- Operational — common units are battalionBattalionA battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
to divisionalDivision (military)A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
size, carrying a value based on their overall strengths and weaknesses. WeatherWeatherWeather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
and logisticsLogisticsLogistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
are significant factors, although a single army is the largest player-controlled element in most cases. Other branches of military force are more or less abstracted, having a mere campaignMilitary campaignIn the military sciences, the term military campaign applies to large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war...
generally span the session of play.
- TacticalTactical wargameTactical wargames are a type of wargame that models military conflict at a tactical level, i.e. units range from individual vehicles and squads to platoons or companies. These units are rated based on types and ranges of individual weaponry...
— units range from individual vehicleVehicleA vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
s and squadSquadIn military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section...
s to platoonPlatoonA platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
s or companiesCompany (military unit)A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
, and are measured by the types and ranges of individual weaponry. A solitary force, others occasionally intervening, will usually cover the single battle or part of a large battle to be simulated.
- Skirmish — represented by individual soldierSoldierA soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s, units may have tracked woundWoundA wound is a type of injury in which skin is torn, cut or punctured , or where blunt force trauma causes a contusion . In pathology, it specifically refers to a sharp injury which damages the dermis of the skin.-Open:...
ing and ammunitionAmmunitionAmmunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
count. A game is composed of a small firefightBattleGenerally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
, introducing the "man-to-man" scale; the first of this type in the modern era of board wargames include PatrolPatrol (board game)Patrol was a board wargame released in the early 1970s as a companion to Sniper! in 1974 by Simulations Publications, Inc. It billed itself as "Man to Man Combat in the 20th Century" and simulated combat from the First World War to the present day....
and Sniper!Sniper! (board game)Sniper! was a board wargame originally released in 1973. Some sources refer to "Sniper/Patrol" as a sort of series of games: a similar game by Simulations Publications Inc. was released at the same time as the original Sniper!, called Patrol....
. Early role-playing gameRole-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s were derived from skirmish wargames, and many are still played as such.
Notable people
Founders- Georg Leopold von Reisswitz and his son Georg Heinrich Rudolf von Reisswitz - inventors of Kriegsspiel.
- H.G. WellsH. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
- Pioneer in miniature wargaming, author of Little WarsLittle WarsLittle Wars is a set of rules for playing with toy soldiers, written by H. G. Wells in 1913. Its full title is Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books.Little Wars is considered by some...
. His usual companion in wargames was Jerome K. JeromeJerome K. JeromeJerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humorist, best known for the humorous travelogue Three Men in a Boat.Jerome was born in Caldmore, Walsall, England, and was brought up in poverty in London...
(of Three Men in a BoatThree Men in a BoatThree Men in a Boat ,The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog! published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K...
fame). - Jack ScrubyJack ScrubyJohn Edwin "Jack" Scruby was a manufacturer of military miniatures whose efforts led to a rebirth of the miniature wargaming hobby in the late 1950s.-Scruby and Wargaming:...
- After H.G. Wells, he did the most to make miniature wargaming a respectable hobby. He also popularized miniatures wargaming with a cheaper production process for miniature figures, publishing the first miniature wargaming magazine, the War Game Digest, and community building. - Don FeatherstoneDonald Featherstone (wargamer)Donald F. Featherstone is a British author of more than forty books on wargaming and military history. He wrote classic texts on wargaming in the 1960s and 1970s....
- Known in the UK as the "co-father" of modern miniature wargaming. - Phil Dunn - founder of the Naval Wargames SocietyNaval Wargames SocietyThe Naval Wargames Society is interested in all forms and scales of maritime wargaming, and has been so for more 30 years. The society was originally started by Phil Dunn, and the proprietors of Navwar and Skytrex. Originally, society games were held in Chessington, and in later years moving to...
, the only international organisation of naval wargaming to date, and author of Sea Battle Games. - Charles S. RobertsCharles S. RobertsCharles Swann Roberts was a wargame designer, railroad historian, and businessman. He is renowned as "The Father of Board Wargaming", having created the first modern wargame in 1952, and the first wargaming company in 1954...
- Known as the "Father of modern board wargaming", designed the first modern wargame, as well as the company most identified with modern wargames (Avalon HillAvalon HillAvalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...
).
Designers/Developers
- Richard Berg - Designer of Terrible Swift Sword, and worked at SPISimulations PublicationsSimulations Publications, Inc. was an influential American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s...
. - Larry BondLarry BondLarry Bond is an American writer and wargame designer. He is the designer of the Harpoon and Command at Sea gaming systems and several supplements for the games. His numerous novels include Dangerous Ground, Day of Wrath, The Enemy Within, Cauldron, Vortex and Red Phoenix...
- Designer of HarpoonHarpoon (computer game)Harpoon is a series of realistic air and naval computer wargames based upon Larry Bond's miniatures game of the same name. Players can choose between either the Blue or Red side in simulated naval combat situation, which includes local conflicts as well as simulated Cold War confrontations between...
, and best selling author - Frank ChadwickFrank ChadwickFrank Chadwick is a multiple-award–winning game designer and New York Times Best Selling author.-Beginnings:Frank Chadwick, along with Rich Banner and Marc Miller, were members of the Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal Games Club. They used their club funding to design war games...
- A co-founder of Game Designers Workshop (along with Loren WisemanLoren WisemanLoren Wiseman is an award-winning wargame and role-playing game designer, game developer, and editor.-Game Designers' Workshop:Loren Wiseman published Eagles , his first wargame, through Game Designers’ Workshop in 1974...
, Marc Miller, and Rich BannerRich BannerPaul Richard "Rich" Banner is an award-winning game designer and graphic artist.-Beginnings:Rich Banner and Frank Chadwick, along with Marc Miller, were members of the Illinois State University Games Club...
), one of the first major competitors to Avalon Hill, and himself a prolific wargame designer and innovator. - Jim DunniganJim DunniganJames F. Dunnigan is an author, military-political analyst, Defense and State Department consultant, and wargame designer currently living in New York City, notable for his matter-of-fact approach to military analysis.-Career:...
- considered "The Dean of Modern Wargaming", founder of SPISimulations PublicationsSimulations Publications, Inc. was an influential American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s...
and the most prolific print wargame designer in history. His designs included many firsts in wargaming, including the first tactical wargames. - Charles GrantCharles Grant (game designer)Charles Grant was a game author who helped popularize the hobby of tabletop wargaming. He is best known as the author of The War Game.Born in Scotland, and served in the Royal Air Force in World War 2. Later in Scotland Yard's Special Branch. Contributor to Military Modelling and Battle...
- Author of The Wargame. - Lawrence Groves - Founded Martial Enterprises and designed La Bataille de la Moscowa (1974), recognized at the first "monster game." Died in the late 1970s in a motorcycle accident.
- E. Gary Gygax - Designer of several miniatures and board wargames who went on to co-create (with Dave ArnesonDave ArnesonDavid Lance "Dave" Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game , Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s...
) and publish Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
. - Larry HarrisLarry Harris (game designer)Larry Harris, Jr., is a game designer most famous for creating the board game Axis & Allies, as well as all of its sequels. His other significant games include Conquest of the Empire, Broadsides and Boarding Parties, LionHeart and more. He has also assisted in the further development of Trivial...
- Designer of Axis and AlliesAxis and AlliesAxis & Allies is a popular series of World War II strategy board games, with nearly two million copies printed. Originally designed by Larry Harris and published by Nova Game Designs in 1981, the game was republished by the Milton Bradley Company in 1984 as part of the Gamemaster Series of board...
, Conquest of the Empire, and other games in the Axis and Allies Series. - Bruce QuarrieBruce QuarrieBruce Quarrie was an English author and historian. He studied English at Peterhouse College, Cambridge University and graduated with honours in 1968. He became a journalist with the Financial Times and then in 1972 joined Patrick Stephens Limited, a Cambridge specialist publisher, as editor of...
- wrote rule sets for Napoleonic and World War Two wargames and also on military history. - Mark Herman - Member of the "Hall of FameHall of FameA hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...
" and designer of We The PeopleWe the People (game)We the People is a board wargame about the American Revolution, published by Avalon Hill in 1994 and designed by Mark Herman. It was one of the first card-driven wargames, a style that has since become very influential in current wargame design....
, the first Card Driven Wargame; worked originally at SPISimulations PublicationsSimulations Publications, Inc. was an influential American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s...
and was the CEO of VG. Most recent designs are For The People and Empire of the Sun, each of which won the Charles S. Roberts Award for best game in their category. - John HillJohn Hill (game designer)John Hill is an American designer of military wargames, as well as rules for miniature wargaming such as Johnny Reb 3. He is a member of the Wargaming Hall of Fame....
- Designer of Squad LeaderSquad Leaderthumb|Squad Leader game package.Squad Leader is a tactical level board wargame originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by Hall of Fame game designer John Hill and focuses on infantry combat in Europe during World War II...
, Johnny Reb, and other well-received designs. - David ManleyDavid ManleyDavid Manley is a United Kingdom-based wargamer and one of the leading members of the naval wargaming hobby, having authored over 50 articles on naval wargaming and general wargaming issues and a wide range of naval rules covering most major periods, including:* Schnellboot - * Action Stations - ...
- author of "Iron and Fire", "Fox Two" and other air and naval rules systems, editor of the Naval Wargames SocietyNaval Wargames SocietyThe Naval Wargames Society is interested in all forms and scales of maritime wargaming, and has been so for more 30 years. The society was originally started by Phil Dunn, and the proprietors of Navwar and Skytrex. Originally, society games were held in Chessington, and in later years moving to...
journal "Battlefleet" - Redmond Simonsen - Co-founder of SPISimulations PublicationsSimulations Publications, Inc. was an influential American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship Strategy & Tactics, in the 1970s and early 1980s...
and introduced many advanced graphics design elements to wargame designs.
Board versions
While a comprehensive list will show the variety of titles, the following games are notable for the reasons indicated:- Plastic Army men are nowadays used to play *[wargaming] by following a standard set of rules in which one player vs. the other. For rules on this, go to www.alliancemartialarts.com *DiplomacyDiplomacy (game)Diplomacy is a strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 and released commercially in 1959. Its main distinctions from most board wargames are its negotiation phases and the absence of dice or other game elements that produce random effects...
- (1954) a classic multi-player game from the "golden age" of wargames in which strategy is exercised off the game board as well as on it. - Tactics II (Avalon Hill, 1958) - the wargame that launched Avalon Hill.
- RiskRisk (game)Risk is a strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers . It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde in France. Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players...
(Parker Brothers, 1959) - Widely accepted as the first mainstream wargame. - GettysburgGettysburg (game)Gettysburg is a board wargame produced by Avalon Hill which re-enacts the American Civil War battle of Gettysburg. It was originally published in 1958, and was the first board wargame based on a historical battle....
(Avalon Hill, 1961) - the first modern era wargame intended to model an actual historical event, published after the success of Tactics II, which was a non-representative strategic game. - Tactical Game 3 (Strategy & TacticsStrategy & TacticsStrategy & Tactics is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue...
Magazine game, 1969); re-released as PanzerBlitzPanzerBlitzPanzerBlitz is a tactical-scale board wargame of armoured combat set in the Eastern Front of the Second World War. The game is notable for being the first true board-based tactical-level, commercially available conflict simulation...
by Avalon Hill in 1970. The very first tactical wargame. The game pioneered the use of "geomorphic mapboardGeomorphic mapboardA geomorphic mapboard is a game board that can be configured in different ways and reused to create different playing surfaces. The concept was introduced in PanzerBlitz, though the number of configurations was low...
s" and PanzerBlitz was a game system rather than just a game in that forces could be used to depict any number of actual tactical situations rather than one specific scenario. Pioneered several ground-breaking features, such as use of various types of weapons fire to reflect battlefield conditions. Also created new level of realism in reflecting tactical armored vehicles. - Sniper!Sniper! (board game)Sniper! was a board wargame originally released in 1973. Some sources refer to "Sniper/Patrol" as a sort of series of games: a similar game by Simulations Publications Inc. was released at the same time as the original Sniper!, called Patrol....
(SPI, 1973) - along with PatrolPatrol (board game)Patrol was a board wargame released in the early 1970s as a companion to Sniper! in 1974 by Simulations Publications, Inc. It billed itself as "Man to Man Combat in the 20th Century" and simulated combat from the First World War to the present day....
, the first Man to Man wargames where game pieces depicted a single soldier. An adaptation of Sniper! also became one of the first multi-player computer wargames. - Wooden Ships and Iron MenWooden Ships and Iron MenWooden Ships and Iron Men is a naval board wargame in which the players simulate combat by sailing ships of the late 18th and early 19th centuries...
(Battleline PublicationsBattleline PublicationsBattleline Publications was a board wargame company founded by Steven Peek in 1973. Output was relatively low at first, with each game being funded by sales of the one before, but their games were generally well-respected. Several were re-published by Avalon Hill, and their second game, Wooden...
, 1974 Avalon HillAvalon HillAvalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...
, 1976) - the definitive game of Age of Sail warfare for many years. - Rise and Decline of the Third ReichRise and Decline of the Third ReichRise and Decline of the Third Reich or more commonly Third Reich is a grand strategy wargame covering the European theater of World War II designed by John Prados, and released in 1974 by Avalon Hill...
(Avalon Hill, 1974) - The first serious attempt to model WWII in Europe in its entirety, including (in a limited way) the economic and industrial production of the nations involved. It has seen numerous versions and editions, and is currently available as John Prados' Third Reich from Avalanche PressAvalanche PressAvalanche Press is an American company that publishes board wargames and has published some role-playing game supplements. An extremely prolific company, they have produced many respected contributions to the wargame community, most notably The Great War at Sea and Panzer Grenadier series, as well...
, and as a far more complex descendant game, A World At WarA World At WarA World At War is a board wargame published by GMT Games. It is a descendant of Avalon Hill's games Rise and Decline of the Third Reich and Empire of the Rising Sun. It depicts the Second World War in Europe, as well as the war in the Pacific theater....
, published by GMT GamesGMT GamesGMT Games, probably the most prolific of the wargame companies in the 1990s and 2000s, was founded in 1990. The current management and creative team includes Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Mark Simonitch, and Andy Lewis...
. - La Bataille de la Moskowa (Martial Enterprises, 1974) Later republished by Games Designers Workshop and Clash of ArmsClash of ArmsClash of Arms Games is a wargaming company best known for a high level of graphics quality and moderately to highly complex games, often focusing on the Napoleonic era, but with offerings in most eras of military history...
. With 4 maps and 1000+ counters, it is credited with being the first "monster" wargame (by famed designer Richard BergRichard BergFor the television producer see Dick Berg.Richard Berg, trained as a lawyer, is a prolific wargame designer, and recipient of the Charles S. Roberts Hall of Fame Award in 1987...
.) - Squad LeaderSquad Leaderthumb|Squad Leader game package.Squad Leader is a tactical level board wargame originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by Hall of Fame game designer John Hill and focuses on infantry combat in Europe during World War II...
(Avalon Hill, 1977) and Advanced Squad LeaderAdvanced Squad LeaderAdvanced Squad Leader is a tactical-level board wargame, originally marketed by Avalon Hill Games, that simulates actions of approximately company or battalion size in World War II. It is a detailed game system for two or more players . Components include the ASL Rulebook and various games called...
(1985) have become the most prolific series of wargames, including 3 add-on modules for the former, and 12 for the latter, with additional Historical modules and Deluxe modules also having been released. ASL also sets the record for sheer volume of playing components, with thousands of official counters and 60+ "geomorphic mapboardGeomorphic mapboardA geomorphic mapboard is a game board that can be configured in different ways and reused to create different playing surfaces. The concept was introduced in PanzerBlitz, though the number of configurations was low...
s" not counting Deluxe and Historical maps. - Star Fleet BattlesStar Fleet BattlesStar Fleet Battles is a tactical board wargame set in an offshoot of the Star Trek setting called the Star Fleet Universe. Originally created in 1979 by Stephen V. Cole,...
- (Task Force GamesTask Force GamesTask Force Games was a game company started in 1979 by Allen Eldridge and Stephen Cole. Mr. Cole left the company in the early 1980's, but continued to design the company's best selling Star Fleet Battles game. Mr. Eldridge sold the company to New World Computing in 1988...
, 1978) one of the older still actively played and published wargames today; based on Star TrekStar TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, it is arguably the most successful tactical space combat system that does not rely on miniatures (published by Amarillo Design BureauAmarillo Design BureauAmarillo Design Bureau is a company which specializes in tactical and strategic board wargames. The company is a successor to Task Force Games, and is owned and operated by Steve and Leanna Cole, with partner Steve Petrick, and based in Amarillo, Texas...
). - Storm Over ArnhemStorm Over ArnhemStorm Over Arnhem is a board wargame designed by Courtney F. Allen, published by the Avalon Hill game company, and depicts the battle for Arnhem bridge over the Lower Rhine river during Operation Market Garden in World War II...
(Avalon Hill, 1981) - pioneered the use of "point to point" or "area movementArea movementArea movement is a game mechanic used in a board game. While most parlor games and the like have 'areas' of the board to move in, the term is used for those boards that represent a geographical area, but do not use a regular grid .Area movement is a common feature in lighter wargames and some...
" in tactical wargames. - Axis and AlliesAxis and AlliesAxis & Allies is a popular series of World War II strategy board games, with nearly two million copies printed. Originally designed by Larry Harris and published by Nova Game Designs in 1981, the game was republished by the Milton Bradley Company in 1984 as part of the Gamemaster Series of board...
- (Nova Games, 1981) the most successful of Milton Bradley's (1984) 'GameMaster' line in an attempt to bring wargaming into the mainstream by appealing to non-wargamers through simplicity and attractive components. - Ambush!Ambush!Ambush! is a man-to-man wargame developed by Avalon Hill. It was released under Avalon's Victory Games label and was developed by Eric Lee Smith and John Butterfield. In 1984, Ambush! won the Origins Award for Best 20th Century Boardgame of 1983...
- (Victory Games, 1983) the first solitaire board wargameSolitaire board wargameBoard wargaming in the modern, commercial sense have generally concentrated on gameplay designed for two or more participants. While playing solitaire is possible with any game, it is generally done so as an exercise in analysis rather than for enjoyment.-History:Commercial solitaire wargames...
depicting man to manMan to Man wargameMan-to-man wargames are wargames in which units generally represent single individuals or weapons systems, and are rated not only on weaponry but may also be rated on such facets as morale, perception, skill-at-arms, etc...
combat, in which each game piece represented a single person. - Blue MaxBlue Max (board game)Blue Maxis a multi-player board game of World War I aerial combat over the Western Front during 1917 and 1918. Each player is a fighter pilot of the British, French, American, or German air service. Each game is a single dogfight, in which players try to shoot down as many enemy planes as possible...
- (GDW, 1983) is a multi-player game of World War I aerial combat over the Western Front during 1917 and 1918 with an extremely easy to play mechanism but allow the development of complex strategies. - We the PeopleWe the People (game)We the People is a board wargame about the American Revolution, published by Avalon Hill in 1994 and designed by Mark Herman. It was one of the first card-driven wargames, a style that has since become very influential in current wargame design....
- (Avalon Hill, 1994) this game started the Card-Driven wargame movement, which is very influential in current wargame design.
Miniature versions
- Rules for the Jane Naval War Game (S. Low, Marston, 1898) - The first published miniature wargame. A 26 page rule set limited to naval miniature battles. It came in a crate measuring 4 ft. X 4 ft. X 2 ft. Written by Fred Jane. As only a handful of these games survive, they are highly collectible.
- Little WarsLittle WarsLittle Wars is a set of rules for playing with toy soldiers, written by H. G. Wells in 1913. Its full title is Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books.Little Wars is considered by some...
(H.G. Wells, 1913) - The first popular published wargame rules. Includes the common miniature wargaming mechanics of dice rolling, range, line of sight, and moving in alternate turns. This game earned Wells the title "The Father of Miniature Wargaming". - Miniature Wargames du temps de Napoleon (John Chandler, 1964) - First period-specific historical miniature wargame. Also the first in a long line of Napoleonic miniature wargames.
- ChainmailChainmail (game)Chainmail is a medieval miniatures wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the game with fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association member Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly, and the game was first published in 1971...
(Guidon GamesGuidon GamesGuidon Games produced board games and rulebooks for wargaming with miniatures, and in doing so influenced Tactical Studies Rules , the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons. The Guidon Games publishing imprint was the property of Lowry's Hobbies , a mail-order business owned by Don and Julie Lowry...
, 1971) - An extension and distillation of rules previously published in various periodicals. Major elements of this game were adopted by the role-playing game Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
. Unlike Dungeons & Dragons, Chainmail used two six-sided dice to resolve combat. Previous fantasy miniature wargames had been written, but this was the first one published. Drawing on the popularity of The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, this game featured the novelties of combat magic and fantastic creatures as combatants. - Warhammer Fantasy BattleWarhammer Fantasy BattleWarhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
(Games WorkshopGames WorkshopGames Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
, 1983) - An internationally successful fantasy miniature wargame. The First Edition rules introduced innovative open unit design rules, however later editions eliminated the option to build custom units and make use of standard army lists mandatory. Warhammer was one of the first newly-developed miniature wargames to enjoy popularity after role-playing games came to market in 1974. In fact, it is because of Roleplaying games becoming so popular, and people having too many models that were rarely used, that this was first published. - Warhammer 40,000Warhammer 40,000Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...
(Games Workshop, 1987) - A futuristic wargame featuring rival armies with different fighting styles. This wargame has very conceptual artwork suggesting a post-apocalyptic neo-gothic universe gone awry. Arguably the most profitable miniature wargame ever, it has popularized competitive tournament gameplay in large, international events sanctioned by Games Workshop. - De Bellis AntiquitatisDe Bellis AntiquitatisDe Bellis Antiquitatis or DBA is a fast play set of rules for the hobby of historical miniature wargaming, particularly ancient and medieval wargaming in the period 3000 BC to 1485 AD. These rules allow entire armies to be represented by less than 50 figures. The rules also include a campaign...
(Wargames Research GroupWargames Research GroupThe Wargames Research Group ' is a British publisher of rules and reference material for miniature wargaming. Founded in 1969 they were the premier publisher of tabletop rules during the seventies and eighties, publishing rules for periods ranging from ancient times to modern armoured warfare, and...
, 1990) - Radically minimalist rules differentiate this game from other notable miniature wargames. A number of systems have been strongly influenced by DBA. - Mage KnightMage KnightMage Knight is a miniatures wargame using collectible figures, created by WizKids, Inc. The game was designed by founder Jordan Weisman along with Kevin Barrett. The game is the first to use Wizkids' Clix system, combining roleplaying and wargaming elements with aspects of collectible card games....
(WizKids Inc.WizKidsWizKids, Inc. is an American New Jersey-based company that first made its mark in the game industry producing collectible miniatures wargames. WizKids was purchased by and is a subsidiary of National Entertainment Collectibles Association. The company was founded in 2000 by Jordan Weisman, a...
, 2001) - Innovative game popularizing the combat dial, pre-painted plastic miniatures, and the collectible miniatures gameCollectible miniatures gameCollectible miniatures games or CMGs are a form of miniature wargaming that is also similar to collectible card games — the primary difference being that while CCGs are card-based games, CMGs feature miniature figures....
s. Mage Knight has inspired numerous collectible, skirmish miniature wargames. - WarmachineWarmachineWarmachine is a tabletop steampunk wargame produced by Privateer Press.The game is played with white metal and plastic miniatures manufactured by Privateer Press representing military characters from the Iron Kingdoms D20 Role Playing Game setting...
(Privateer PressPrivateer PressPrivateer Press is an award-winning role-playing game and miniature wargame production and publishing studio founded in 2000 by Brian Snōddy, Matt Staroscik and Matt Wilson. Mike McVey joined the partnership early on as Miniatures Director...
, 2003) - A steampunkSteampunkSteampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
-inspired miniatures game featuring steam-powered robots fighting under the direction of powerful wizards. Also has a sister game, Hordes, which features large monsterous creatures in the place of robots. - HeroscapeHeroscapeHeroscape is an expandable turn-based miniature wargaming system originally manufactured by Milton Bradley Company, then shifted to Wizards of the Coast, both subsidiaries of Hasbro, Inc., and discontinued by Hasbro in November 2010...
(Milton Bradley CompanyMilton Bradley CompanyThe Milton Bradley Company is an American game company established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of McLoughlin Brothers, formerly the largest game manufacturer in the United States, and in 1987, it purchased Selchow and Righter,...
, 2004) - An inexpensive, simple wargame that has been successfully mass marketed to both younger wargamers and adults. As miniature wargaming is often an expensive hobby, Heroscape and the collectible miniatures gameCollectible miniatures gameCollectible miniatures games or CMGs are a form of miniature wargaming that is also similar to collectible card games — the primary difference being that while CCGs are card-based games, CMGs feature miniature figures....
s have opened the miniature wargaming hobby to a new demographic. - BrikWarsBrikwarsBrikWars is a miniatures wargaming system by Mike Rayhawk, created for use with plastic building blocks and figurines. It is designed to be simplistic and flexible, allowing for its players' full range of creativity in creating armies, creatures, vehicles, and worlds out of construction toys...
is a wargame that uses LegoLegoLego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
bricks as miniatures and scenery and is steadily growing in popularity mostly due to the looseness of the rules.
- Flames of WarFlames of WarFlames of War is a World War II tabletop miniatures wargame produced by the New Zealand company Battlefront Miniatures Ltd...
(Battlefront Miniatures, 2002) - Popular WW2 wargame at 15mm (1:100) scale, currently focusing on the European and Mediterean theatres. Splits into three time periods (Early War 1939-41, Mid War 1942-43 and Late War 1944-45) to bring some balance and historical matchups.
See also List of miniature wargames.
Computer versions
- Panzer GeneralPanzer GeneralPanzer General is a computer wargame published by Strategic Simulations in 1994 and set in World War II.- Overview:Panzer General is turn-based game, set on operational level hex maps. One plays lone scenarios from either Axis or Allied side and against a computer or human opponent...
- (Strategic Simulations, Inc.Strategic Simulations, Inc.Strategic Simulations, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher with over 100 titles to its credit since its founding in 1979. It was especially noted for its numerous wargames, its official computer game adaptations of Dungeons & Dragons, and for the groundbreaking Panzer General...
, 1994) - probably the most widely popular computer game that is recognizably a traditional wargame. It spawned several sequels, some of which explored different subject matter. - Steel PanthersSteel PanthersSteel Panthers is a series of computer wargames, developed and published by several different companies, with various games covering battles from 1930 to 2020. The first game was released in 1995, and the most recent was released in 2006 and is still updated regularly. Players control individual...
- (Strategic Simulations, Inc., 1995) - an early tactical wargame on the same scale as Squad LeaderSquad Leaderthumb|Squad Leader game package.Squad Leader is a tactical level board wargame originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by Hall of Fame game designer John Hill and focuses on infantry combat in Europe during World War II...
, which led to two sequels, and a complete revision of the title for free release. - Close Combat - (MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, 1996) - not the first wargame to break out from hexes, and still presented in a 2-dimensional format, Close Combat nonetheless uniquely addressed factors such as individual morale and reluctance to carry out orders. The original title led to 5 very successful sequels for the general public, as well as being developed into a training tool for military use only. Close Combat stemmed from an early attempt to translate the Squad LeaderSquad Leaderthumb|Squad Leader game package.Squad Leader is a tactical level board wargame originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by Hall of Fame game designer John Hill and focuses on infantry combat in Europe during World War II...
boardgame to the computer. - Combat Mission - (Big Time Software, 2000) - not the first 3D tactical wargame (titles such as Muzzle VelocityMuzzle Velocity (computer game)Muzzle Velocity was a computer tactical wargame released by Digi4fun in 1997. The program was a unique hybrid of standard two-dimension map-based tactical gaming, and first person action. It is set in World War II...
preceded it), but a groundbreaking game series featuring simultaneous order resolution, complete orders of battle for numerous nationalities, with three titles based on the original game engine. As of 2006, a campaign layer is in testing as well as a revised game engine to be released before 2007. CM's genesis was also as a failed attempt by Avalon Hill to translate Squad LeaderSquad Leaderthumb|Squad Leader game package.Squad Leader is a tactical level board wargame originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by Hall of Fame game designer John Hill and focuses on infantry combat in Europe during World War II...
to the computer. - TacOps - (battlefront.comBattlefront.comBattlefront.com is a video game developer and publisher. Battlefront specialises in war-related games, including turn-based and real-time strategies, as well as simulations of air, land and naval military vehicles....
, 1994) - commercial version of “TacOpsCav 4”, an officially issued standard training device of the US Army. It is a simulation of contemporary and near-future tactical, ground, combat between the modern armed forces of the world.
Unique Game Systems
- Ace of Aces - (Nova Games, 1980) - this flip-book system has long been considered one of the best simulations of aerial dogfighting.
- BattleTechBattleTechBattleTech is a wargaming and science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2000, and owned since 2003 by Topps. The series began with FASA's debut of the board game BattleTech by Jordan Weisman and L...
- (FASA, 1984) - initially conceived as a board game, it has created a brand that now includes various different boardgames (tactical as well as strategic), miniature game rules, a role-playing game, computer games, flip-book games (by Nova Games) as well as novels and a TV series. - Car WarsCar WarsCar Wars is a vehicle combat simulation game developed by Steve Jackson Games. It was first published in late 1980 .-Game play:In Car Wars, players assume control of one or more automobiles, which may include any powered vehicle, from motorcycles to semi trucks. Optional rules include piloting...
- (Steve Jackson GamesSteve Jackson GamesSteve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
, 1982) - initially printed as a board game, it quickly evolved to incorporate elements of miniatures games. - Up FrontUp FrontUp Front is a World War II card-based wargame. It was designed by Courtney F. Allen and published by Avalon Hill in 1983. Hasbro now owns the franchise which is currently licensed to Multi-Man Publishing....
- (Avalon Hill, 1983) - the most popular of the very small class of card wargames.
See also
- Air wargamingAir wargamingAir wargaming, like naval wargaming, is a niche specialism within the wider miniatures wargaming hobby. Due to the relatively short time over which aerial combat has developed air wargaming periods tend to break down into three broad periods:...
- Business war gamesBusiness War GamesBusiness war gaming or business wargaming is an adaptation of the art of simulating moves and counter-moves in a commercial setting. Unlike military war games, or fantasy war games which go back hundreds of years to the days of Prussia and H.G...
- Game Manufacturers AssociationGame Manufacturers AssociationThe Game Manufacturers Association is a non-profit trade association based in Columbus, Ohio, dedicated to the advancement of the non-electronic social games industry - Board/Tabletop Games, Miniatures Games, Card Games, Collectable/Tradeable Card Games, Role-Playing Games, and Live-Action Role...
- International Wargames FederationInternational Wargames FederationThe International Wargames Federation, which was founded by the Derby Wargames Club and Mind Sports South Africa in 1991. It is the international controlling body for historical miniatures games other types of wargames and promotes all wargames on a worldwide level.As a result of the International...
- List of wargame publishers
- Nation-simulation game
- Naval wargamingNaval wargamingNaval wargaming is a branch of the wider hobby of miniature wargaming. Generally less popular than wargames set on land, naval wargaming nevertheless enjoys a degree of support around the world...
- Origins Game Fair
- Simulation game
- Tabletop gameTabletop gameTabletop game is a general term used to refer to board games, card games, dice games, miniatures wargames, tile-based games and other games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface...
- Tactical wargameTactical wargameTactical wargames are a type of wargame that models military conflict at a tactical level, i.e. units range from individual vehicles and squads to platoons or companies. These units are rated based on types and ranges of individual weaponry...
- Video games
Books
- Stuart Asquith Wargaming World War Two , Special Interest Model Books; New edition edition (31 Dec 1998) ISBN 978-1-85486-000-2
- Stuart Asquith Military Modelling Guide to War Gaming , Special Interest Model Books 1987
- Stuart Asquith Military Modelling Guide to Siege War Gaming , Special Interest Model Books 1990
- Stuart Asquith Military Modelling Guide to Solo War Gaming , Special Interest Model Books 1989
- Phil Barker Know The Game: War Gaming, EP Publishing 1978.
- Phil Barker Airfix magazine Guides : Ancient Wargaming, P.Stephens Ltd 1975.
- Jim Dunnigan, The Complete Wargames Handbook: How to Play, Design, and Find Them, Quill 1992. ISBN 0-688-10368-5 This is available online at hyw.com (verified January 2009).
- Jon FreemanJon FreemanJon Freeman was an influential computer game industry figure of the 1980s and early 1990s. He was a co-founder of Epyx and Free Fall Associates and the spouse of game programmer, Anne Westfall...
, The Complete Book of Wargames, Simon and Schuster 1980. ISBN 0-671-25374-3 - Nicholas PalmerNick PalmerNicholas Douglas Palmer is a British Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire from 1997 until he lost the seat at the 2010 general election to Conservative Anna Soubry, by 390 votes.Described by Andrew Roth as "quietly effective", he was...
, The Comprehensive Guide to Bord Wargaming, Arthur Baker Limited London 1977. ISBN 0-213-16646-1 - Nicholas Palmer, The Best of Board Wargaming, Hippocrene Books, Inc. New York, NY 1980. ISBN 0-88254-525-6
- Donald FeatherstoneDonald Featherstone (wargamer)Donald F. Featherstone is a British author of more than forty books on wargaming and military history. He wrote classic texts on wargaming in the 1960s and 1970s....
Featherstone's Complete Wargaming, David & Charles UK 1989. ISBN 0-7153-9262-X - Donald Featherstone War Games, Lulu 2008, ISBN 978-1-4092-1676-6
- Donald Featherstone Advanced War Games, Sportshelf & Soccer Assoc 1969. ISBN 0-392-00441-0
- Donald Featherstone Tank Battles in Miniature: Wargamers' Guide to the Western Desert Campaign, 1940-42, P.Stephens Ltd 1973
- Donald Featherstone War Game Campaigns, S. Paul 1970
- Donald Featherstone War Games Through the Ages Vol. 2 1420 - 1783 , S. Paul 1974
- Donald Featherstone War Games Through the Ages Vol. 3 1792 - 1859, S. Paul 1975
- Dorca Bis Alejo, El Hobby de los soldados en miniatura, el wargame, el rol, el modelismo y el coleccionismo. primera edición: 23 de agosto de 2008, ISBN 99920-1-701-5, 212 p.
- Charles GrantCharles Grant (game designer)Charles Grant was a game author who helped popularize the hobby of tabletop wargaming. He is best known as the author of The War Game.Born in Scotland, and served in the Royal Air Force in World War 2. Later in Scotland Yard's Special Branch. Contributor to Military Modelling and Battle...
Battle! Practical Wargaming, Model and Allied Publishing (MAP) 1970. ISBN 0-85344-034-4 - Paddy Griffith Napoleonic Wargaming For Fun, Ward Lock Ltd, London, 1980, reprinted 2008 by the History of Wargaming Project link
- Paddy Griffith Sprawling Wargames multiplayer Wargaming, Ward Lock Ltd, London, 1980, reprinted 2009 by the History of Wargaming Project link
- Peter Perla The Art of Wargaming, Naval Institute Press 1990. ISBN 0-87021-050-5
- Mark HermanMark HermanMark Herman is an English film director and screenwriter best known for writing & directing the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas....
, Mark FrostMark FrostMark Frost is an American novelist, television/film writer, director, who is best known as a writer for the TV show Hill Street Blues and co-creator of the show Twin Peaks.-Personal life:...
, Robert Kurz Wargaming for Leaders, McGraw-Hill 2009. ISBN 978-0-07-159688-6 - Bruce Quarrie Airfix magazine Guides : Napoleonic Wargaming, P.Stephens Ltd 1974.
- Bruce Quarrie Airfix magazine Guides : World War 2 Wargaming, P.Stephens Ltd 1976
- C.F. Wesencraft Practical wargaming, Hippocrene Books, 1974 ISBN 978-0-88254-271-3 reprinted by the History of Wargaming Project link
- C.F. Wesencraft With Pike and Musket, reprinted by the History of Wargaming Project link
- Andrew Wilson War Gaming, Penguin 1970.
- Terence Wise Airfix magazine Guides : American Civil War Wargaming, P.Stephens Ltd 1977.
- Terence Wise Introduction to Battle Gaming, Model and Allied Publishing (MAP) 1972. ISBN 0-85344-014-X
- Terence Wise Terry Wise's Introduction to Battlegaming including his unpublished wargaming rules Printed by the History of Wargaming Project link
Articles
- Sport: Little Wars, Time Magazine, December 14, 1942.
- War games, by Dr. Brett Holman, PhD in History, 5 August 2007.
- Dice against the Nazis: Propaganda aimed to reduce fear, By Clive Gilbert and Kevin Allen, BBC News Magazine, 24 August 2007.
- "Return of the hex-crazed wargamers; Is the Net breathing new life into an endangered hobby--or just postponing the inevitable?," by Andrew Leonard, Salon Magazine, May 29, 1998.