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Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of simulated military operations in the form of games known as wargames (sometimes also called conflict simulations). The similar professional military study of war are generally either called "military exercises" or "war games" (note that the hobby has run the term together into one word). While there can be occasional disagreements as to 'what is and is not a wargame,' the general consensus is that they are not only games about conflict, or warfare, but they must actually attempt to simulate war to some degree. The hobby originated around the beginning of the 20th century, with the invention of miniatures games where two or more players simulated battles as a pastime. The 1950s and '60s saw the creation of board games that took on the same subject. At first, wargames were generally historical or contemporary in nature, but science fiction and fantasy have also proven popular subjects. They enjoyed their greatest popularity around 1980, when computer games and role-playing games started eating into their market. Overview Wargames, like all games, exist in a range of complexities: some are fundamentally simple (so-called "beer-and-pretzel" games), while others (generally in an attempt to increase the 'realism' of the situation) produce rulebooks that may encompass a large variety of actions and/or minutiae. They also exist in a range of sizes, from "pocket" games with a small map and a few counters, to "monster" games that have large maps (with a consequent problem of finding a large enough table) and hundreds, if not thousands, of counters. They also have a range of scales, from games that simulate individual soldiers, to ones that chart the course of an entire global (or even galactic) war. A major determiner of the complexity and size of a wargame is how 'realistic' it is intended to be. Some can be considered a serious study of the subject at hand, while others are meant as pure entertainment. While there is no direct connection between the two, a more serious study will generally have longer, more complex and detailed rules, and more record keeping. Some less serious 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 counterparts, and therefore bring forth the "feel" of the conflict. As a class, wargames tend towards a few fundamental problems. Notably, both player knowledge, and player action is much less limited than what would be available to the player's real-life counterparts. Some games have rules for command and control and the fog of war, using various methods. These mechanisms are generally cumbersome and onerous in physical games, and usually increase player frustration, which causes their use to be limited even in computer wargames, where the computer can act as a 'judge' and remove many of the problems associated with most such systems. All this, of course, merely refers to the modern hobby. In the broadest sense, wargames have existed for centuries—chess could be considered an ancient example. The Chinese philosopher Mencius (Mèng Zĭ 孟子), in a legend which may or may not be true, demonstrated to two kings of ancient China the determinable outcome of a battle using, it appears, a wargame, thus avoiding the shedding of blood. History of wargaming Modern wargaming originated with the military need to study warfare and to 'reenact' old battles for instructional purposes. The stunning Prussian victory over the Second French Empire in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) 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. 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 soldiers (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 published. This was a more arbitrary system than Jane's (but generally gave more realistic results), and was played by many clubs at that time. 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. 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 which served as a vehicle to put members of the fledgling hobby in regular contact with each other. Meanwhile, the first modern mass-market wargame, based on cardboard counters and hex maps, 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, considered to be the first board wargame based entirely on a historical battle. 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). The latter started a new phenomenon that would later grow much bigger than its parent hobby, role-playing games. Simulations Canada was another major company formed in 1977, out of a frustration born of the policies of SPI, GDW, and Avalon Hill at avoiding the publication of unsolicited game designs. This period 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. Wargames also diversified in subject, with the first science-fiction wargame appearing in 1974; and in size with both microgames and monster games first appearing during the decade. The boom came to an end, and was followed by the usual bust, at the beginning of the 1980s, most markedly with the acquisition of SPI by TSR in 1982. The hobby has never truly recovered from this bust, and is today much smaller than it was in 1980. There are a number of theories given for this extended slump, and all probably identify some of the actual causes. The early 1980's...saw the spectacular rise of role playing and computer gaming as a major force in the (wargaming) hobby. While some wargamers found a home in these new forms of wargaming, for many this was a time of soul searching...High school wargamers went away to college and found little time to game. Those college students who did wargame graduated, found jobs, and got married. Sadly, this meant that the wargames were put away in closets and life went on. The personal computer gave gamers the ability to just 'sit down and play' without clearing physical space, finding and then co-ordinating schedules with opponents. Additionally, the early adopters of personal computers were drawn from the same demographic group as wargamers: middle class males between youth and middle age. Miniature wargaming Miniature wargaming typically involves the use of miniature plastic or metal models for the units and model scenery placed on a tabletop or floor as a playing surface. Games with miniatures are sometimes called tabletop games, tabletop wargames, miniature wargames, or simply wargames. Miniatures games are generally concerned with rule sets that can be used for any battle in a particular period or war, instead of a particular set situation, as is common in most games. This is directly attributable to the fact that miniatures games require the player to assemble their own terrain and armies, often going to quite a bit of expense and effort to produce both. This makes miniatures gaming much more flexible, but more labor intensive than other forms of wargaming. Board wargaming In the United States, board wargames are the part of the hobby that popularized the term initially, and are what often come to mind first when 'wargaming' is mentioned. In Europe, and especially Britain, they are a minor part of the hobby. The genre is known for a number of common conventions that were developed early on, but none of these appear in all 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, many wargamers long for 'the old Avalon Hill', and no one company is identified with the hobby as a whole. The following components are common to many wargames: Card wargaming Card games are not generally well suited for wargames. Because of their nature, cards are well suited for abstract games, as opposed to the simulation aspects of wargames. Even when nominally about the same subject (such as the game War), traditional card games could not be considered a wargame in even the broadest sense. This does not mean there are no card wargames however. The first card wargame would probably 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 game and as 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). Computer wargaming Computers have changed wargaming, just as they have many other aspects of modern life. Play-by-Mail (PBM) Due to the scarcity of opponents for some people, wargaming has a tradition of people playing games by sending lists of moves, or 'orders', to each other through the mail. This meant that it was not so strange for the first use of computers with wargaming to be a computer-moderated game where people mailed in orders, the computer determined the outcome, and the results were then mailed back to all the players. The first of these was Nuclear Destruction, by the Flying Buffalo company in 1970. The most popular game of this type would be their later game, Starweb from 1976. This type of game enjoyed a burst of popularity for a few years, with several competing companies and games springing up. Today, Flying Buffalo is the only one still offering computer-moderated games of this type. Computer wargames The computer gaming industry generally evolved with minimal reference to board games, or board game genres, so the term 'wargame' is generally not heard in discussions of general computer game genres. However, the wargaming community saw the possibilities of computer gaming early and made attempts to break into the market, notably Avalon Hill's Microcomputer Games line, which lasted from about 1980 to 1987 and covered a variety of topics, including simple adaptations of some of their wargames. Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) and Strategic Studies Group (SSG) were computer game companies that specialized in games that obviously borrowed from board- and miniature wargames. They enjoyed a certain popularity throughout much of the 1980s and into the 1990s. TalonSoft started in 1995 with a similar focus, until bought and later shut down by Take-Two Interactive in 2002. Still, most computer strategy games today 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. The most popular computer strategy game sub-genre, real-time strategy, generally consists of fast-paced games of snap decisions, reflexes, and coordination. While a few that concentrate on realistically simulating real battles without any real unit replacement system are known as real-time tactical games, most use a common formula of building structures (or a base), which can then build additional units. This is generally done in a way so that the game has a brief period of build-up followed by an extended period of fast-moving conflict with each side trying to gather resources, deny them from the enemy, maintain an armed force in the field, and expand its capabilities, both in production, and the quality of units produced. E-mail and wargaming Since e-mail is faster than the standard postal service, the rise of the Internet 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. Computer-assisted wargaming In recent years, programs have been developed for computer-assisted gaming as regards to wargaming. These can be considered as extensions to the concept of PBEM gaming, however the presentation and actual capabilities are completely different. These are generally designed replicate the look and feel of existing board wargames (and some success has also been had with miniatures) 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 three main programs that can be used to play a number of games each are Aide de Camp, Cyberboard, and Vassal. All of these date from the mid- to late-'90s and have their own followings. Aide de Camp is available for purchase, while the other two 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 two are Microsoft Windows programs. Hybrids While all the 'computer assisted' programs were created with the idea of converting published games into a computer or online format, Dan Verssen has pioneered the concept of "Vassal-only" games (called "virtual tabletop games") in which the original subject material was created and distributed exclusively for play in this new medium. Types of wargaming 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 of the game. Environment Historical period All periods of history have their wargaming enthusiasts. Historical games are generally by these periods: Wargames can also be used to simulate fictional situations: Unit or map scale Notable wargamers Founders Designers/Developers Board wargames While a comprehensive list will show the variety of titles, the following games are notable for the reasons indicated: Miniature wargames Computer wargames Unique Game Systems See also | |||||||
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