A while ago I got curious about War Gaming, in particular it’s history. Having been an irregular war gamer for the last *many* years and cut my teeth on Battletech. Then expanding into Warhammer 40K, Necurmunda, Space Crusade & Space Hulk. I’d like to try my hand at making a board game or war game of a similar nature. So I was wondering did they all come from? How did they evolve to what we know now, and what influenced that process?
The wikipedia page on Wargaming, giving some insight about hobby and how it started. With the a set of rules been publishing in the early 20th century, with H. G. Wells’ Little Wars and Jane‘s naval war rules in 1913. It’s also worth noting that Jane also publish All the World’s Aircraft, which is a great research for aircraft of types and is regularly updated.
John Curry the editor of The History of Wargaming Project has a few videos outlining the project (See part 1 & part 2), and an interesting presentation of the Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame, which at it’s peak had huge games of 60+ players and did not look like the hobby as I know it now. This was a more social game with people playing on a Friday or Thursday night in large dance halls.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmpUwvQ70v8 [/embedyt]
RPGs Split off
In 1971 Gary Gygax & Jeff Perren published the miniature wargame Chainmail, which lead to Dungeons & Dragons and the RPG explosion of today. However, it is worth remembering that most RPGs model themselves after D&D and as a result have a strong tactical basis for their game play. It’s only later, in early 1990, that more narrative-based RPGs emerged with games such as Whitewolf’s Vampire.
Computer based Wargames
A decade later saw the adaption og Turned-based War Games (See Turn-based strategy (TBS) & Turn-based tactics (TBT)) on the computer, with Blue Bytes Battle isles a personal favorite. These in turn led to Real Time Stratagy (RTS) Games, like Dune 2000 and Command & Conquer.
So going back to the start of all this has given me a better idea of these style of games. Along the way I’ve found some cool projects and some great ideas for my own games, and should aid me in writing one.