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War
game Diversions
Lewis
Goldberg
09/22/2003
This
week's column is a bit of a personal indulgence - sharing with you my
interest in a particular hobby. I pray my loyal readers will allow me this
diversion, and we will plunge back into weightier matters next week.
History
has long been a fascination for me - being one of those geeky people who
can sit and read random topics in the encyclopedia for hours if left
undisturbed. There is a segment of board gaming in which historical battles
[and even fantasy wars - not only historical what-if's but science fiction
conflicts too,] are depicted, using terrain maps and little square
cardboard counters representing the historical military units [brigades,
divisions, etc.] which fought.
Known
simply as wargaming, or simulation gaming, the hobby has been around since
the late 1950's, when Charles Roberts invented the game called Tactics.
Mr. Roberts went on to found The Avalon Hill Game Company, which produced
many war games [D-Day - my first game! Gettysburg, Wooden Ships & Iron
Men, The Russian Campaign, and dozens more,] and even the old 3M bookshelf
games that many of you may remember [Acquire, Feudal, Stocks & Bonds,
Oh-Wah-Ree, Phlounder, and Twixt, among others.]
In
the 1970's war game publishing exploded with the addition of Simulations
Publications, Inc. [SPI,] Game Designers Workshop [GDW,] and many others.
Gaming conventions became an expected yearly tradition, and war gamers all
over America could go into any mainstream toy retailer to get the latest
games from the bigger publishers. Thirty tears later, however, the big guys
are all gone [Avalon Hill got swallowed up by Hasbro/Milton Bradley and SPI
is totally gone,] and war gamers have to content themselves with the
efforts of small publishers producing expensive, low print-run games, or
prowl the garage sales looking for older stuff they don't have yet.
As
a teenager, I was an avid war game player and collected scores of games
dealing with all periods of history - from Caesar's battles to WWIII
hypotheticals. The responsibilities of adult-hood made me drop the hobby,
eventually giving up my collection to the garage sale prowlers. But now
that I have at least one son old enough to play and who shares the same
interest in history - guess what I'm doing again. If you guessed that I am
spending a lot of money buying all my games back, you're correct.
This
brief description of the war game hobby is meant to expose it to some of
you who may never have heard of it, and to hopefully make some new friends
if you are up to your neck in war gaming. Either way, I'd love to hear your
thoughts, and maybe even acquire some of your unplayed titles that may be
taking up valuable shelf space. Please write me at the below address.
Here are some websites you
can check out if you are interested in finding out more about wargaming:
Decision
Games - One of the larger publishers today.
Web
Grognards - A site for all sorts of wargame resources for the
experienced player.
ConSimWorld
- A site for the latest wargaming news and convention activity
Your comments and questions are encouraged. [editor@patriotist.com]
Patriotist
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