Military organizations are typically secretive about their current wargames, and this makes designing a professional wargame a challenge. Recreational wargames may take some creative liberties with reality, such as simplifying models to make them more enjoyable, or adding fictional armaments and units such as orcs and wizards, making them of little use to officers who must fight in the real world. ![]() Historical wargames are wargames set in the distant past, such as World War II or the Napoleonic Wars- simulating these wars realistically may be of interest to historians, but are of little use to the military. Having simple, loose rules also keeps the learning curve small, which is convenient since most officers have little or no wargaming experience.Īs professional wargames are used to prepare officers for actual warfare, there is naturally a strong emphasis on realism and current events. In a recreational wargame, such looseness would lead to concerns over fairness, but the point of a professional wargame is education, not competition. If the umpire is highly knowledgeable about warfare (perhaps he is a veteran), then such wargames can achieve a higher degree of realism than wargames with rigid rulesets. Professional wargames tend to have looser rules and simpler models than recreational wargames, with an umpire arbitrating situations based on personal knowledge. Professional wargames vs commercial wargames ![]() At the US Naval War College, some preferred the terms "chart maneuvers" (when simulating campaigns) and "board maneuvers" (when simulating battles), although the term "war game" was never officially proscribed. In the US Army, many preferred the term "map maneuvers" (in contrast to "field maneuvers"). One of these was Georg von Reisswitz, the creator of Kriegsspiel and the father of professional wargaming, but he stuck with the word "game" because he could not think of a better term. Some professional wargamers feel that the term "game" trivializes what they see as a serious, professional tool. A game that exercises only the player's technical skills, such as a combat flight simulator, is not a wargame.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |