Talk:Wargaming

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[edit] WikiHobby:Wargaming

I don't think I have the time and energy to worry about a Wikipedia:WikiProject, but there are some very definate things I think need doing, so I'm going to try and outline them here, where other people might contribute as a 'hobby' instead of a 'Project'.

  • This article, wargaming, is in much better shape than a few months ago. It is probably still quite a ways from any real "final" form. The introduction, as I recently realized, doesn't do a very good job of really saying what a wargame is. The successive sections for miniatures, board games, card games, and computer games is a good structure, but the miniatures section should probably expand to ~3 paragraphs.
  • The article is currently (9/25/06) at 37KB. We should definately think about what sections are really needed here. (Admittedly, this article probably deserves 40+KB to cover everything, but I do think that the intro is too long.)
  • There are no pictures on this page at all. Should think about what would be a good accompanyment to the article. Lots of game boxes? Games in play? A convention?
  • Should discuss what wargames typically do and don't simulate.
  • Both RTS and CCGs tend towards ideas related to wargaming, we should talk about what keeps them out of that classification.
  • Board wargames needs to have its own page, and this page can get just a summary, and move off the 'components' section, which is nice, but a bit much for the eventual version of this article. (I am working on assembling such a page.)
  • The normal gamebox template needs to be added to almost every wargame page there is.
  • I'm a boardgamer and am concentrating there, but I've noticed that main miniatures articles seem to be dissoving into muck. Well, really, the lists of miniature wargames are.
  • There are lots of prominent wargame designers with no articles at all, this should be fixed.
  • The Origins Awards should probably be fixed up to include a list of all winners (or probably a separate page with that), and make sure the winner's articles are appropriately noted.

[edit] Standards

Just proposing a few 'standard' ways of doing things.

  • Articles on game publishing companies should contain a list of their products, unless the list is long enough that it should use a mini-TOC, in which case the list should be a separate article.
  • Large manufacturers should have their own category, i.e., Category:Avalon Hill.
  • Games should include a BGG link, if available.
  • Only complete games get their own article, unless the topic is big enough that a good subarticle is needed. Expansions and guides should be talked about in the main article.
  • A game series should probably get it's own page. This may well be the only page until the article gets big enough for the individual games to start geting their own pages. (Note the Europa (wargame) page.)

[edit] Computer section

I know nothing about wargaming, but I somehow expected a mention of a couple of specific computer wargames, namely Command and Conquer and World of Warcraft, if they are not categorizable as wargames, or not notable enough, fair do's. --RickiRich 00:41, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

You'll note that the various sections on types of wargames often don't mention many specific games, leaving that to the 'notable' section, with the exceptions being where such games are rare, or of a small class. Of the games you mention, C&C is technically a wargame, being about war, but is not really considered as one by the hobby (some of this is artificial, but there is the fact that the game doesn't even try to present a real view of combat). An article on RTS as wargames could be fun, but completely original research at this point. World of Warcraft is not a wargame at all, but a role-playing game (not being about warfare and militaries, but good-old-fashioned adventuring).
Read through the introductory portions of the article, and see if you can give any further questions you have on 'what is a wargame'? (Looking at it, you should have several.) We'll use the feedback to improve the article. ^_^ --Rindis 17:30, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Card-driven vs. card Game

Can someone in the know provide a definition for "card-driven"? It may be confusing to see We The People listed as the first card-driven game, and then see Up Front touted as a "card game" but appearing 10 years earlier. A separate article on "card-driven" seems to be in order, defining the term? Michael Dorosh 20:18, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

I'm not really up on them either. At the moment I don't think I could do much better than the first sentence of 'Cards' in the Board wargaming section (which, come think of it, I think I contributed). If you want more info, the Board Game Geek entries on We the People, Hannibal, et al, will help out. The main thing is a 'card-driven' game is still a board game first and foremost, with cards being a primary game mechanic after that.
I also note that you've been busy writing up little mechanic articles. Many thanks! Do you think you could write a good article for the semi-simulaneous turn? (I'd be interested in seeing something starting with it's genesis with SPI in '70s through the ASL version of it, and it seems like you might have the knowledge to write that.) --Rindis 22:43, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

It would be nice to have this section better defined. When I hear card-driven the only thing that comes to mind is the currently popular "Warmachine" but even that is really a table-top warfare game...so really, I'm confused by a description even within my own area of interest. Hmmm...

-FX

Well, the problem may certainly be that I assumed it's just a board game thing, when it's not. Of course, I just looked at Warmachine and I don't see anything about cards in there, so I don't have any idea about what goes on there. Obviously, I need to get a 'card-driven' game instead of just noting remarks about them on BGG. ~_^ --Rindis 17:05, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Any "Sniper!" type wargames about the War on Terrorism/War in Iraq?

I guess Sniper! Special Forces is as close as we can get to this category but has anyone actually seen any man-to-man wargames about the coalition forces battling the Taliban in the mountains of Afghanistan, or US troops taking on the Iraqi insurgents. And if these wargames don't exist what do you think would it take to make one? --Auspx 03:47, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, as tactical games are generally done so that it's complete game system powered by scenarios, technically what you want is scenarios depicting the types of actions common in the current conflicts. I'm not much on tactical games, but List of board wargames modern tactical section does list the Warfighter series as recent games, and therefore the publisher may be releasing such scenarios currently. (Don't know if that's man-to-man or not though.) Traditionally, recent/current subjects have always been grist for wargaming's mill, so I expect there's something already, though I don't know of anything from the major publishers. My best bet would be to keep an eye on the magazines that ship a game with every issue. There seem to be three currenty: Strategy & Tactics, Against the Odds, and Panzershrek. --Rindis 18:43, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Starcraft

Why doesn't Starcraft fit into this genre? Colonel Marksman 04:23, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

For the same reasons that Command & Conquer (mentioned above) doesn't. That is, using the broadest possible definition it is one, but by most standards it is not accepted as such. On a practical side, it already has the easy label of "RTS", and doesn't need an extra one. More importantly to most wargamers, it isn't one because it makes no effort at realistic simulation (as a good example, in actual combat, vehicles are generally either knocked out, or unaffected by any particular shot; a "health bar" doesn't make any sense from a wargaming perspective). --Rindis 16:58, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
In my view this page should only be about wargaming the hobby and wargaming for the professional, into which neither starcraft fits. Mathmo Talk 09:00, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
This article mentions RTS, but doesn't say "not normally considered a type of wargame" in so many words. Would be a good addition, seeing as how at least one person was mystified... :-) Stan 16:11, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Notable Miniature Wargames

I have to question the following as "notable". All are fine games, however unlike many of the other games noted, they have yet to stand the test of time.

Warmaster (Games Workshop, 2000) Confrontation (Rackham, 2000?) - A French fantasy wargame with card based initiative. Warmachine (Privateer Press, 2003) Flames of War (Battlefront Miniatures, 2002) - a World War II based wargame with a devoted following.

I would deem each of these minature wargames as less notable than BattleTech...the first popular mecha wargame with two rather novel game mechanics for the time...overheating rules (over-extending) and simple, integrated unit design rules.

That said, I would not deem BattleTech notable in an encylopedic context.

Robert L —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.136.254.77 (talk) 21:54, 11 February 2007 (UTC).

Still in print after 22 years, first of its kind, spawned spin off computer games, arcade games, and an RPG, as well as the novels - I'd say it's very notable. Very few games have had the same long-term and kind of success as BattleTech.
That said, I don't know anything of what's going on in the world of miniatures, so I can only trim the really obvious stuff. If you'd like to help with the list and put in some of the longer-lasting or influential rules, please go right ahead. I've been hoping that we'd get someone who would look past recentism in constructing the miniatures list. --Rindis 18:47, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

After looking on boardgamegeek.com, I removed the Warmaster, Flames of War and Confrontation entries as recentism...fewer than 150 gamers had rated these. There are 50 games with the "miniatures" tag with more than 150 ratings. They do not make the short list of notables.

I temporarily left Warmachine as nearly 300 people had rated the game. This is low. More justification is needed as to what makes this game notable.

BattleTech is classified on the page as a "Unique Game System". That works as I see it is a hybrid miniature game with heavy board game elements.

Robert L.

Funny, I see it as a board game with heavy miniatures game elements.... ^_^ Which is why that section exists. (When I played it, it came with hex-grid boards....) Anyway, sounds good. If you get into putting in some older influential games, don't forget that recentism applies at BGG too, and a once-popular game may not have any ratings (it seems to me that miniatures gamers are less willing to play a game from the '70s than many board gamers).
Also, if you're going to hang around a little, and do some editing, why don't you get account? It makes it a little easier to know who's wandering around editing. ^_^ (Oh, and you can then sign comments with four tildes "~", which will generate a link like mine. --Rindis 21:30, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
I'm amazed you removed those games, over here they are some of the few games commonly available! Also I'd have doubts about using boardgamegeek.com with reference to miniture gaming. Mathmo Talk 21:40, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
Does commonly available mean notable though? I consider the general list to be those that have had a real influence on the industry, or stood the test of time. While I'd be cautious about using BGG for miniatures data, is there a similar site dedicated to miniatures? I know that BGG is officially supporting the inclusion of miniatures games and CCGs in its database because there isn't really any place to direct people with those interests. The contingents of users are very small, but not non-existent. Anyway, I'll leave it to you two to hammer out a common ground. --Rindis 22:15, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] DEFINITION OF WARGAMING

I am a relative "newby" to Wikipedia, but have a background in board wargaming (being an old S & T subscriber).

Reviewing the article itself, and the ongoing discussions, it appears to me that a concise definition of "wargaming" is a key feature that is presently lacking, but which would improve the content of the article.

With that in mind, let me submit a few thoughts for consideration:

(A) A wargame has some sort of scale. Unlike Age of Empires, Command & Conquer, Civilization III, etc., a wargame has an identifiable scale in terms of time ("each turn equals one day"), distance ("each hex is 1.25 miles") and size of military unit ("each unit represents a brigade of 2,000 to 4,000 men").

(b) The wargame is an attempt to simulate reality. Command & Conquer, and various similar video/action games, do not present a reality of the situation. It is an attempt to provide you, the player, with the problems, decisions, and difficulties encountered by historic leaders, and to give you a greater grasp of their decision-making process (and of alternatives that could have been pursued). This definition would encompass war games showing hypothetical military situations (i.e. during the '70's and '80's, there was a spate of war games showing a hypothetical Warsaw Pact invasions of Germany) because, again, the game is trying to realistic present the problems, decisions -and likely outcomes- that both sides would face had such a war occurred. Admittedly, there exist a small genre of wargames which involve sci-fi (the old S & T Star Force, for example) and which blur this line - they are not attempting to present a "reality", but are attempting to give a "real feel" to a totally arbitrary future situation.

By way of example, there are a number of video/xbox games which purport to simulate World War II combat as a "first person shooter". The characteristics of these games are closer to Hollywood than the reality. A genuine wargame would attempt to present realistic capabilities of real infantry, and real infantry weapons.

Ok, my "concise definition" is longer than I intended.  Thoughts?

Bonbga

Well, first I'd say (a) should be unnecessary for a concise definition, as it's a consequence of (b) - simulating reality tends to create a need for a hard scale.
Also, the opening paragraph contains the following: "A wargame is a game that simulates or represents a military operation." and "the general consensus is that they are not only games about conflict or warfare, but that they must realistically simulate war to some degree." I think those are adequate concise definitions, but perhaps they're being lost under the avalanche of other things in that paragraph?
I think we might need some more restructuring there. What I think you're more reaching for is actually more an explanation of the definition. i.e., a section that discusses some of the things that wargames typically worry about, and a discussion of why those things that can be considered related are not actually wargames. We have pieces of that scattered around, but a solid section on it might be a big improvement. --Rindis 18:12, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Rindis - The last sentence or two of your remarks really hit the nail on the head, imho. What I am groping blindly toward is some sort of division between the military historical wargaming that is the focus of this article, and the geewhiz shooter/action games that now dominate the market. Scale, it seems to me, is a bit of a defining characteristic, although it may not be the truely defining Rosetta Stone that I am mentally looking for. Bonbga

Glad you approved. ^_^ It's a section that I've had a vague idea of putting in for a while now. To me, the real difference generally comes down to overall attitude and approach. Effectively, is this pure entertainment, or are thoughts of scholarship entertained? You can have both in one game, but the computer game industry is generally ignorant of such concepts. –But not completely so. --Rindis 00:32, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Rindis - I am a bit troubled by trying to use the entertainment/scholarship approach, because where does that leave "wargames" like the old SPI Alpha Centauri, and similar sci-fi games? Some of them are more closely related to the classic wargame than they are to the shootem-up, video games, that have had a mass market appeal. Perhaps the approach could be to acknowledge that there exist "gray area" games, while trying to nevertheless use the scholarly distinction? Bonbga

It gets harder to define the distinction, but not impossible. "Scholarly" may be the wrong term. GDW's Striker takes some assumptions about the future of technology, and applies them rigorously on top of a framework that does reasonably well as a modern miniatures game. The various Lord of the Rings games (board wargames - I have no idea how EA's titles do) start with source material and then try to recreate the conflicts depicted therein, much as a historical wargame does. Once you look at the easier examples like that, I always find it easy to extend the principles that apply to Victory in the Pacific to, say, WarpWar. I suppose the difference is really whether gameplay flows out of the world being depicted, or the other way around. (Though even that is slippery...) --Rindis 22:59, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] History of Wargaming Subarticle

After the latest edit [1] and looking at how long the current history of wargaming section is I suspect very soon a subarticle should be spun off about the history. Mathmo Talk 08:35, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

It's possible. I like history, and most of my knowledge of wargaming is from the '70s, so that's why it's gotten so long. ^_^ Personally, I think the Board wargaming article is needed more, but I haven't gotten far on my draft yet. (I started with the history, of course.) --Rindis 16:47, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
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