Re: Age and Complexity

On Sun, 25 Jan 1998 11:20:11 +0000, jon@gzero.dungeon.com (Ground Zero
Games) wrote:

>IMHO, whether done with figures or counters, on terrain or map,
"Wargaming"
>is a simulation of combat - whether that combat is/was/may be real,
>fictional or pure fantasy is of little relevance to the definition.

I have to agree with Jon on this one. Even though I grew up in Canada,
I've always used this definition of the type of games I play. Maybe
it's due to the old Featherstone and Grant books that I grew up with
(they were the only books I could find on wargaming because they were
in the library).

Two other points:

1) Peter Perl's _The Art of Wargaming_ and Jim Dunnigans' _The
Complete Wargames Handbook_ use the same definition as Jon and I.

2) There is a third definition of wargaming: paintball games. I've
heard a lot of people call paintball games "wargaming" in spite of the
fact that it simulates virtually no true form of warfare. The tactics
are often modern, but the ranges are Napoleonic! I've mentioned to a
number of people that I play wargames and they say, "Oh, you mean like
out in the woods with paint guns?" I answer, "I've done that, but
that's paintball. Wargames are..." (insert definition here).

Allan Goodall	       agoodall@sympatico.ca

"Once again, the half time score, 
 Alien Overlords: 142,000. Scotland: nil."