Board Wargames

This medium flourished in the 1960s and 70s, and unleashed a tidal wave of creativity. There were, of course, a preponderance of dull, predictable designs, but several designers, especially Jim Dunnigan and Redmond Simonsen of Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI), produced dazzling designs. Herewith are a few of the more noteworthy games of that period.

Napoleon at Waterloo

Designed by Jim Dunnigan and published by SPI around 1973. A marvelously clean, simple design; it was wargaming reduced to its essence. It is simple to learn, easy to play, and yet captures all the elements of good wargame design.

StarForce Alpha Centauri

Designed by Redmond Simonsen, published by SPI around 1971. A truly weird space combat game centered on psionic powers. Movement is made in great leaps from solar system to solar system, and combat is executed by mentally wrestling with opponents, with the loser being hurled out of the area, leaving the winner in possession of the prize. The tactics of the game are very strange indeed! For sheer creative genius, this game is unsurpassed.

War in the East

Designed by Jim Dunnigan, published by SPI around 1974. This was the first "monster" game, requiring four mapboards and hundreds of pieces to represent the Eastern Front during World War II. It took me four months to play the game. I don't recommend that you play it, but it is edifying to contemplate the vast scale of the game, the meticulously written rules, and the determination of players who tackled it.

Battle for Germany

Designed by Jim Dunnigan, published by SPI around 1975. Simulates the invasion and conquest of Germany in 1945. A brilliant design splitting each player into two personalities. One player controls the western Allies, Britain and USA, and also the East German armies defending against the Russians. The other player controls the Soviets and the West German armies defending against the Allies. The winner is the one who makes most progress in his front. A brilliant exercise in simultaneous attack and defense.

Russian Civil War

Designed by Jim Dunnigan, published by SPI around 1975. This is the most brilliant wargame ever designed. To capture the fluid, chaotic nature of the Russian Civil War (1918 1922), Dunnigan stripped away any identity from the players. There are two opposing sides, the Reds and the Whites, but each player controls armies belonging to both sides. The armies operate independently across the vast reaches of the Russian Empire, attacking each other in isolated battles. Each time a battle is fought, the player controlling the winners takes possession of the loser's dead units, putting them into a pile at the side of the board. While the Reds have the advantage, their victory is by no means assured. At the end of the game, one of the two sides has been wiped out and the other side is declared the winning side. The winning player, however, is he who has accumulated more dead bodies of the losing side, and fewer dead bodies from the winning side. The result is a crazy contest of shifting goals and sudden reverses.

Breitenfeld

Designed by Jim Dunnigan, published by SPI around 1974. This was the best of the Thirty Years' War Quadrigames, which featured a combat system guaranteed to produce desperate battles. When two units fought, the loser was usually "disrupted," meaning that the defeated unit was turned over, couldn't move very far, and was especially vulnerable to destruction. Unfortunately, the winner would sometimes be disrupted as well. Thus, as the battle heated up, players found their armies disintegrating into disruption. The best tactic was always to attack your enemy's disrupted units in an effort to kill them before they could rally and return to normal combat readiness. The battles always ended with each general desperately looking for one last undisrupted regiment to throw into the fight and turn the tide. The resolution of the game was always in doubt up until the last turn, and the ending was always dramatic.

Battles of General MacArthur

A truly obscure game with a very clever combat system. Units moved from point to point on the map, limited not by intrinsic capabilities but rather by total fuel supply. The player threw the dice, and the result determined the total number of movement steps the player's armies could take. The result was an elegant game of maneuver, in which victory did not always go to the bigger army.

Diplomacy

One of the great classics of gaming; an absolute must-play for all game designers. Designed in the 1960s, this game is unlike anything you've ever played. Each player has a small number of armies and fleets; each turn, the player writes down orders for each of his armies and fleets. These orders are simple: move into an adjacent region or hold the current position. The unit density is so low that such moves would normally yield standoffs as single armies push against single armies to no effect. However, if two players coordinate their moves against a third player, they can usually obtain numerical superiority and win the battle. Of course, such cooperative relationships are transitory; yesterday's ally is today's opponent. The web of alliances and betrayals shifts every turn, making an endlessly fascinating game. Forty years after its creation, Diplomacy retains a strong fan base. Space Invaders, half its age, is utterly obsolete.



Chris Crawford on Game Design
Chris Crawford on Game Design
ISBN: 0131460994
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 248

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net