Wargaming

Wargaming

There are probably as many definitions as to what a wargame is as there are wargamers. A couple of useful ones are:

“a warfare model or simulation whose operation does not involve the activities of actual military forces, and whose sequence of events affects and is, in turn, affected by the decisions made by players representing the opposing sides” (Perla, 2011) or

“a structured representation of adversarial situations in which outcomes are shaped by the decisions of the players. Effective wargames generate an immersive narrative which can be used for training, education, planning and decision making” [and of course fun and entertainment!] – (Longley-Brown, 2019)

Given the breadth of games that WD plays, including political and committee games, the latter definition is probably the closer in embracing what we do.

Petrograd Nights

Our focus tends to be on “manual games” - wargames played without the need for a computer - although we’re quite happy to play them on Roll20, Vassal, Zoom, Google Sheets or Tabletop Simulator if we can’t get together in person.

Beyond that anything goes, from traditional miniatures/toy soldier games, through classic hex-and-counter style board games to matrix and committee games.  To help you better understand the types of wargame that we design and play then check out:

If you’d like more information on wargaming, as a hobby, career, or academic discipline then please check out the following: