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| A WWI Game |
One of the top reasons I like tabletop gaming is the variety of game styles available. There are the family games, children games, card games, board games, etc. You can play games that are designed to be light and humorous and you can play others steeped with strategy. The availability of the variety is why gaming conventions are popular. You can find something you like, even when your likes might not be considered the main stream.
This year at SaltCon were three tables laid out with war games. The games being played were not the big box games that many of us grew up on, but the ones players who are deep into strategy and history enjoy. The tables were going during almost the entirety of the convention and even though there were some players who stayed at the tables, there was a regular group of interested people trying them out and watching.
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| One of the Civil War Games |
War games might not be the one of the fast paced game styles that people cheer over a move. Instead, the people who stood back to watch were more intense as they shared their strategies in hushed voices with another spectator. A couple of times I found myself in the same row.
I can remember playing Risk!when I was young. Being the youngest of five and four years younger than the next in line meant playing the games the others wanted to play. And, as I got older I had to keep up as my older brothers found the games from Avalon Hill. The three of us would sit and play Feudalfor hours with barely a word spoken. Friends and I would play games recreating major wars and battles from history. With the mix of these older games and the newer ones players have I diversity in war games creating a new level of interested players.
I saw three different games dealing with the U.S. Civil War. Even though they were all depicting the same period of history in the same location, the basis for each was very different. While one was based on the movement of troops (which most of us know about), another was based on the railroads and how they were utilized, and the third was focused on the economics of the times and how battles were influenced by the flow of money.
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| Modern Afghanistan |
When I played more war games, years ago, everything was based further back in history. It could very well have been that I didn't know about games focused in more of the current events. Today's newer games still have the ones of the Napoleonic era, but they were also playing games based on events in Afghanistan in the 21st century. There were the large scale World Wars along with small battles. This variety was bringing older players along with younger ones to the tables.
I was reintroduced to a part of the gaming community that I had drifted away from. Sitting here on the tables was an aspect of gaming that is enjoying a resurgence as other styles of games are bringing people back to the table to play a game. In conversation the people enjoying the games were interested in the strategy of the real world events the games were based on. They were also getting more.
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| Cuban Revolution |
One player was enjoying the learning aspect of what these games bring. Here was something that sparked his interest and he was taking notes from the rule book about outside reading. Another was talking about how playing the game helped them to understand what they had already read. Their companion in the conversation was talking about how learning the strategy was so much like what he did at his job (I didn't ask because I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what he did for a job). But, the games were bringing people together.
Many war games take longer to play and some are highly complex—not all of them, but many. Because of that one factor I know there are many people who are not interested in trying them. I find that a little interesting because many of the other games I play, and I saw other people playing, take about the same amount of time. I heard one person say they didn't want to learn how to play a war game because of the amount of rules involved, which, again, falls in line with so many of the newer highly advanced games. For some of these players, not all but some, if the setting was placed on another planet against different races I think they would be all over it.
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| Another Civil War |
If you haven't checked out the war games section of the game shop, you might want to. People who like strategy, or people who like history, will probably find something they like. Many of the strategy games are also designed to have stopping points. You can play, let it sit, and come back to it. I have known people who do this playing Risk!, or Monopoly, or pretty much every game out there. You can also use modern technology to help like one war game group does.
War gaming groups are also starting up, or you can start one. For one group they have limited space to play so they use their phones to take pictures of the layout. This allows them to continue play one week to the next.
Opportunities with old and new games are out there to be had. I've gone back to see which ones are sitting on my shelf. And, don't be afraid, the war is contained to the map on the table.
If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.
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