Wargame

Wargames are games which attempt to simulate combat of some sort. Forming one of the four most popular forms of traditional game(along with card games, TTRPGs, and board games), Wargames have been enduringly popular and influential.

History

Chess is probably the oldest wargame still commonly played, though it's generally counted among board games instead because of how heavily abstracted it is. Modern wargaming as we think of it originated around the Napoleonic Wars, when Prussian officers developed a series of wargames, referred to as "Kriegsspiel" (literally german for War Game). Kriegsspiel was intended as an officer's training tool rather than a game played for entertainment, but it caught on, first among the officer corps and then eventually among civilians. By modern standards, Kriegsspiel is very clunky and difficult to play, but some dedicated players do still follow it. Kriegsspiel used paper chits to represent groups of soldiers, and did use dice rolls to account for chance.

The first wargame marketed towards civilians was actually developed by early science fiction author H.G Wells, who developed a codified ruleset for playing with toy soldiers and spring loaded toy cannons that fired wooden plugs, both of which were common toys at the time. Almost a direct opposite to Kriegsspiel in many ways, Wells' system, which he dubbed Little Wars, was very rules light, using no dice and emphasizing maneuver over chance. The main element of player skill involved was in the use of the artillery, where you would actually fire wooden plugs at the other side's soldiers in order to kill whichever soldiers you hit. The rules are available online for free, so be classy and take a look at the rules for the first ever Wargame, right here.

Little Wars was published in 1913, and didn't enjoy huge success. Wargaming didn't truly take off as a hobby until after World War II. The early wargames of this era were historical, many of them themed around the days of the Roman empire, but the publication of Lord Of The Rings caused a major interest in medieval and fantasy warfare in the 60s and 70s - a notable entry in this was the wargame Chainmail, which was spawned a little hero-focused spinoff called Dungeons And Dragons. The 1980s were mostly notable for wargaming delving into science fiction and fantasy. The popularity of Star Wars, the plethora of excellent Fantasy films, and the enduring enthusiasm for Lord of The Rings lead to the introduction of more and more fantastical games. Most notable were Battletech, influenced heavily by Mecha anime before codifying the western Mecha genre, and Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Warhammer was the first wargame meant to be played with proprietary miniatures, serving as a product first, and it was a major success, spawning its eventually more popular science fiction equivalent Warhammer 40,000. The 1990s and 2000s saw a slow but gradual spread in wargaming's popularity, with many wargame properties adapted to video games. In this time period, the various Warhammer properties solidified a hold on the market that they keep today - the 2010s saw challengers such as Warmachine and Hordes, both from Privateer Press, and X-Wing and Star Wars: Legion, both from Fantasy Flight Games, but neither managed to disrupt Warhammer's dominant position.

Genres

• Historical: Replicas of specific wars or periods of wars. The most popular are World War 2, the American Civil War, and the Napoleonic wars, though many others are supported.
• Fantasy: Orcs, Dwarves, and dirty peasants fighting alongside half-crazed wizards. Often features large monsters and magic. The most well known is Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, a continuation of the previous most well known Warhammer Fantasy, Dungeons & Dragons started out as a variant of another called Chainmail. Some other examples include Kings of War and Warmahordes.
• Science Fiction: Laser guns, space ships fighting among the stars, mechs and more. The most well known is Warhammer 40,000, some other examples include Infinity and BattleTech.