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Games that taught me some history...
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So it's something of a natural, particularly if you're a wargamer - eventually you run across a game that either teaches you something directly or causes you to go out and want to learn more about a particular subject. So here's a list of the games I've played that either taught me something, made me go learn something, or both...
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Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 4:03 pm
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As a kid, I'd spent a good amount of time visiting ACW battlefields and sites, but they were almost exclusively on the East Coast. That led to many, many games I was interested in, but didn't do much to change a very Eastern focus on the ACW.
It wasn't until I played this game that I really came to realize how influential the Western theater was in the overall outcome of the war. That led to much reading and exploration, and a far better understanding of both what led the war to occur and how the war was actually won.
And I still love playing this one. Anyone in my area, look me up. 
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If ever there was a game that will teach you something, this one works on many levels. It's a fun game that requires perseverance, determination, intelligence, and an ability to roll with the punches. In particular, the last point is important as your forces scatter to the four winds when the summon cards start coming out.
The game is often somewhat chaotic, which led me to want to learn much, much more about the period. So I did. And the game seems to capture the general chaos of the period pretty well as England ripped itself apart, put itself together, and then ripped itself apart again.
This game also sparked enormous interest in the English monarchy and particularly the individuals who we either great/terrible monarchs.
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The politics and warfare of the pre-revolutionary period were largely a mystery to me. Partly that's due to the education I received, partly just due to lack of time and interest to go "exploring." This game piqued my interest and got me interested in the period.
It's fascinating to see how the European politics of the period worked, how England and France competed, and how this all contributed to things like the French Revolution in their own ways. The naval warfare of the period also fascinates me.
This one, I'm definitely not done learning about, and there's plenty more reading to do.
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4.
Board Game: Credo
[Average Rating:5.82 Overall Rank:3527]
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I was raised Catholic, so it may seem a bit odd that I didn't really know the history of the church that I was a member of. But beyond the trite "Romans persecuted Christians until Constantine, then Christianity took over..." I really hadn't a clue about the way that the church "grew up" and came to adopt the positions that it's taken on any in a range of issues.
So while this quirky, funny game sparked me to find out exactly what the heck "Homo-semi-aryan" views were and why they were even in the running. The way that the creed was actually developed, the councils that were held, the parts of the church that won and lost, all are interesting.
Again, not done learning about this one, but there's only so much time in the day, right?
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The colonial period is one we should all understand, right? After all, it's relatively recent, it's accessible, and we really do live with the fallout from it in our present day. Yet the period was such a gloss in my history classes that this game opened my eyes to the different powers, their approaches, and the challenges that they faced.
I thought that this game really seemed to capture something, particularly with the importance of the naval side of the game for the major powers. This led me to some great books (Dreadnought by Massey, for one), a fascinating biography of Tirpitz, and a much better understanding for how the world managed to entangle itself in WWI.
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I've been an Anglophile most of my life, but that doesn't mean I really knew much of anything about the real history of the nation (more properly, nations) that make up Great Britain. I came late to this game, and it started to explain some of the regional issues in Britain due to the influence of the many, many different factions that visited or invaded over the centuries.
Somehow, the Danish influence in Britain had never made it onto my radar, so I've been particularly interested in the Scandinavian connections and their impacts. But even getting a better understanding of the "native" tribes and how their traditional homes and kingdoms came to be dominated by others, and how some of those groups managed to retain some degree of independence and spirit.
A fascinating period I probably wouldn't have known much about if I'd never been exposed to this gem. And, again, if you're in the area and want to play, drop me a line.
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7.
Board Game: SPQR
[Average Rating:7.44 Overall Rank:508]
[Average Rating:7.44 Overall Rank:508]
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Ancient history's always fascinated me, but it's can be very hard to understand exactly how it is that the Roman legions could be so dominant or how Alexander could achieve what he did. So when I was introduced to this game, it made me take a much longer, harder look at the way the ancient armies were organized, functioned, and why it was that one nation or type of warfare came to dominate the others so completely.
So I've spent more time learning more about the actual campaigns of the period, how the different armies were organized, and why exactly they were better (or worse) than their neighbors.
This is one area where I'll probably never run out of material to read and learn, and many, many more scenarios to play out.
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Another period with so much material that I'll probably never run out of things to read.
EiA sparked me for two reasons. First, I wanted to understand how it was that the different armies had come to fight and work in such different ways. Why were the Prussians so much more efficiently organized? Why was the Russian army such a mess? How was it that Charles didn't end up in command more for the Austrians?
Second, there were things about the game that just didn't add up much. For example, Turkey was such a natural French ally in this game, and I didn't recall any of that in my limited learning on the period. So I wanted to understand more about the relations and politics of the period and why it was that the political situation developed that caused the different powers to do what they did.
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To be honest, I really haven't had the time to do the reading I want to hear. But talk about "One against the world!" What a fascinating period of history with an incredible web of politics, military action, and economics.
I need to learn more about how it is the situation the game captures developed (I've only a basic understanding of it), how it is Prussia ended up at war with the world, and how it is that Fredrick the Great managed to handle the incredible odds against him.
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Tactics has never been a particularly strong suit for me. I tend to do far better with operational or strategic games than tactical. But something about this system clicked with me and I loved to play it.
What this game led me to do was learn more about how the individual soldiers in the field were trained, equipped, and operated to bring about the results that we saw writ large in WWII. What about the Germans led them to such amazing initial success without the ability to sustain it over time? Why is it that these qualities didn't win out over greater numbers and what changed (particularly on the Eastern Front) that caused the whole thing to collapse.
I'll admit that much of my education and understanding prior to learning this game and doing some reading, I had the typical American view that "We won the war." While I won't deny the impact of American entry and the incredible lift that gave to the allies, my reading's made it pretty clear - one way or another the Germans would have been in trouble once the Russians really got rolling. Maybe not the victory that we saw, but it would have been hard to see how the Germans could have effectively held off the USSR once they got their second (or third) wind.
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Again, history classes only went so far in covering the period here. When I was introduced to this game, I'd already done a bit of reading outside, but it was largely focused on the western front. Then I watched entire armies die out of supply in Russia and wondered how in the name of hell this really captured what happened in the war.
This led me to learn more about the fighting in the east, the way that the USSR was mauled and rebounded, the amazing relocation of resources that they achieved, and how the tide turned so amazingly on this part of the war.
It's possibly also one of the better demonstrations of the power of armor during the period and how it changed warfare by permitting such deep penetration and exploitation. That's led to a bit of learning on the tanks of the day, and a better understanding of how critical machines (Pzkf IV, T-34, Sherman) made each army different and good at different things.
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Okay, I know this list is meant for wargamers... but hear me out.
When I got this expansion extension for Mr. Jack, I thought... what the heck is this jumping guy doing on the board.
So I did a little research into Jack the Ripper and found...
That there really was someone like that! Link to information.
Upon more research, yes I just don't read stuff on the internet, I have found that the Spring Heeled Jack, was indeed very real.
-DK
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13.
Board Game: Attika
[Average Rating:7.19 Overall Rank:160]
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This game made me want to learn about the Greek city states whose identity you can take on. I'm not really sure why. While I don't agree with some people who say the game is totally abstract, there is actually nothing in the gameplay to distinguish one city state from another.
Most people know Athens has the brains and Sparta has the brawn, but I didn't know too much about Corinth or Thebes. I learned Corinth was an important trading city. I learned Thebes was a major rival of Athens. I also learned more about Sparta and Athens. I learned Sparta supported their military machine by having more extensive slavery than the other Greek city states.
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Seems like an obvious one. You learn the history of the Cold War in kind of a haphazard way, but you really want to read the card backgrounds in the back of the manual to truly understand their historical meaning.
Just remember: the Cold War was essentially a struggle to determine the fate of Germany.
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Ok, the other one. More information than you ever wanted to know about one year in the sordid history of American politics.
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I was so intrigued by this game and the battle that it represented that since that time I've read up on this battle considerably and also dug in to bits and pieces about Napoleon himself.
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My first strategic level WWI game.
In 1980 I wrote a review that appeared F&M #20. This game (along with a bit of research that I did for that article) taught me about the actual military strategy of WWI... stuff that went far beyond the typical trench stalemate/Red Baron storyline that I had learned in school.
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18.
Board Game: Chaco
[Average Rating:6.78 Unranked]
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Most Americans (US variety) don't even know that this American war (South America variety) took place between Bolivia and Paraguay, much less that it happened in the 20th century (with TANKS and everything!!!). I put the old GDW version up because it introduced me to the war, but actually the Command version with the magazine had a lot of interesting supplemental articles in it. (Yeah, I own two games on Chaco...guess I really am a geek).
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Silent War: The American Submarine Campaign Against Imperial Japan, 1941-1945.
This is a wonderful solitaire simulation of the Silent Service's battle in the Pacific. The depth of research done for this game is nothing short of amazing, though at times you can fail to notice because this research does not bog down gameplay.
Anyway, this game has definitely been giving me a feel for how tough it was in the early years of the war in the pacific for Submariners especially because of their essentialy faulty torpedoes.
Through playing this game, and doing some more reading i've begun to learn more and more about Submarine warfare during the era.
Great stuff, can't wait for the sequel in 2009.
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Downtown: The Air War Over Hanoi, 1965-1972
While I already had a general knowledge of the Vietnam War (The American War in Vietnam if you prefer) this game really helped to solidify my understanding of the use of American Air Power during that era, particularly dealing with its evolution.
Again, this game, like Silent War, is excellently research complete with suggested reading. I bought this game or the history alone, and I plan to do so for the Sequel.
The rulebook is chock full of design notes that provide a fascination insight in to what it was like to plan and execute a raid against a target in North Vietnam. Because the game models aircraft in flights you really get a feel for the weapon systems and technology of the era, which is what the designer stated he intended.
This is a quality title through and through.
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There's more to Ancient History than Sumeria, Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome. This game sparked interest in the various other cultures. Their customs, their crafts, architecture, and contributions to modern man. And, in particular, the bull-vaulting counter of the Minoans...just fascinating!
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Who knew that stuff happened in India and China before the Brits got there?  
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Posted Sat Feb 9, 2008 4:52 pm
The cards are a real history lesson. Where the corps and divisions were used who was the commanding officer, a thumbnail biography about the commanders, and even things like a card for 'Ole Abe' the bald eagle carried by the 8th Wisconsin. Gives some new meaning to the phrase "War Eagle".