"Religion and Wargaming " Topic

"OK, a title which is guaranteed to get some negative reactions. I know that. At one level, of course, a negative reaction is at least a reaction. On the other hand, I am not talking about praying to the gods of the dice, so let me try to explain.

The title was inspired, if that is the right word, by a couple of books I have read recently, one before Christmas and one after. The latter was ‘Constantine, Unconquered Emperor, Christian Victor' by Paul Stephenson (2011, London: Quercus). This is not an academic tome, the author argues, but something trying to popularise his academic work. Let me state upfront: it is a good book.

In describing Constantine's life and work, Stephenson starts by describing the religious makeup of the last part of the third century and the variety of options there were for people. He is particularly interested in the army, as to control the army meant to control the Roman Empire, and to lose the support of the army meant to lose it, and probably one's life along the way…"
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Amicalement
Armand

I read the review and it's a kind of "all the cows are standing up except those which are lying down" kind of thing.

The difficulty is curiously that of the paradox between the temporal and eternal. Religion deals with the ontological, the eternal, the unchangeable, and history with the very worldly phenomenal the mundane and the every day. This is most evident when you talk about war gaming, which does not deal with timelessness or the eternal but the events of a single day, perhaps even hours, and with the forensics of modeling killing and fighting in a very short time span.
Religion in war is more on the grand level motivational, if there, and very little in the battle, and, still less in the game.

While we may model battles of the past, perhaps in very religious ages, we are fortunately I think, persons in the here and now and little affected by those former ages, especially when playing a game.

Insomnia Cure For The Win!

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand