"Zone of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming" Topic

I have just added a brief description of this newly-published book on my blog here = link

The contributors include:

Jeremy Antley, Richard Barbrook, Elizabeth M. Bartels, Ed Beach, Larry Bond, Larry Brom, Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, Rex Brynen, Matthew B. Caffrey, Jr., Luke Caldwell, Catherine Cavagnaro, Robert M. Citino, Laurent Closier, Stephen V. Cole, Brian Conley, Greg Costikyan, Patrick Crogan, John Curry, James F. Dunnigan, Robert J. Elder, Lisa Faden, Mary Flanagan, John A. Foley, Alexander R. Galloway, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi, Don R. Gilman, A. Scott Glancy, Troy Goodfellow, Jack Greene, Mark Herman, Kacper Kwiatkowski, Tim Lenoir, David Levinthal, Alexander H. Levis, Henry Lowood, Elizabeth Losh, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Rob MacDougall, Mark Mahaffey, Bill McDonald, Brien J. Miller, Joseph Miranda, Soraya Murray, Tetsuya Nakamura, Michael Peck, Peter P. Perla, Jon Peterson, John Prados, Ted S. Raicer, Volko Ruhnke, Philip Sabin, Thomas C. Schelling, Marcus Schulzke, Miguel Sicart, Rachel Simmons, Ian Sturrock, Jenny Thompson, John Tiller, J. R. Tracy, Brian Train, Russell Vane, Charles Vasey, Andrew Wackerfuss, James Wallis, James Wallman, and Yuna Huh Wong.

Is this about all wargaming or just the area known as board gaming? Is there much about miniatures in the book?

Is it a collection of academic papers about various topics (as these books often are) or something more practical?

If you look at BoBs blog article it tells you.

As it includes a sub-chapter on modelling non kinectic effects and another on the role of design for effect in ASL, then it is more a collection of papers

Sounds great!

Sold!

Thehawk,

It is a collection of academic papers, some of which are theoretical in nature, some are more practical in outlook, and some are specific to certain styles of wargame design.

It will appeal to those who want to get a snapshot of the current state of professional wargaming and the ways in which the hobby end of the wargaming spectrum interfaces with it. Interestingly, as the military in the US and other countries begin to realise the potential of wargames and wargaming, they are looking to the hobby wargame players and designers for ideas and innovations. For example, matrix games – which started in the hobby sector of wargaming – has now gained currency and usage amongst the professionals.

This book will not appeal to wargamers who only want to know what colours to paint particular units or how to produce armies that will be winners in competition wargames.

Bob,

Thanks for posting this. We're eagerly awaiting our copies. It was one of the last projects Dad worked on. He was able to see the rough draft and was very pleased that TSATF was included in this collection.

Liliurlero (Lori),

You dad's section was one of the first articles that I read … and it was very informative, very amusing, and showed an undimmed enthusiasm for his hobby.

(I read John Curry's article first, mainly because it mentioned Wargame Developments (and me!) in passing.)

Thanks from me also, Bob. A glance over the table of contents made this an instant must-have . . . although I bought the Kindle edition out of consideration for both my aching joints and my groaning bookshelves. 848 pages!

I may well have to find a copy of this one.

Interestingly, as the military in the US and other countries begin to realise the potential of wargames and wargaming.

They aren't 'beginning' to realize it. It goes through cycles, Jim Dunnigan and SPI made big inroads working for the Military. A number of hobby game designers and wargamers were recruited by the military starting in the 1980s. A good number of hobby designers today are designing games used by the military. That is what you see in that list of authors and articles: A lot of cross-fertilization for decades.