"The Battles Every Wargamer Should Know" Topic

Ok so I am part way through a quite detailed old 60's volume I picked up about Wellington and the Peninsular War. I am reading this as I thought this was stuff I should know about.

It lead me to wondering what battles would you put on a list that every well rounded wargamer should have at least a reasonable understanding of ?

It could be because of the tactical ingenuinity of the combatants, the landmark introduction of new technology, the outcome was a defining moment in a war, or of it's impact on subsequent history.

I may never game these battles but I think it's interesting to have that breadth, and I can "entertain" my wife with even more "interesting facts" !

If we followed our boards they would fall into the categories of:

Ancients
Medieval
Renaissance
18th C
Napoleonics
ACW
19th C
WW1
WW2
Modern

I look forward to taking up people's recommendations and building up my reading list :)

Been done already by Historian and War Gamer Fletcher Pratt.

"The Battles that Changed History." Dover publications, 2000, ISBN 0-486-41129-X

Dirt cheap at $11.95 USD

Pratt's work is excellent. Compact, very readable, and in fact a delight. His thesis is NOT that it was a big or important battle, but that it literally changed history, and he makes his case in almost every one. In Pratt's words-- " The present volume is a half-eye-closed view of one aspect of Western History. From such a viewpoint one of the most striking features of Western European culture has been its ability to achieve decisive results by military means. It may even be the critical factor, the reason why that culture has encircled the world."

To fletcher Pratt, it is the quality of changing the course of history on the Battlefield that is decisive.

His chapter headings alone are explanatory and evocative.

1. Arbela and the Man who would be God.
2. The Red King at Beneventum.
3. Fighting in the streets and the future of order. (the Nike Revolt)
4. Kadisiyah and the Cost of Conquest.
5. Las Navas de Tolosa and Why the Americas were conquered.
6. Jean D'Arc and the non-conquest of England.
7. Vienna and the failure to complete the crescent.
8. Leyden and the Foundation of sea power.
9. Guwstavus Adolphus and the End of the Middle Ages.
10. Interlude, the Day of Inadquate Decisions.
11. Frederick the Great and the Unacceptable Decision.
12. Quebec, Quiberon, America.
13. Why the American Revolution Succeeded.
14. Trafalger , Austerlitz, and the Fall and Rise of Empire.
15. The Things Decided at Vicksburg.
16. More than Midway.

All of them are excellent short histories in which not a word is wasted. Two of them chapters 7 and 8 are ripping good yarns besides that can stir the heart and soul.

Great book.

But he misses Koniggratz, surely an epoch making, game changing, battle if ever there was one!

Mollinary

Cowpens, where the American commander understood perfectly the strengths and limitations of both his own army and the enemy.

I personally think that a major part of wargaming is to know as much about as many battles as possible.
Most important/iconic.tactically interesting:
Marathon
Alesia
Hattin
Agincourt
Grandison
Pavia
Lutzen
Poltava
Blenheim
Leuthen
Austerlitz
Waterloo
Balaclava
Gettysburg
Konnigratz
Sedan?

Ottoathome, thanks for the recommendation, will definitely look that one up !

Interestingly nothing from the far east ?

You definitely have to add the Battle of Talas River (751 AD) to the list. What's that you say, you never heard of it? Actually, I've been thinking of starting a thread about the most important battles in history that people have never heard of.

The Arab Empire was moving East and the Chinese Empire was moving West. The two armies met at the Battle of Talas River in July 751 AD (near present day Kazakhstan). The battle lasted for 5 days and ended when the Chinese Turkish auxiliaries (who were Moslem) desserted and joined their co-religionists.

One of the consequences of the battle was that Chinese paper makers were captured and taken to Baghdad. From there, the secret of making paper spread to the West.

That's why I consider it one of the most important battles you've never heard of. So whenever you get sick and tired of paperwork, you can blame the Chinese for losing this battle.

Although not a well known battle Bussaco is an interesting one because it flies in the face of can be considered typical Napoleonic tactics, defined by neat blocks of troops manoeuvring across relatively flat, or at best undulating, terrain. Essentially the French attacked by throwing infantry divisions up the face of a mountain hidden by mist at least initially as they scrambled up the slope. Standing on the battlefield made me realise that the Napoleonic combat was quite different to that which only wargaming and reading had lead me to consider.

Green Tiger there's a few there that though I have heard of them, am completely unfamiliar, so some more homework.

With regards to modern battles (let's say post korea), have we had any real "game changing" battles (maybe the Israeli 3 day war?) ? If not, is there a particular reason why not ?

Hastings?
Changed the British Isles, even a good chunk of Scotland and definitely Ireland,for a millenium and we are still experiencing its consequences (look at current land ownership in the UK).

You must be joking about a list of battles every wargamer should know.
3 reasons
John Keegan and his several works such as The Face of Battle
Paddy Griffith, his Forward into Battle
and the sumple facts that battle is a lot of unknowns, chances, and confusion that no wargamer will put up with.
Take playbalance. Oh no we cannot do Cannae as it is an ambush and unfair for tbe Romans, so we take away Hannibals advantages. Oh no we cannot do Oleration Bagration as it isnt fair for Army Group Center, so we either invent more Germans or decrease the Russians.

The gamer that really reads and digests the terms and conditions of these battles will never consider again the activities as more than fantasy games.

Come on!! where did all those panzers come from, either Jan 1945 or Oct 1942?
Where did the Japanese get all those submachine guns?
and so forth

Stalingrad

Normandy

Somme

One of the consequences of the battle was that Chinese paper makers were captured and taken to Baghdad. From there, the secret of making paper spread to the West.

That's why I consider it one of the most important battles you've never heard of.

But there was plenty of writing in the West. In fact, paper made from papyrus fibers were invented around 4,000 BCE. The most important documents were always written on parchment and vellum anyways. Paper came to the West much later from the Arab contact. It's primary quality was cheapness. This same reason is why paper manuals are being replaced by electronic ones.

It is actually very difficult to pin down any kind of list all the above make valid points and it would be impossible to make such a list exhaustive. I avoided any 'modern' battles as I think they are too big – to hard to 'know' them. The Somme for example – iconic, interesting, important but how many would claim to understand it or have tried to wargame it ?

Action at Blasthof Bridge

The battles of Hook's Farm and Sittangbad, obviously!

[And if you don't recognise the names, shame on you! Call yourself a wargamer? ;)]

The ever continuing battle over what is the best champagne to celebrate your victory :
a)Salon
b) Pol Roger (Winston Churchill)
c)Krug

Bulge
Stalingrad
Gettysburg
Waterloo
Sedan
Zorndorf
Leuthen
Braddock's Defeat
Little Bighorn
Fetterman Fight
The Alamo
Marston Moor
The Somme
Brandywine