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"Game Designers That Impacted the Hobby" Topic


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28 Jul 2018 9:34 p.m. PST
by Editor in Chief Bill

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Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian05 Jan 2018 8:56 p.m. PST

Who are the game designers that shaped the miniature wargaming hobby?

nsolomon9905 Jan 2018 9:23 p.m. PST

I'd throw in names like Scott Bowden, Rick Priestly, Bob Coggins and S Craig Taylor, Phil Barker, Sam Mustafa and there are MANY others.

Major William Martin RM05 Jan 2018 9:30 p.m. PST

I would take a step further back in time: Jack Scruby, Brigadier Peter Young, Charles Grant, Tony Bath, and (at the very beginning of the "modern era") H.G. Wells. There are, of course, many, many others.

coopman05 Jan 2018 9:31 p.m. PST

Larry Brom

79thPA Supporting Member of TMP05 Jan 2018 9:48 p.m. PST

I thought we had something like this a few months ago. Anyway, how about Frank Chadwick and Steve Jackson?

DisasterWargamer Supporting Member of TMP05 Jan 2018 10:24 p.m. PST

Adding more to the list from the early days

Featherstone
Gygax
Vietmeyer
Guilder
Seigfield

Cerdic05 Jan 2018 11:25 p.m. PST

Can't forget Bruce Quarrie.

USAFpilot06 Jan 2018 12:21 a.m. PST

Another vote for Gary Gygax.

English grammar in not my strong suite but shouldn't the question read "who" instead of "that"?

mumbasa06 Jan 2018 12:35 a.m. PST

Bob Jones, Brent Oman, Terry Gore, John Hill

Northern Monkey06 Jan 2018 4:24 a.m. PST

This question does seem rather retro-spective. Those who shaped the hobby tend, by definition to be the founding fathers like Featherstone and his contemporaries. In many respects wargaming hasn't changed shape since then. However, there have been lots of game designers who have influenced the hobby since but who are possibly not so high profile. The type of games being played today are very different from those that were popular twenty years ago. Games tend to be smaller in terms of figure numbers, with rules that emphasise different things like the greater emphasis on command and control than previously. It seems a shame that we seem to look so far backwards when considering this question. With the exception of Priestly and Mustapha everyone else seems to be firmly lodged in a time capsule.

skinkmasterreturns06 Jan 2018 4:34 a.m. PST

I seem to recall that the introduction of DBA by Phil Barker in 1990 as being quite influential.

FusilierDan Supporting Member of TMP06 Jan 2018 5:16 a.m. PST

Bob Jones, Dan Mersey, Larry Brom,

Lucius06 Jan 2018 5:29 a.m. PST

Arty Conliffe, for dragging rules production into the late 20th Century.

Winston Smith06 Jan 2018 7:10 a.m. PST

Phil Barker, long before DBA.
WRG rules made Ancients gaming what it is today, for better or worse.
Today Ancients Gaming is dominated by points based tournament rules, which is a legacy of WRG & DBX. My very first gaming armies were for WRG Tournament Play, and I had great fun. Little success.
The upside of that is the availability of many armies for the gamer that nobody would bother to make if there was no market for them.

And Larry Brim for TSATF, the best rules set ever written.

Personal logo 20thmaine Supporting Member of TMP06 Jan 2018 7:17 a.m. PST

Terry Wise
Stuart Asquith

Joes Shop Supporting Member of TMP06 Jan 2018 7:50 a.m. PST

Scott Bowden.
Arty Conliffe.

Wackmole906 Jan 2018 7:57 a.m. PST

Rick Priestly, Larry Brom, John Hill

Winston Smith06 Jan 2018 8:15 a.m. PST

"Brom", of course.
Noticed my gaff after I couldn't edit.

PJ ONeill06 Jan 2018 8:36 a.m. PST

It was John Hill who showed me what a wargame could be.

Personal logo StoneMtnMinis Supporting Member of TMP06 Jan 2018 8:39 a.m. PST

John Hill
Larry Brom
Paul Koch
and love him or loathe him – Phil Barker

DisasterWargamer Supporting Member of TMP06 Jan 2018 9:06 a.m. PST

Mersey and others with the new school of rules coming out from Osprey seem to be having an impact

Personal logo The Virtual Armchair General Sponsoring Member of TMP06 Jan 2018 12:15 p.m. PST

The "Immortal Sergeant," Larry Brom.

Personal logo miniMo Supporting Member of TMP06 Jan 2018 2:07 p.m. PST

Gene McCoy, while he never published his own set of rules, the 'Series 78' WW2 units were highly influential, and all of the scenarios published in Wargamers Digest!

rmaker06 Jan 2018 3:26 p.m. PST

Fred Jane, Fletcher Pratt, Joe Morshauser, Duke Seifried, Greg Novak, Dave Arneson, John Candler, Lou Zocchi, Howard Whitehouse

Wargamer Blue06 Jan 2018 6:47 p.m. PST

Arty Conliffe.

Walking Sailor07 Jan 2018 8:28 a.m. PST

Georg Leopold von Reiswitz who wrote der Kriegspiel.
His son Georg Heinrich Rudolf von Reiswitz who updated the work.
Julius von Verdy du Vernois for speeding it up as Free Kriegspiel (the original game developer?)
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder for "popularizing" the "game".

Old Contemptibles07 Jan 2018 9:51 p.m. PST

James F. Dunnigan

link

McLaddie09 Jan 2018 2:36 p.m. PST

I would say that James Dunnigan and the designers at SPI had a greater impact on miniature wargaming than any four of the designers so far mentioned, as significant as they were. The reason being, Dunnigan basically laid out the wargame design concepts, methods and parameters that circumscribed the thinking of miniature wargame designers from the late 1970s onward. We are still working with [and struggling with] them today. Read his 1980 book The Complete Wargame Handbook and what he lays out about designing wargames, which has been republished several times with little editing. It is available on the web.
PDF link

tsofian15 Aug 2018 6:12 a.m. PST

Steve Jackson

Thomas Thomas17 Aug 2018 10:23 a.m. PST

Positive impact:

John Hill
Frank Chadwick
Phil Barker

Large impact:
Rick Priestly (Warhammer, 40K, Flames of War)

tomT

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