"Is Votes for Women a Wargame?" Topic

"If you are looking for a topic for discussion on the Internet that is guaranteed to generate quite a bit of heat but not much light, ask if a particular board game is a wargame. Is Twilight Struggle a wargame? Are COIN games wargames? Is Root a wargame? Is Risk a wargame? My response has always been "who cares" because the definition never really mattered to me. Much to my chagrin, that has changed. Why? The answer deserves a separate paragraph…"

Negotium Ludorum

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Armand

I remember 2 games from the 80s that centered on winning the presidential election. Your positions on the various issues were totally irrelevant. All that mattered was playing the game.
Gee, has anything changed?
I played if with the same group that played Axis and Allies, Dungeons and Dragons, Diplomacy, Waterloo, The Sword and the Flame, and WRG Ancients.
The necessity of pinning down the semantics of "is this really a Wargame?" eluded us.

I think the blog should have stopped at "Who cares?" because all that follows is pointless.

I would think all wargames would involve an element of combat or fighting…

Id say this sort of game is a "strategy game" not a wargame. That covers lots of games that aren't intended to replicate an armed conflict, or at least where the armed conflict isn't central.
I will not lose sleep over this.

This need to pigeonhole and categorize things reminds me of Country Music.
The Bakersfield Sound and the Outlaw trend were an attempt to escape "The Nashville Sound". What about Cowboy music, or Bluegrass? Did Bluegrass exist before Bill Monroe?
What do we call "trad" music if it's done by Doc Watson? Speaking of Doc Watson, can we call Tom Dooley or John Henry Country, if Doc Watson performs them, in 5 very different versions each?

Is Risk a Wargame? Kingmaker? Junta?

Why not just listen to or play what you want, without worrying about which pigeonhole they fit in?

By the way, the greatest country song of all time, "He Stopped Loving Her Today", is pure Nashville Sound. Go figure. If Tom Jones sings a country song (Green Green Grass of Home) does it stop being Country?

Strategy and tactics had – plot To assassinate Hitler, was that a wargame?

Certainly in the UK the fight for voting rights included street fights, a bombing campaign and a few deaths….

S&T thought they could "simulate" anything. Their worst try was "Scrimmage", a "simulation" of football. AMERICAN football, that is. 😄
As I recall, it had a playing field 10 yards wide, and a full field wide. The players were to simulate plays. A typical play took about 10 minutes to run, while a typical play IRL took maybe 5 seconds. Each side, offense and defense, had 11 counters. Running plays only. No passing.

It was still a Wargame, though.

Thanks

Armand

I thought a "wargame" was a game that involved war. There are other kinds of games. Recall Duke's attempt to define "Adventure Games." What about "strategy games from chess to diplomacy. Personally, I am only interested in games that involve MINIATURES which is the reason I follow this page. I have long tried to find games with miniature figures that did not involve recreating some aspect of a war.