A counter is usually a small cardboard square moved around on the map of a
board wargame
A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby (as distinct from military exercises, o ...
to represent relevant information or determine certain things. The first wargame based on cardboard counters was ''
War Tactics or Can Great Britain Be Invaded?'' invented by Arthur Renals of Leicester in 1911.
[Christopher Lewin, ''War Games and their History'', Chapter 8, Fonthill Media, Stroud (GB) 2012, ] The first wargame bringing counters to a mass-market was
''Tactics'', invented by
Charles S. Roberts
Charles Swann Roberts (February 3, 1930 – August 20, 2010, Baltimore, Maryland) was a wargame designer, railroad historian, and businessman. He is renowned as "The Father of Board Wargaming", having created the first commercially successful m ...
in 1952. Traditional wargames typically have hundreds of counters (''
The Russian Campaign
''The Russian Campaign'' is a strategic board wargame published by Jedko Games in 1974 that simulates combat on the Eastern Front during World War II. Avalon Hill later bought the game and produced several editions.
The unit scale is German ...
'', 225; ''
GI: Anvil of Victory'', 856; ''
Terrible Swift Sword'', 2,000). ''
Squad Leader'' had counters of different sizes: 520 -inch counters and 192 -inch, with the different sizes used for different purposes.
Boardgame counters are often closely related to military map marking symbols, such as those seen in the NATO standard
APP-6a
NATO Joint Military Symbology is the NATO standard for military map symbols. Originally published in 1986 as Allied Procedural Publication 6 (APP-6), NATO Military Symbols for Land Based Systems, the standard has evolved over the years and is c ...
, and often include a simplified APP-6a representation as part of the counter.
Types
*Representational counters, usually called "unit" counters, directly represent a
unit,
individual
An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own Maslow ...
, vehicle, or weapon.
*Informational counters don't represent a specific type of character, unit, or weapon, but describe a state such as destroyed, immobilized, out of ammunition, captured, etc. These are sometimes called "markers", or "system counters" (for example, a counter used on a turn record track) as they aid in managing systemic elements of the game such as length.
*
Chits are not directly representational or informational, but are used to determine things such as turn order.
Variations
In
microgames, counters were printed on one or more sheets of thick paper which the player had to cut for themselves rather than the die-cut cardboard sheets included with most board wargames. ''
Dragon Magazine
Dragon Magazine may refer to:
* ''Dragon'' (magazine), an American magazine for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' players
* ''Dragon Magazine'' (Fujimi Shobo), a Japanese light novel magazine
{{disambig ...
'' used to include counters printed on a cardstock centerfold for monthly games (especially by
Tom Wham
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
).
In
block wargame
A block wargame is a board wargame that represents military units using wooden blocks instead of cardboard counters or metal/plastic miniatures.
Description
A block wargame uses wooden blocks to represent units. These blocks are typically sq ...
s, wooden blocks are used instead of cardboard as the counters to represent pieces, in order to emulate the fog of war (by placing the blocks upright to make the information visible to only one of the players). Often, when units take damage, the counter is rotated to signify the units new attack strength.
Although counters are typically square, some games use oblong rectangles as counters for individual ships, as in ''Flying Colors'', or for land units in tactical-scale games when the designer wishes to emphasize the facing or linearity of the unit, as in the ''Great Battles of History'' series. Other variations are of course possible. The unit counters in ''Luftwaffe'' are circular, while one game covering the Eastern Front in World War II had hexagonal counters.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Counter (Board Wargames)
Board game terminology