The History of Wargaming Project aims to archive and publish wargaming books, rules and documents about

wargaming A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

. It has been widely referenced in the wargaming literature.

History

The project was inspired by the late

Paddy Griffith Paddy Griffith (4 February 1947, Liverpool, England – 25 June 2010) was a British military theorist and historian, who authored numerous books in the field of War Studies. He was also a wargame designer for the UK Ministry of Defence, and a le ...

, a professional military historian on the staff of the Department of War Studies,

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

before becoming a full-time author and freelance historian and lecturer in the early 1990s. Paddy Griffith asked why the history of wargaming was poorly documented and why there was not a library of wargaming. The aim of the project is to document and equally as important, make the key aspects of the history of wargaming readily available to the public through its publications.

Scope

Covering hobby, serious and professional wargames, its scope includes: *Reprints of wargaming books (often with unpublished material provided by the original authors, or as the result of new research) *Military/ professional wargames- rules used by the military e.g. used by the British, American and Canadian military such as the Fred Jane Naval Wargame from 1906 an
Dunn Kempf
tactical wargame from the Cold War *Landmark sets of rules e.g

*Serious games used for professional training e.g. Dark Guest Training Games for

cyberwarfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic war ...

*Books documenting the history of Toy Soldier. Toy soldiers have been a key part of the growth of the hobby *New wargaming books e.g
The Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame
or the Innovations in Wargaming series *Some military novels by well-known wargaming authors, such as

Donald Featherstone (wargamer) Donald F. Featherstone (20 March 1918 – 3 September 2013) was a British author of more than forty books on wargaming and military history. Life Donald Featherstone was born on 20 March 1918 in London.

*A few military history books *As of 2020, 2 PhDs are using the archives of the project as a key part of their research. The project has a large wargaming archive and the aim is to make this unpublished material available as rapidly as possible.

References

External links

History of Wargaming Project Web page
{{Wargames Wargames Military historiography