''Siege of Bodenburg'' is a

wargame 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 ...

developed in 1967 by Henry Bodenstedt. It is one of the earliest sets of rules for conducting battles with medieval miniatures.

Publication

In 1967 the game was published by ''

Strategy & Tactics ''Strategy & Tactics'' (''S&T'') is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue. Beginnings ''Strategy & Tactics'' was first published in January 1967 under its original edit ...

'' magazine in five parts, in issues #6–11. The name of the game is presumably a play on Bodenstedt's own name, though there was an actual medieval castle called

Bodenburg Bodenburg is a village in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located about 20 km south of Hildesheim, and about 5 km from Bad Salzdetfurth. The community has a population of 1,814 (2021). Overview A castle with a moat and a stand-alone tower w ...

south of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

Gameplay and equipment

The game is played on a tabletop using 40mm medieval

Elastolin Elastolin is a trademark used by the German company O&M Hausser (O&M Haußer) for the toy soldiers and other types of figures it manufactured from composite material and later from plastic. The Hausser firm was founded in 1904 by Christian Hausse ...

miniatures manufactured by O&M Hausser. Bodenstedt owned the Continental Hobby Supplies store in

Adelphia, New Jersey Adelphia is an unincorporated community located within the northern section of Howell Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP code 07710. The community borders Freehold T ...

, and he used the rules to promote the sale of Elastolin miniatures, including the large central castle (Elastolin #9732). The game requires a 6' by 6' tabletop divided into a grid of 4" by 4" squares. Battle is resolved using a

combat results table A Combat results table or a CRT is used in wargaming to determine the outcome of a clash between individual units within a larger battle. The attacker and defender typically compare the relative strengths of the units involved in the clash and ...

similar to those used by board wargames such as '' Tactics II''. One player is the defender, and in addition to the castle he has at his disposal 30 footmen, 15 archers, 12 mounted knights, and a supply wagon. The attacker's forces include 40 footmen, 14 archers, 24 mounted

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

, 3 catapults, 4 movable parapets, 4 scaling ladders, and a siege tower. The attacker wins if he eliminates all of the defender's knights or captures the castle within 15 turns. Otherwise the defender wins.

Gen Con I

''Siege of Bodenburg'' was a significant game at

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

I in 1968. Although Bodenstedt was unable to travel to

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Lake Geneva is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Walworth County and situated on Geneva Lake, it is home to an estimated 8,105 people as of 2019, up from 7,651 at the 2010 census. It is located about 40 miles southwest of Milwa ...

to stimulate sales of the gaming equipment, Jerry White did so, driving around 2000 miles from

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

with copies of the ''Siege of Bodenburg'' rules, along with equipment for the game. In the

International Federation of Wargamers The International Federation of Wargaming (IFW) was a wargaming club operated from 1967 to early 1970s. Formation Founded by Bill Speer, Gary Gygax, and Scott Duncan in 1967, it emerged as a successor to an earlier club called the United States Co ...

publication, ''The Spartan'', the games of ''Siege of Bodenburg'' were described as having an "excellent miniatures set-up", and as having been "played by a large number of persons."

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

is seen playing ''Siege of Bodenburg'' as early as 1968 at Gen Con I.

Influence

Using ''Siege of Bodenburg'' as a reference,

Jeff Perren Jeff Perren is a game designer, a hobby shop owner, and an early associate of Gary Gygax. Career Jeff Perren was an early member of the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association along with Gary Gygax, Terry and Rob Kuntz, Ernie Gygax, Mike Rees ...

developed his own set of medieval wargame rules, and shared them with Gary Gygax, becoming ''

Chainmail Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...

''. The Hausser Castle, incidentally, appears in the photographs of miniature battles in ''Chainmail''.

Bibliography

Miniature wargames {{wargame-stub