The Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) was a prominent

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 ...

club active in

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 ...

during the early 1970s.

History

At its inception around February and March 1970, it was originally known as the Lake Geneva Tactical Games Association, though this name gave way to 'LGTSA' within weeks. Its early membership included

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 ...

Terry Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence (given name), Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albrit ...

and Rob Kuntz, Ernie Gygax,

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 ...

, Mike Reese,

Leon Tucker Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

, and

Don Kaye Donald R. Kaye (June 27, 1938 – January 31, 1975) was the co-founder of Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), the game publishing company best known for their ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') role-playing game. He and TSR co-founder Gary Gygax had be ...

. The group usually met weekly in Gygax's basement.

Brian Blume Brian John Blume (January 12, 1950 – March 27, 2020) was an American game designer and writer, principally known as a former business partner of Gary Gygax at TSR, Inc., original publishers of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons' ...

joined the LGTSA in the summer of 1973. When Gygax and Kaye founded Tactical Studies Rules (later

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been ...

) in 1973 to publish ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'', they echoed part of the name of the LGTSA in the name of their new company; Blume later soon joined the partnership. The LGTSA continued to exist as a wargaming group well after the publication of ''Dungeons & Dragons''.

References

Wargaming associations {{rpg-stub