“There
is nothing insignificant in the world. It all depends on the point of
view.”
— Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe
Every gamer has their favorite genre periods and
game systems, whether for wargames (both miniature and board),
roleplaying games, or board games. Some folks maintain avid interests
in numerous favorites. In many cases — but perhaps mostly with
wargamers — players enjoy multiple games on the same subject, each
title emphasizing something different about the theme. This seems
almost stereotypical of wargamers, who fixate on historical periods
or even focus on single battles: Gettysburg, Rorke’s Drift, Cannae,
D-Day, and, of course, Waterloo. People interested in specific
episodes in history rarely settle on reading just one book about
them; they read several, often expanding their curiosity further into
the period, and sometimes even related subjects. No one book tells
the definitive story; neither does one single game perfectly depict a
historical event.
Different
books contain new research, approach from a new perspectives, or
incorporate particular biases;
multiple
game rules simulate conflicts differently in how
their
systems
account
for or interpret
historical factors.
Just
like reading several books with different perspectives can
broaden
our understanding of a historical period, so, too, can multiple games
on a subject present different
ways
of
modeling
a conflict and hence give us varied experiences from which to learn,
both about the history and about effective simulation techniques.
