The Future of History

 As I get older, I am more intrigued by the past rather than present.  I’d like to see where it all came from, and how we reached the current state of wargames.

 

I didn’t start getting in to wargames until the 80’s, so they had already been building on the foundations at that point.  I’m pretty sure Risk would be my first steps towards wargames beyond playing Chess in elementary, and junior high school.  I was exposed to, and eventually played Diplomacy in senior high, and this remains one of my top 10 games to this day.

We played Axis & Allies, and most of the Milton Bradley Gamemaster series, my favorite being Fortress America.  We also got into some chit based wargames, playing most of the minigames by Steve Jackson Games, and TSR.  I never got into ASL or Star Fleet Battles but we did play Star Warriors, and a lot of Car Wars. 

In the 90’s we moved on to more miniature-based wargames, playing Space Hulk (another top 10 favorite), and Battle Masters as well as getting deeply into Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

Lately I’ve been picking up a lot of smaller skirmish games, including most of the Osprey Wargames Series and most of their separate games.  I haven’t actually played a lot of them yet though.

 

I’m currently very interested in going back to the beginning and playing through a bunch of the original games that set up the framework and foundations for the games that we currently play.  I don’t expect to get hooked on them but I would still like to see how we got to where we are now.

 

I’ve picked up a lot more games than I have played.  I’m not sure I’ll ever get through them all, but I would like to try a bunch of them.  Of course, I will probably need to pick up a bunch more to be able to play through the classics.  That said, I did only play three new games last year, so I am probably being quite optimistic about this.  This may have to be a goal that will carry me into retirement.

 

Some of the highlights on my list presently are:

Kriegspiel The War Game 1896 by Frances Hindes Groome

 

Wells Floor Games 1911

Wells Little Wars 1913

Fletcher Pratt’s  Naval Wargame 1943

 

All About Wargames 1957 Jack Scruby

Avalon Hill Tactics II 1958, 1961, 1972

AH Diplomacy (1959) (1961) 1976,                                                        have, played

Parker Brothers Risk (1957) 1959                                                           have, played

The Strategic-Tactical War Game 1961 Jack Scruby

Donald Featherstone War Games 1962, 2008                                       have 2009                                         

 

AH Kriegspiel (1896) 1970

TSR Chain mail 1971

TSR Tractics 1971, 1975

Ironclad 1973 Tom Wham

Gamescience Alien Space Battle Manual 1973 by Lou Zocchi

AH Wooden Ships & Iron Men (1974) 1975, 1981

TSR Fight in the Skies (1966) 1975          (basically similar to Dawn Patrol?)

Metagaming Melee 1977                                                                         have The Fantasy Trip reprint

AH Squad Leader 1977

Metagaming/SJG Ogre 1977, 1979                                                        have, played

Task Force Games Star Fleet Battles 1979, 1983, 1990

Yaquinto The Sword and the Flame 1979

 

 

The rest of these are an overview of some of the ones that I have collected and played.

 

SJG Car Wars 1981, 1989 1990                                                               have, played

TSR Dawn Patrol 1982                                                                               have

GW Warhammer 1983                

FGU Heart of Oak (1978) 1983                                                                 have                                     

GW Warhammer 2nd ed 1984                   

FASA Battletech 1984                                                 

Milton Bradley Axis & Allies (1981) 1984                                                have, played

AH Advanced Squad Leader 1985

TSR Battle System 1985                                                                            have

GW Warhammer 3rd ed 1987

Ral Partha Rules According to Ral: Chaos Wars 1987                  

FASA Renegade Legion: Interceptor 1987                                         

FASA Renegade Legion: Centurion 1988                                            

WEG Star Warriors 1987                                                                            have, played

GW Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader 1988                                               have, played

GW Dark Future 1988                                                                                 have

GDW Sky Galleons of Mars 1988                                                             have

GW Adeptus Titanicus 1988                                                                     played

TSR Battlesystem 2nd ed 1989                                                                 have

GW Space Marine 1989                                                                             played

GW Space Hulk 1989                                                                                 have, played

FASA Renegade Legion: Leviathan 1989                                                played

GDW Twilight 2000: The Last Battle 1989                                              have

 

DBA De Bellis Antiquitatis 1990

GDW Ironclads and Ether Flyers 1990                                                    have

TSR Battlesystem skirmishes 1991                                                        have?

West End Games Star Wars Miniature Battles 1991                            have, played?

GW Space Fleet 1991                                                                                have, played

Full Thrust 1991, 1992, 2008                                                                   

GW Warhammer 4th ed 1992                                                                   have, played

GW Warhammer 40K 2nd ed 1993                                                          have, played

GW Man o’ War 1993                                                                                have,

West End Games Star Wars Miniature Battles 2nd Ed 1993              have

GW Titan Legions 1994                                                                           played

GW Necromunda 1995                                                                            have, played?

GW Warhammer 5th ed 1996                                                                  have, played?

GW Epic 40K 1997                                                                                        

GW Gorkamorka 1997                                                                             have

Mongoose Babylon 5 Was 1997

GW Warhammer 40K 3rd ed 1998                                                         have, played

FASA Crimson Skies 1998                                                                      have

FASA VOR: The Maelstrom 1999                                                           have

GW Battlefleet Gothic 1999

GW Mordheim 1999                                                                                 have

Foundry Rules with No Name 1999, 2008                                           have

Canvas Eagles 1999                                                                                have, played

 

 

Since 2000, I have played much less, but have still continued picking up games that have caught my interest.  Especially as some of the old classics are being reprinted.

 

GW  Warhammer 6th ed 2000                                                                 have

GW Lord of Rings Strategy Battle Game 2001                                 

GW Inquisitor 2001                                                                                       

SJG Car Wars 5th ed 2002                                                                       have, played

Privateer Press Warmachine 2003, 2023, 2025

WizKids Crimson Skies 2003                                                                  have, played

GW Warhammer 40K 4th ed 2004                                                           have     

GW Kill Team                                                                                              have

Battlefront Miniatures Flames of War 2004                                          have?

WizKids Pirates of Spanish Main 2004                                                  have, played

FFG Wings of War 2004                              

Mongoose A Call to Arms (Babylon 5) 2004, 2007                              have

Corvus Belli Infinity Miniatures 2005

Mongoose Starship Troopers 2005                                                        have

GW Lord of Rings Strategy Battle Game 2nd ed 2005 The Mines of Moria

GW Warhammer 7th ed 2006                                                                   have

FFG Dust 2007                                                                                            have

GW Warhammer 40K 5th Ed 2008                                                            have

GW The Lord of the Rings War of the Ring 2009                              

Wells Expeditions Arcane Legions 2009                                                have

FFG Dust Tactics 2009, 2010, 2014                                                        have, played

 

GW Warhammer 8th ed 2010                                                                    have

Mantic Kings of War 2010, 2015, 2019, 2024

Ares Games Wings of Glory 2011

GW Warhammer 40K 6th ed 2012                                                            have

FFG Dust Warfare 2012                                                                             have

FFG Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures 2012                                             

Alien Dungeon AQMF 2013, 2023                                                            have

GW Warhammer 40K 7th ed 2014                                                            have

Battlefront Dust Tactics 2014                                                                   have

GW Age of Sigmar 2015                                                              

Osprey Frostgrave 2015                                                                             have

Spartan Games Halo: Fleet Battles 2015

Dust Tactics 1947 2016                                                                             have

GW Warhammer 40K 8th ed 2017                                                            have

GW Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game 2018                                        have?

SJG The Fantasy Trip 2019                                                                       have

 

GW Warhammer 40K 9th ed 2020                                                            have

Osprey Oathmark 2020                                                                              

GW Kill Team 2nd ed 2021                                                                           

GW Warhammer 40K 10th ed 2023                                                         have

GW Warhammer The Old World 2024                                  

 

 

This is an exhausting but by no means exhaustive list.  I am sure that as I play these, I will encounter other milestones that should be played.  This also doesn’t include a lot of wargames that we have already played that aren’t as iconic.