A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of some military operation. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of potential conflicts. Many wargames re-create specific historic battles, and can cover either whole wars, or any campaigns, battles, or lower-level engagements within them. Many simulate land combat, but there are wargames for naval and air combat, as well.
The fog of war is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign. Military forces try to reduce the fog of war through military intelligence and friendly force tracking systems.
A military exercise, training exercise, or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of warfare or test tactics and strategies without actual combat. They also ensure the combat readiness of garrisoned or deployable forces prior to deployment from a home base.
Hearts of Iron II is a grand strategy computer war game for Microsoft Windows based upon its predecessor, Hearts of Iron, which was developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive.
Empire Earth II is a real-time strategy video game developed by Mad Doc Software and published by Vivendi Universal Games and their subsidiary Sierra Entertainment on April 26, 2005. It is a sequel to Empire Earth, which was developed by the now-defunct Stainless Steel Studios. The game features 15 epochs, 14 different civilizations and has three playable campaigns: a Korean, German, and American one, as well as several other playable scenarios. The game received a positive reaction, earning a 79% average rating on GameRankings.
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing and published in 1996 by the 3DO Company. The game is the second instalment of the Heroes of Might and Magic series and is typically credited as the breakout game for the series. Heroes II was voted the sixth-best PC game of all time by PC Gamer in May 1997.
Real-time tactics (RTT) is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time, simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics. It is differentiated from real-time strategy gameplay by the lack of classic resource micromanagement and base or unit building, as well as the greater importance of individual units and a focus on complex battlefield tactics.
Fleet Command, previously labelled as Jane's Fleet Command, is a real-time tactics naval warfare simulation computer game released in May 1999. It was developed by Sonalysts Inc. and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The game licensed parts of Jane's Information Group's military information database, which was used as an in-game "Jane's Library", reference material that the player could refer to while in-game. Jane's also licensed to EA the "Jane's" name and the "Jane's Combat Simulations" logo, and the game was marketed under the "Jane's" name, much like the previous "Jane's Fighters Anthology", also published by Electronic Arts.
Supreme Ruler 2020 is a grand strategy wargame developed by BattleGoat Studios and published by Paradox Interactive. The game was released in 2008 and is a sequel to Supreme Ruler 2010. In the game, the player controls all aspects of a region's government attempts to unite a world of fragmented states. On December 22, 2008 BattleGoat Studios released an expansion pack for the game titled Global Crisis. A Gold Edition of the game containing both the core game and the expansion pack was released on September 18, 2009.
Making History: The Calm & The Storm is a World War II grand strategy video game released in March 2007 by developer Muzzy Lane. Similar in ways to the popular board games Axis & Allies and Risk, Making History is turn-based with basic industrial, economic, resource, research and diplomatic management included. The game was released as Strategic War Command in Germany.
A grand strategy wargame or simply grand strategy game (GSG) is a wargame that places focus on grand strategy: military strategy at the level of movement and use of a nation state or empire's resources. The genre has considerable overlap with 4X games, but differs in being "asymmetrical", meaning that players are more bound to a specific setup and not among equally free factions in exploring and progressing the game and an open world.
CyberStorm 2: Corporate Wars is a turn-based and real-time strategy game developed by Dynamix and released in 1998 as a sequel to MissionForce: CyberStorm. It was published by Sierra On-Line.
Arsenal of Democracy is a grand strategy wargame that is based on Hearts of Iron II - Armageddon and its Europa Engine. It is developed by BL-Logic, a development studio made up by fans of the Hearts of Iron series and active members of the modding community. Arsenal of Democracy was announced on September 8, 2009 and released on February 23, 2010.
For the Glory is a grand strategy wargame that is based on Europa Universalis II and Paradox's Europa Engine. It was developed by Crystal Empire Games, a studio composed of members of the Europa Universalis II modification "Alternative Grand Campaign / Event Exchange Project" (AGCEEP) team, and published by Paradox Interactive. It was announced on September 4, 2009 and was released November 10/11, 2009. The game is available for Windows.
Strategic Command 2: Blitzkrieg is a grand strategy computer game developed by Canadian studio Fury Software, and published by Battlefront.com in 2006. The second game in the Strategic Command series, Blitzkrieg is a turn-based strategy set in World War II, focusing on the European Theater. The player controls all of either Axis or Allied states.
Supreme Ruler: Cold War was developed by BattleGoat Studios and was announced August 19, 2010 by Paradox Interactive at the 2010 Gamescom video gaming convention held in Cologne, Germany and released on July 19, 2011. It is set during the Cold War Era from the end of World War II to the early 1990s. The main Campaign allows the player to be the head of either the U.S. or the USSR, while the Sandbox game mode can be played from any nation's point of view.
Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game is a grand strategy wargame that is based on Paradox Interactive's Europa Engine.
Supreme Ruler is a computer strategy game in which a player controls a region's government and attempts to conquer a fictional world of fragmented states. The game simulates raising funds through taxes and spending on agriculture, government services, and the military. Up to 9 regions play at once, either human hotseat or AI controlled, and all actions are resolved simultaneously at the end of each turn. The design of Supreme Ruler was influenced by earlier nation-state simulations such as Sumer, though the concept is taken further with the addition of multiplayer, military battles, and a more sophisticated design.
Supreme Ruler Ultimate is a grand strategy video game developed by BattleGoat Studios. It is the fifth installment in the Supreme Ruler series and was released on October 17, 2014. The game is the sequel to Supreme Ruler 1936. It is essentially a compilation release, streamlining Supreme Ruler 2020, Supreme Ruler Cold War, and Supreme Ruler 1936 into one game, using the same UI as 1936, as well as adding additional features and gameplay.
Sid Meier's Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. The mobile and Nintendo Switch port was published by Aspyr Media. The latest entry into the Civilization series, it was released on Windows and macOS in October 2016, with later ports for Linux in February 2017, iOS in December 2017, Nintendo Switch in November 2018, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2019, and Android in 2020.
