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Wargamer's Digest was a wargaming magazine created by Gene McCoy that was published from 1973 to 2000 (from 1984 to 2000 as Military Digest). It is notable as one of the earliest publications to publish the work of Gary Gygax, and for the high regard that military professionals and academics showed for its military scenarios and simulations. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Gene McCoy, an army veteran, was the editor-in-chief. [5] [ citation needed ]
In 1974 Wargamer's Digest published Gygax's rules for wargaming in an ancient setting. Originally written in 1969, Gygax revised and expanded them for publication in Wargamer's Digest. [6] The magazine also sold war games through its "Reader's Service Department." [7] This included the earliest TSR products. In 1975, it published one of Gygax's earliest adventures for Dungeons & Dragons, "The Magician's Ring." [8]
Between 1973 and 1975 Gene McCoy printed a micro-armor rules framework in Wargamer's Digest. [9] The rules, as they existed, were scattered across a number of magazines, with the last being printed in Volume 3, Issue 12. [10] While by no means a finished product, these rules introduced a number of new figure-gaming concepts, which in the micro-armor world were well ahead of their time. An example was each base or figure represented more than one vehicle.
The rules were originally designed for 1/87 or 1/72 scale figures, with a scale of 1 inch for each 100 yards. This changed in Volume 2 Issue 11 to 1 inch for each 50 yards. Each figure represented 9 vehicles, with the scale for infantry and artillery differing. By the last issue the scale had standardized to 4 to 6 vehicles or guns, although the infantry scale was not as clearly defined. The game-turn duration was never stated, but would have ranged from 15 minutes to 60 minutes a game-turn.
The rules allowed for combined movement and firing, as well as firing in the opposing players game turn. While the implementation of these rules concepts was basic, they represented a revolutionary step forward in micro-armor rules. The firing system consisted of cross referencing the gun and target armor to arrive at a penetration range. If the direct fire was at half this range or less two dice was used, other wise only one dice was used. No firing beyond penetration range was allowed. While not revolutionary the system was elegant and provided a surprising level of detail. Later version introduced a percentage to kill die roll as well.
By 1975 the rules had developed to the point that McCoy decided to publish them. An early type of crowd funding was used with an intended publishing date of 1978, but unfortunately the rules were never published. An unofficial version was created based on available source material and published on the Yahoo group and IO:Group site.
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.
David Lance Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's early work was fundamental to the role-playing game (RPG) genre, pioneering devices now considered to be archetypical, such as cooperative play to develop a storyline instead of individual competitive play to "win" and adventuring in dungeon, town, and wilderness settings as presented by a neutral judge who doubles as the voice and consciousness of all characters aside from the player characters.
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which military units are represented by miniature physical models on a model battlefield. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use abstract pieces such as counters or blocks, or computer wargames which use virtual models. The primary benefit of using models is aesthetics, though in certain wargames the size and shape of the models can have practical consequences on how the match plays out.
Chainmail is a medieval miniature wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the core medieval system of the game by expanding on rules authored by his fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) member Jeff Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly. Guidon Games released the first edition of Chainmail in 1971.
Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure by Robert J. Kuntz and Gary Gygax is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, published by TSR, Inc. in 1984. It originally bore the code "WG5" and was intended for use with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition rules. Because it is one of the WG modules, it is a module intended for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting. It was later updated in 2004 to the Third Edition Revised rules in Dungeon magazine, issue #112, as Maure Castle. There were subsequently two additional installments in issues #124 and #139.
Tractics: Rules for WWII Miniatures is a set of wargaming rules for conducting World War II style combat with 1:285 scale micro armour miniatures. It was originally written to use 1/87 scale miniatures which were easily available at the time of its writing. Written by Mike Reese and Leon Tucker with contributions by Gary Gygax, the game was published by Guidon Games in 1971 and republished by TSR, Inc. in 1975.
Don't Give Up the Ship is a set of rules for conducting Napoleonic era naval wargames. The game was published by Guidon Games in 1972 and republished by TSR, Inc. in 1975. The game was developed as a collaboration between Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax, and Mike Carr. It was the first collaboration between Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax, the co-authors of Dungeons & Dragons. Mike Carr edited the rules and researched the historical single ship actions that are included as game scenarios.
David Wesely is a wargamer, board game designer, and video game developer. Wesely's developments, inspired by Kriegsspiel wargames, were important and influential in the early history of role-playing games.
The International Federation of Wargaming (IFW) was a wargaming club operated from 1967 to early 1970s.
Siege of Bodenburg is a wargame developed in 1967 by Henry Bodenstedt. It is one of the earliest sets of rules for conducting battles with medieval miniatures.
Robert J. Kuntz is a game designer and author of role-playing game publications. He is best known for his contributions to various Dungeons & Dragons-related materials.
Warriors of Mars is a 1974 miniatures wargame rule book, written by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume and published by Tactical Studies Rules. It simulates combat in the fantasy world of Barsoom, originally imagined by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his series of novels about John Carter of Mars. It is a 56-page booklet in the same style as the original Dungeons & Dragons books, even sharing the same artist Greg Bell. Gygax and TSR published the rules without permission from Burroughs estate and soon after its release they issued a cease and desist order and the game was pulled from distribution. Because only a few copies were sold the book is now rare and sells for a high price.
Donald R. Kaye 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 been friends since childhood, sharing an interest in miniature war games. In 1972, Kaye created Murlynd, one of the first D&D characters, and play-tested him in Gygax's Castle Greyhawk campaign. Kaye and Gygax were convinced that D&D and similar games were an excellent business opportunity, and together they founded Tactical Studies Rules in 1973. However, only two years later, just as sales of D&D started to rise, Kaye unexpectedly died of a heart attack at age 36.
Greyhawk is a supplementary rulebook written by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz for the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. It has been called "the first and most important supplement" to the original D&D rules. Although the name of the book was taken from the home campaign supervised by Gygax and Kuntz based on Gygax's imagined Castle Greyhawk and the lands surrounding it, Greyhawk did not give any details of the castle or the campaign world; instead, it explained the rules that Gygax and Kuntz used in their home campaign, and introduced a number of character classes, spells, concepts and monsters used in all subsequent editions of D&D.
Jon Pickens is an American game designer and editor who has worked on numerous products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR and later Wizards of the Coast.
Angriff!, subtitled "A practical set of World War II Wargaming rules for use with the HO and MICRO scale enthusiast", is a set of rules for miniature wargaming set in World War II designed especially for use with HO scale and 1:285 scale micro armor. The booklet was released by Z&M Publishing Enterprises in 1968.
The American Wargamer was a wargaming magazine first published in 1973.
A wargame is a strategy game that realistically simulates warfare. Wargames were invented for the purpose of training military officers, but they eventually caught on in civilian circles, played recreationally.
Strategos is a military wargame developed by Charles A. L. Totten for the United States Army, and published in 1880.
JagdPanther is a game magazine that was published from 1973 to 1976.
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