The Comprehensive Guide to
Board Wargaming
The Comprehensive Guide to
Board Wargaming
was released in 1977, written by Nicholas Palmer and
published by Hippocrene Books, Inc. The book is notable in not
having been published by a major games company but by an
independent source; however, major publishers did have input
and access to the book during the creative process, including
GDW,
SPI and
Avalon Hill, all
of whom are listed in the acknowledgements. The book is also
notable for having a copy of SPI's Strike Force One
game, a tactical level giveaway, inserted into the back cover.
SPI also has advertising space on the back of the dust jacket.
Written so early in the history of
commercial board wargaming, the book gives an interesting
snapshot of the state of the hobby. The game references
PanzerBlitz several times as being "one of the most
frequently played games around." As a self-styled
comprehensive guide, the book has several goals, and was aimed
at both veteran players and newcomers to the hobby alike. The
focus of the book was on gameplay, generally talking about
operational and strategic level games, though some mention of
tactical games is made. A large section of the book is devoted
to a survey of "every professionally produced
wargame...available when this book goes to press, plus some
scheduled releases in 1977..." The games are not just listed,
but also ranked according to two polls, one conducted by SPI,
the other by Avalon Hill. The SPI poll comes from issue 57 of
Strategy & Tactics and included 202 separate titles,
while the Avalon Hill poll came from Volume 13, No. 2 of
The
General and only covered the 25 existing Avalon Hill
wargame titles in print. A snapshot of the state of the hobby,
and tactical wargaming's place in the hobby, is thus provided
by the book. Some titles are missing, as they include only
those known to the other (notably, Third Millenium's PBI
is not on the list, for example) and while Alien Space
is included, other science fiction titles are not.
The book does not cover
miniatures at all, focusing solely on commercial board
wargaming. The book is clear in its focus, and does mention
that
Miniature games...have a long
tradition, and exist in countless versions all over the world,
as well as providing the inspiration for some board games. The
impetus for them has always been the desire of collectors of
military models to have them do something, and a
miniatures game basically consists of a set of rules for the
use of military models in a game. The rules are fairly
generalized and leave a number of questions to be decided by
the players. While (board wargaming and miniatures wargaming
each) has its adherents who dislike each other, most players
enjoy both. The advantage of miniature wargaming is that it
can be highly attractive visually...for those who like both
modelling and games it provides an ideal meeting point. Board
wargames have more in common with other board games like
chess. Their great virtue is the tremendous range of subjects
which can be covered. A miniatures game covering the whole
Soviet-German front in the Second World War would involve a
mind-boggling array of pieces and impossible complexity. For a
board game, there is nothing easier...
The bulk of the early parts of the
book include a history of wargaming and a beginner's guide to
what board wargames are and how they work. Most of the
discussion applies to operational level games and features
associated with them (such as Zones of Control, for example).
Chapter 7 on Combined Arms, however, deals with tactical level
games, focusing on PanzerBlitz and Nordlingen, a
tactical game with a pre-20th Century subject.
Of the 286 titles listed in Part
IV, only 21 are modern-era (1914-contemporary) tactical-level
games. Several titles that should appear, do not. These
include Tactical Game 3 (though being out of print and
having been converted to PanzerBlitz this is not a
large omission), Combat Command, PBI, Soldiers:
Tactical Combat 1914-1915, H-Hour, and Super Tank I.
The latter two, by Balboa and Strategic and Tactical
Studies respectively, were not well known and understandably
absent, though Combat Command and Soldiers were
published by SPI. Thumbnail sketches, as they appear in the
book, are listed below by the tactical titles covered by the
book, and are the opinion of the author, Nicholas Palmer, or
in some cases Charles Vasey who wrote some of the sketches
also. Some of the material was apparently influenced by
Richard Berg's review column in
Moves.
List of Wargames circa 1977 as
given in The Comprehensive Guide
Modern-era tactical
level titles are unshaded
Title |
Publisher |
Notes |
African Campaign |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
After
the Holocaust |
SPI |
- |
Airborne |
Jadgpanther |
Fifteen
scenarios on every kind of paratroop action (Crete,
Bruneval, Arnhem and Indochina appear). Each turn is
three minutes, each unit a single vehicle, ten men, or
one heavy weapon, and each hex 100 metres. Losses are
taken in whole units and separate casualties.
Tanks, artillery, air-strikes, flak and glider landings
included. Map rather bland, since some scenarios involve
dis-regarding terrain. Good tactical stuff - included
confusion! |
Air
Force |
Battleline |
- |
Air
War '78 |
SPI |
- |
Alexander The Great |
AH |
- |
Alien
Space |
SPI |
- |
American Civil War |
SPI |
- |
American Revolution |
SPI |
- |
Ancient Conquest |
Exalibre |
- |
Antietam |
SPI |
- |
Anvil-Dragoon |
Jadgpanther |
- |
Anzio |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Arab-Israeli War |
Avalon Hill |
(Note: the correct title is, of
course, "The Arab-Israeli Wars") Scheduled for
release as this book goes to press: a development of
Panzer Leader, with air rules further developed and
all the modern weaponry available in the Middle East. |
Ardennes Offensive |
SPI |
- |
Arms
Race |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Arnhem |
SPI |
- |
Assassinate Hitler |
SPI |
- |
Atlanta |
Guidon |
- |
Austerlitz |
SPI |
- |
Avalanche |
GDW |
"Tactical" game but company sized units for the most
part |
Barbarossa |
SPI |
- |
Bar
Lev |
Conflict |
- |
Basic
Air Combat |
Lou
Zocchi |
- |
Basotgne |
SPI |
- |
Bataille de la Moskowa |
Martial Enterprises |
- |
Battlefleet Mars |
SPI |
- |
Battle
for Germany |
SPI |
- |
Battle
for Madrid |
Jagdpanther |
- |
Battle
for Midway |
GDW |
- |
Battle
of Britain |
Lou
Zocchi |
- |
The
Battle of Five Armies |
Fact
and Fantasy |
- |
Battle
of Nations |
SPI |
- |
Battle
of the Atlantic |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Battle
of the Bulge |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Battle
of the Marne |
SPI |
- |
Battle
of the Wilderness |
SPI |
- |
La
Belle Alliance |
SPI |
- |
Blitzkrieg |
AH |
- |
Blitzkrieg |
SPI |
- |
Bloody
Ridge |
SPI |
- |
Blue
and Grey |
SPI |
- |
Blue
and Grey II |
SPI |
- |
Borodino |
SPI |
- |
Breakout and Pursuit |
SPI |
- |
Breitenfeld |
SPI |
- |
Bull
Run |
SPI |
- |
Bundeswehr |
SPI |
Not to
be confused with the tactical level Assault module |
Burma |
GDW |
- |
CA |
SPI |
- |
Caesar |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Caesar's Legions |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Cambrai |
Rand |
- |
Cauldron |
SPI |
- |
Cemetery Hill |
SPI |
- |
Chaco |
GDW |
- |
Chancellorsville |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Chariot |
SPI |
- |
Chattanooga |
SPI |
- |
Chickamauga |
SPI |
- |
Chinese Farm |
SPI |
- |
Combined Arms |
SPI |
Disastrously unpopular game featuring tactical
operations in the 1939-1980 time span. It seems better
to choose one of the numerous other games in this
general area: MechWar '77, Panzer '44, PanzerBlitz,
Panzer Leader and Kampfpanzer spring to mind;
Tobruk is also good for combined arms operations. |
The
Conquerors |
SPI |
- |
Conquistador |
SPI |
- |
Coral
Sea |
GDW |
- |
Crimea |
GDW |
- |
Cromwell |
SDC |
- |
Crusader |
SPI |
- |
Custer's Last Stand |
Battleline |
- |
D-Day |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Decline and Fall |
Wargames Research Group |
- |
Desert War |
SPI |
Companion
game to Kampfpanzer, featuring platoon-level
North African combat with simultaneous movement. |
Destruction of Army Group Center |
SPI |
- |
Dien
Bien Phu |
SDC |
- |
Diplomacy |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Dixie |
SPI |
- |
DMZ |
SPI |
- |
Drang
Nach Osten/Unentschieden |
GDW |
- |
Dreadnought |
SPI |
- |
Eagle
Day |
Histo
Games |
- |
East
Front |
Control Box |
- |
The
East is Red |
SPI |
- |
1812 |
SPI |
- |
El
Alamein |
SPI |
- |
English Civil War |
Ironside |
- |
Fall
of Bataan |
Jagdpanther |
- |
Fall
of Tobruk |
Conflict |
- |
Fast
Carriers |
SPI |
- |
Firefight |
SPI |
Ultra-modern small unit combat, with counters for
individual vehicles and groups of four infantrymen.
Unusually detailed rules, with particular care taken to
see that beginners can follow them, and a massive
accompanying handbook with analyses both of the game and
contemporary armament and US/Soviet tactical doctrine in
real life. Relatively elementary for a tactical game,
with such questions as morale and intelligence omitted
and a limited range of vehicles, but most impressive
within its scope and particularly suitable for beginners
interested in modern tactical warfare but anxious to
avoid excessive complication. 1-3 hours per scenario,
fought on two large and attractive maps. |
Flying
Tigers |
Lou
Zocchi |
- |
Formelhaut II |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Four
Roads to Moscow |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Foxbat
and Phantom |
SPI |
- |
France
1940 |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Franco-Prussian War |
SPI |
- |
Fredericksburg |
SPI |
- |
Frederick the Great |
SPI |
- |
Freiburg |
SPI |
- |
Friedland 1807 |
SPI |
- |
Frigate |
SPI |
- |
Fulda
Gap |
SPI |
- |
Gettysburg |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Global
War |
SPI |
- |
Golan |
SPI |
- |
La
Grande Armee |
SPI |
- |
Grenadier |
SPI |
- |
Grunt |
SPI |
Rarely seen now, and never
very popular, dealing with tactical combat in Vietnam in
1965. |
Guerilla |
Maplay |
A large
map and neat counters simulate the activities of a
Ghurka battalion in Sarawak during the Indonesian
confrontation with Malaysia. Secret victory conditions,
ambushes, infiltration, hidden guerilla units, canoes,
helicopters and the construction of chopper-pads in
villages. Great attention to detail, but supply rules
odd; movement uses a rather old-fashioned method. |
Helms
Deep |
Fact
and Fantasy |
- |
Highway to the Reich |
SPI |
- |
Hitler's Last Gamble |
Rand |
- |
Hooker
and Lee |
SPI |
- |
Hue |
SDC |
- |
Hurtgen Forest |
SPI |
- |
Invasion: America |
SPI |
- |
Island
War |
SPI |
- |
Jena-Auerstadt |
SPI |
- |
Jerusalem |
SPI |
- |
Jerusalem |
SDC |
- |
Jutland |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Kampfpanzer |
SPI |
Companion
to Desert War, dealing with tactical combined
arms combat at the start of the Second World War. Nine
scenarios involving British, French, German, Japanese,
Russian and Czech tanks. Simultaneous movement,
modifications for different weapon types, entrenchments,
overruns, and the controversial panic rule which
randomly makes some units disobey orders. Comparable to
Panzer Leader, with more nations but fewer
different types of unit; infantry in particular play a
smaller role. The map is mostly clear terrain. Generally
simpler but less challenging than Panzer Leader,
except for the simultaneity of movement. Panzer '44
is a more advanced version, based on later on in the
war. |
Kasserine |
SPI |
- |
Kasserine Pass |
Conflict |
- |
Khalkin-Gol |
SDC |
- |
Kingmaker |
Philmar/Avalon Hill |
- |
Korea |
SPI |
- |
Kriegspiel |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Kursk |
SPI |
- |
Lee
Moves North |
SPI |
- |
Lee v
Meade |
Rand |
- |
Legion |
SPI |
- |
Leipzig |
SPI |
- |
Leyte |
SPI |
- |
Ligny |
SPI |
- |
Littorio |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Little
Big Horn |
Tactical Studies Rules |
- |
Lord
of the Rings |
SPI |
- |
Lost
Battles |
SPI |
- |
Luetzen |
SPI |
- |
Luftwaffe |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
MacArthur |
Research |
- |
Manassas |
GDW |
- |
March
on India |
Jagdpanther |
- |
Marine |
Jagdpanther |
Forerunner of Airborne, but on marine operations.
Nine scenarios include rescue of POWs, installation
raids, and an army/marine exercise. The playing 'feel'
is as described under Airborne. Neat tactical
game with some very interesting subjects. |
Marengo |
SPI |
- |
MechWar '77 |
SPI |
Brother
of Panzer '44, dealing with tactical armoured
combat in the present decade, in the Middle East, and
hypothetically (we hope) between US and Soviet, and
Soviet and Chinese forces. MechWar '77 uses a
recognizably similar system to its brother, but with
various modern innovations: helicopters, smoke and
ammunition depletion. Large, attractive map with
imaginary German names (most of the scenarios are
US-Soviet). Movement is sequential, but combat
simultaneous, compromising between playability and
realism. Fairly complex; 4-6 hours for average
scenarios. |
Midway
|
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Minas
Tirith |
SPI |
- |
Minuteman |
SPI |
- |
Missile Boat |
Rand |
- |
Missile Crisis |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Missile Patrol Boat |
GDW |
- |
Modern
Battles |
SPI |
- |
Modern
Battles II |
SPI |
- |
Moscow
Campaign |
SPI |
- |
Mukden |
SPI |
- |
Musket
and Pike |
SPI |
- |
Napoleon at War |
SPI |
- |
Napoleon at Waterloo |
SPI |
- |
Napoleon at Waterloo Expansion Kit |
SPI |
- |
Napoleon's Last Battles |
SPI |
- |
Napoleon's Last Campaigns |
Rand |
- |
Narvik |
GDW |
- |
NATO |
SPI |
- |
1918 |
SPI |
- |
NORAD |
SDC |
- |
Nordlingen |
SPI |
- |
Normandy |
SPI |
- |
North
Africa |
SPI |
- |
The
October War |
SPI |
Out in
spring 1977, with tactical armoured combat in the Middle
East, during the 1973 war. Platoon/company level on
Golan and Sinai terrain. |
Oil
War |
SPI |
- |
Okinawa |
SPI |
- |
Omaha
Beach |
Rand |
- |
Operation Olympic |
SPI |
- |
Origins of World War II |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Outreach |
SPI |
- |
Overlord |
Conflict |
- |
Panzer
Armee Afrika |
SPI |
- |
PanzerBlitz |
Avalon
Hill |
Perhaps
the most frequently played wargame ever produced.
PanzerBlitz was the first to bring a wealth of
tactical detail to the Second World War East Front, and
met a delighted reception from the hobby when it came
out in 1970. Although game design has moved on since, it
still has many adherents, and anyone interested in
tactical armour/infantry warfare should try it. Three
boards from anonymous sections of the Soviet countryside
feature a rich variety of hills, riverbeds, villages,
woods and winding roads, and can be fitted together in
various ways to make different maps. Units have four
factors (attack, defence, range, movement), and combat
is modified by armour and weapon type. Drawbacks are
somewhat unbalanced scenarios and the 'Panzerbush'
syndrome, in which units popping from wood to wood
cannot be attacked by non-adjacent units, which is a
flaw in realism. Exciting, high skill level, very
complex; 2-4 hours, depending on scenario. See Panzer
Leader for companion game and Kampfpanzer for
SPI's simultaneous movement alternative. |
Panzer
'44 |
SPI |
Second
World War equivalent of MechWar '77, featuring
tactical armoured warfare on the West Front in 1944-5.
See MechWar and also Kampfpanzer. |
Panzergruppe Guderian |
SPI |
- |
Panzer
Leader |
Avalon
Hill |
Produced
four years after PanzerBlitz, this West Front
game is more of a son than a brother, as the game system
is similar but with certain distinctive new features.
The most important ones are that the 'Panzerbush' tactic
is abolished, with anyone trying it liable to be
transfixed by 'opportunity fire' on the way (this makes
postal play more difficult), and the hexes have spots in
the middle to facilitate calculation of lines of fire
from one to another (to see if some damned hill is in
the way) which is useful. This time there are four
mapboards, one of them a beach to allow for landings.
The opportunity fire rule, while more realistic, has a
slight tendency to keep units' heads down in cover, so
the game is not quite as fluid as PanzerBlitz.
However, both games are excellent, and preference is
largely a matter of taste. It should be noted that
neither uses the ultra-detailed miniatures technique of
distinguishing between different types of hits (on a
turret, or tracks, for instance), unlike e.g. Tobruk
and the Battleline tactical games; the miniatures
approach is more realistic but slows things up with
extra die-rolls, as well as adding more random factors. |
Patrol |
SPI |
A
companion game to Sniper, Patrol deals with
individual combat from the First World War up to the
present. Brisk scenarios, with the flavour of man-to-man
fighting quite well reflected, as the players agonize
over whether to try and pin the enemy down or make a
rush for it, whether to concentrate the squad or spread
them out, and over the possible enemy plans. |
Patton |
Research |
- |
Pearl
Harbor |
GDW |
- |
Port
Arthur |
GDW |
- |
Pursuit of the Bismarck |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Punic
Wars |
SPI |
- |
Quatre
Bras |
SPI |
- |
Quebec
1759 |
Gamma
Two |
- |
Raiders of the North |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Red
Star/White Star |
SPI |
Ten-scenario game of tactical battles in Southern
Germany in a hypothetical contemporary war, with
platoon, company and battalion-level U.S., West German
and Soviet counters. Wire-guided anti-tank missiles,
rocket launchers and helicopter gunships have starring
roles; the total effect is highly complex (see
MechWar '77 for a rather more elementary, highly
playable alternative). 2-3 hours per scenario, once the
rules have been absorbed. |
Remagen |
SPI |
- |
Revolt
in the East |
SPI |
- |
Richtofen's War |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Rifle
and Musket |
SDC |
- |
Rifle
and Sabre |
SPI |
- |
The
Ring Trilogy |
SPI |
- |
Road
to Richmond |
SPI |
- |
Road
to Ruin |
SPI |
- |
Rocroi |
SPI |
- |
Rommel |
Loren
Sperry |
- |
Rommel's War in North Africa |
Rand |
- |
The
Russian Campaign |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Saipan |
SPI |
- |
Saratoga, 1777 |
Rand |
- |
Schutztruppe |
SPI |
- |
Search
and Destroy |
SPI |
Tactical
Vietnam combat; powerful air-mobile forces combated by
hidden NLF guerrilas. Unsuitable for solo play because
of the hidden movement. |
Seelöwe |
SPI |
- |
1776 |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Seventh Cavalry |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Shenandoah |
Battleline |
- |
Shiloh |
SPI |
- |
Sicily |
Rand |
- |
Siege |
Fact
and Fantasy |
- |
Siege
of Jerusalem, AD 70 |
Historical Perspectives |
- |
Siege
of Leningrad |
Jagdpanther |
- |
Siege
of Minas Tirith |
Fact
and Fantasy |
- |
Sinai |
SPI |
- |
Sixth
Fleet |
SPI |
- |
Sniper |
SPI |
House-to-house fighting in the Second World War, with a
counter for every individual - you can't get more
tactical than that! Varying weaponry, multi-storey
buildings, a wide variety of options for each man, and
controversial panic (command control) rules frustrating
your best-laid plans. Tanks, trucks and halftracks in
some scenarios, the tanks, unusually, being cardboard
models which the players put together. Simultaneous
movement. Exciting and fast-moving; lengthy rules, but
easy to play once you have tried a game or two. Most
scenarios playable in an hour or two. Companion to
Patrol. |
Solomons Campaign |
SPI |
- |
Sorcerer |
SPI |
- |
South
Africa |
SPI |
- |
Spanish Civil War |
Jagdpanther |
- |
Spartan |
SPI |
- |
Spitfire |
SPI |
- |
Squad
Leader |
Avalon
Hill |
Due out
in 1977, this deals with single officers, NCOs and
squads in the Second World War with techniques based on
miniatures and PanzerBlitz, and a simple game
system. The designer, John Hill, is noted for colourful
games. |
SSN |
GDW |
- |
Stalingrad |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Starforce |
SPI |
- |
Star
Raider |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Starship Troopers |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Star
Soldier |
SPI |
- |
Stellar Conquest |
Metagaming |
- |
Strategy I |
SPI |
- |
Submarine |
Battleline |
- |
Supercharge |
SPI |
- |
Tactics II |
Avalon
Hill |
Ironically, despite the name, this is not a tactical
level game. |
Tank |
SPI |
Armoured
combat between individual tanks from the 1930s to the
present era. Solid tactical game; there is also an
expanded version for the ambitious. |
Terrible Swift Sword |
SPI |
- |
Their
Finest Hour |
GDW |
- |
Third
Reich |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Thirty
Years War |
SPI |
- |
Tobruk |
Avalon
Hill |
An
extremely innovative simulation of North African
tactical warfare, strongly influenced by miniatures
concepts. The map is devoid of features, one grain of
sand looking much like another, but there is a rich
variety of units, both armoured and infantry, with
various forms of static defences (e.g. mines) to put on
board. Early scenarios are very simple indeed and not
very interesting; later ones add more rules steadily,
until the final scenario plays with the full orchestra
of concepts, and the early scenarios have the advanced
rules added on. The most controversial feature is the
legions of die-rolls required, as each round of fire is
checked in exhaustive detail for chance of hitting and
place of damage. Impressively detailed, with strong
flavour of realism, but some miss the blood and thunder
of faster-moving games. Scenarios range from 2-6 hours. |
Torgau |
GDW |
- |
Triplanetary |
GDW |
- |
Tsushima |
GDW |
- |
Turning Point |
SPI |
- |
UFO |
JD |
- |
USN |
SPI |
- |
Vera
Cruz |
SPI |
- |
Verdun |
Conflict |
- |
Vicksburg |
Rand |
- |
Victory at Sea |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Viking |
SPI |
- |
Von
Manstein's Battles |
Rand |
- |
Wacht
am Rhein |
SPI |
- |
Wagram |
SPI |
- |
War at
Sea |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
War
Between the States |
SPI |
- |
War in
the East |
SPI |
- |
War in
Europe |
SPI |
- |
War in
Europe, Module I |
SPI |
- |
War in
the Pacific |
SPI |
- |
War in
the West |
SPI |
- |
War of
the Worlds II |
Rand |
- |
Warsaw
Pact |
Jagdpanther |
- |
War of
the Starslavers |
Attack
Wargaming Association |
- |
Waterloo |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
Wavre |
SPI |
- |
Wellington in the Pennines |
Rand |
- |
Wellington's Victory |
SPI |
- |
West
Wall |
SPI |
- |
White
Bear and Red Moon |
Tactical Studies Rules |
- |
Wilderness Campaign |
SPI |
- |
Winter
War |
SPI |
- |
Wolfpack |
SPI |
- |
Wooden
Ships and Iron Men |
Avalon
Hill |
- |
World
War I |
SPI |
- |
World
War II |
SPI |
- |
Wurzburg |
SPI |
- |
Year
of the Rat |
SPI |
- |
Yeoman |
SPI |
- |
The
Ythri |
Metagaming Concepts |
- |
Yugoslavia |
SPI |
- |
|

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