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Zones of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming
Examinations of wargaming for entertainment, education, and military planning, in terms of design, critical analysis, and historical contexts.
Games with military themes date back to antiquity, and yet they are curiously neglected in much of the academic and trade literature on games and game history. This volume fills that gap, providing a diverse set of perspectives on wargaming's past, present, and future. In Zones of Control, contributors consider wargames played for entertainment, education, and military planning, in terms of design, critical analysis, and historical contexts. They consider both digital and especially tabletop games, most of which cover specific historical conflicts or are grounded in recognizable real-world geopolitics. Game designers and players will find the historical and critical contexts often missing from design and hobby literature; military analysts will find connections to game design and the humanities; and academics will find documentation and critique of a sophisticated body of cultural work in which the complexity of military conflict is represented in ludic systems and procedures.
Each section begins with a long anchoring chapter by an established authority, which is followed by a variety of shorter pieces both analytic and anecdotal. Topics include the history of playing at war; operations research and systems design; wargaming and military history; wargaming's ethics and politics; gaming irregular and non-kinetic warfare; and wargames as artistic practice.
Contributors
Jeremy Antley, Richard Barbrook, Elizabeth M. Bartels, Ed Beach, Larry Bond, Larry Brom, Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, Rex Brynen, Matthew B. Caffrey, Jr., Luke Caldwell, Catherine Cavagnaro, Robert M. Citino, Laurent Closier, Stephen V. Cole, Brian Conley, Greg Costikyan, Patrick Crogan, John Curry, James F. Dunnigan, Robert J. Elder, Lisa Faden, Mary Flanagan, John A. Foley, Alexander R. Galloway, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi, Don R. Gilman, A. Scott Glancy, Troy Goodfellow, Jack Greene, Mark Herman, Kacper Kwiatkowski, Tim Lenoir, David Levinthal, Alexander H. Levis, Henry Lowood, Elizabeth Losh, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Rob MacDougall, Mark Mahaffey, Bill McDonald, Brien J. Miller, Joseph Miranda, Soraya Murray, Tetsuya Nakamura, Michael Peck, Peter P. Perla, Jon Peterson, John Prados, Ted S. Raicer, Volko Ruhnke, Philip Sabin, Thomas C. Schelling, Marcus Schulzke, Miguel Sicart, Rachel Simmons, Ian Sturrock, Jenny Thompson, John Tiller, J. R. Tracy, Brian Train, Russell Vane, Charles Vasey, Andrew Wackerfuss, James Wallis, James Wallman, Yuna Huh Wong
Games with military themes date back to antiquity, and yet they are curiously neglected in much of the academic and trade literature on games and game history. This volume fills that gap, providing a diverse set of perspectives on wargaming's past, present, and future. In Zones of Control, contributors consider wargames played for entertainment, education, and military planning, in terms of design, critical analysis, and historical contexts. They consider both digital and especially tabletop games, most of which cover specific historical conflicts or are grounded in recognizable real-world geopolitics. Game designers and players will find the historical and critical contexts often missing from design and hobby literature; military analysts will find connections to game design and the humanities; and academics will find documentation and critique of a sophisticated body of cultural work in which the complexity of military conflict is represented in ludic systems and procedures.
Each section begins with a long anchoring chapter by an established authority, which is followed by a variety of shorter pieces both analytic and anecdotal. Topics include the history of playing at war; operations research and systems design; wargaming and military history; wargaming's ethics and politics; gaming irregular and non-kinetic warfare; and wargames as artistic practice.
Contributors
Jeremy Antley, Richard Barbrook, Elizabeth M. Bartels, Ed Beach, Larry Bond, Larry Brom, Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, Rex Brynen, Matthew B. Caffrey, Jr., Luke Caldwell, Catherine Cavagnaro, Robert M. Citino, Laurent Closier, Stephen V. Cole, Brian Conley, Greg Costikyan, Patrick Crogan, John Curry, James F. Dunnigan, Robert J. Elder, Lisa Faden, Mary Flanagan, John A. Foley, Alexander R. Galloway, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi, Don R. Gilman, A. Scott Glancy, Troy Goodfellow, Jack Greene, Mark Herman, Kacper Kwiatkowski, Tim Lenoir, David Levinthal, Alexander H. Levis, Henry Lowood, Elizabeth Losh, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Rob MacDougall, Mark Mahaffey, Bill McDonald, Brien J. Miller, Joseph Miranda, Soraya Murray, Tetsuya Nakamura, Michael Peck, Peter P. Perla, Jon Peterson, John Prados, Ted S. Raicer, Volko Ruhnke, Philip Sabin, Thomas C. Schelling, Marcus Schulzke, Miguel Sicart, Rachel Simmons, Ian Sturrock, Jenny Thompson, John Tiller, J. R. Tracy, Brian Train, Russell Vane, Charles Vasey, Andrew Wackerfuss, James Wallis, James Wallman, Yuna Huh Wong
805 pages, Hardcover
Published April 15, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 12, 2018
Okay, I’ll be honest, I did not reach every single entry in this book. It’s massive. As a textbook, Harrigan has done a fantastic job accrewing a variety of authors and subjects surrounding militarism and the “game”. The book approaches the history of wargaming in physical format and easily transitions to the the virtual space, the video game. I personally used this as a resource for a thesis I’m writing regarding colonialism and video games, so I found a lot of great information from both game scholars and game reviewers within this text. The works cited for each essay has been equally helpful in branching out to more readings. If you’re at all interested in the history of gaming and its relationship, past and present, to military presence in the western world, this book is a fantastic one-stop-shop for material.
September 14, 2023
Being a boardwargamer myself, I was really interested to read more about the hobby. This however, is not (always) an easy read. Some parts are really enjoyable and quite easy to read, other parts are quite chewy to get through.
What I liked is that this book covers a wide array of topics. It covers not only the history of the hobby, but also things like the ethics behind it. First person shooters, playing with toy soldiers, or the (for me at least) more familiar hex and counter games all see coverage from different angles. There is also a lot about the 'real world' use and theory of games to teach the military and politics.
I read this book in one go over a couple of days, just because I had the opportunity to do so, but my recommendation would be to pick up the book when you feel like it, read a couple of chapters, and read something else in between.
What I liked is that this book covers a wide array of topics. It covers not only the history of the hobby, but also things like the ethics behind it. First person shooters, playing with toy soldiers, or the (for me at least) more familiar hex and counter games all see coverage from different angles. There is also a lot about the 'real world' use and theory of games to teach the military and politics.
I read this book in one go over a couple of days, just because I had the opportunity to do so, but my recommendation would be to pick up the book when you feel like it, read a couple of chapters, and read something else in between.
June 14, 2024
A mixed bag and a bit unfocused. This a series of essays, many of them 'scholarly', covering the whole landscape of wargaming.
Some of the essays, e.g. those aimed at the hobbyist board wargamer, were interesting in an 'I've played that' way but others were too high-brow and fanciful.
Some of the essays, e.g. those aimed at the hobbyist board wargamer, were interesting in an 'I've played that' way but others were too high-brow and fanciful.
January 25, 2025
While there are definitely some interesting essays contained within the pages, the sheer volume of content and the somewhat dry delivery may be difficult for those with no more than a casual interest in the genre to labour through.
February 17, 2018
Best book on board games!
February 24, 2019
amazing collection of essays on the use, meaning and creation of wargames
July 19, 2025
Interesting read if you are interested in how war games are created. Different chapters explore different aspects of game design including things I always took for granted.
June 17, 2016
It took a long time to finish this massive (over 800 pages and more than 50 chapters) and important work. For people who are involved in wargames, be they hobbyist, professional military, game designer, or merely curious, this is a fascinating look at the theory, history, and design aspects of wargames. It discusses both computer wargames (traditional videogames) and physical (hex and counter) wargames. Both popular (for consumers) and military (pretty much classified) are covered. It touches on reenactment and first person shooter games as well.
The chapters tend to be dense as there is a lot of information presented. Furthermore, that information made me think about it and the ramifications, so it is not a quick read. There are major names in wargame theory and design who have contributed. I wish the table of contents listed the contributors with their chapters, but if you expand the book description, you can find a list. Tetsuya Nakamura, Peter P. Perla, Thomas C. Schelling, Laurent Closier, and Philip Sabin are ones who wrote passages that I particularly enjoyed.
While I enjoyed the chapters on traditional wargames (as opposed to video/computer versions) the most, I can easily understand the ones on electronic versions. My friends who play such games tell me that those chapters are pretty standard in outlook. I found the outlook of some of the academics who study the people who play electronic wargames (as opposed to playing the games themselves for pleasure) to be predictable responses. However, the more theoretical chapters about design and theory of wargames more than made up for those less interesting to me. Also interesting were the ideas about using them in classrooms and how to market them to non-wargamers.
Who would like it? Anyone who enjoys wargames and the theory behind them. Game designers. Military wargamers. Historians who might be interested in military history. People who are involved in marketing wargames. It is well worth the time and effort to read it. It is a book I will long remember.
The chapters tend to be dense as there is a lot of information presented. Furthermore, that information made me think about it and the ramifications, so it is not a quick read. There are major names in wargame theory and design who have contributed. I wish the table of contents listed the contributors with their chapters, but if you expand the book description, you can find a list. Tetsuya Nakamura, Peter P. Perla, Thomas C. Schelling, Laurent Closier, and Philip Sabin are ones who wrote passages that I particularly enjoyed.
While I enjoyed the chapters on traditional wargames (as opposed to video/computer versions) the most, I can easily understand the ones on electronic versions. My friends who play such games tell me that those chapters are pretty standard in outlook. I found the outlook of some of the academics who study the people who play electronic wargames (as opposed to playing the games themselves for pleasure) to be predictable responses. However, the more theoretical chapters about design and theory of wargames more than made up for those less interesting to me. Also interesting were the ideas about using them in classrooms and how to market them to non-wargamers.
Who would like it? Anyone who enjoys wargames and the theory behind them. Game designers. Military wargamers. Historians who might be interested in military history. People who are involved in marketing wargames. It is well worth the time and effort to read it. It is a book I will long remember.
April 25, 2017
There's a ton of good material in here, but also a fair amount of duds, particularly the more pomo essays. In-line citations remain absolute, illegible garbage. More than anything, though, this shows just how all-encompassing the term "wargame" can be.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews