Wargaming Resources

At the outset, it appears that the majority of wargaming appears to be a way of integrating the outcome of encounters into probabilty tables. At that point, piece selection, terrain, movement, defense, and offense can be modeled to give a fairly accurate representation of various events.

Wargames Handbook, Third Edition

How to Play and Design Commercial and Professional Wargames

by James F. Dunnigan, ISBN 0-595-15546-4

Simply put, this book is considered to be the bible of commercial wargaming, explaining principles, techniques, factors, and techniques for building and playing.

While extensive in content, the publisher has done a disservice to the author: there a dozens of spelling mistakes, the content doesn't read very well, the graphics appear with such low fidelity they are barely readable, the organization starts using concepts before introducing them, notations are not explained. If one already knows war gaming, this is an excellent resource. A beginner will find the content quite frustrating.

The Art of Wargaming

A Guide for Professionals and Hobbyists

by Peter P. Perla, ISBN 0-87021-050-5

Another professionally written guide on the subject of wargaming.

Half the book discusses where war gaming came from, how it's used, comparisons of using electronic wargaming to paper, details about the naval wargaming college, and so forth. It isn't until half the book later, in Part II, that things start to get really interesting.

Covers the principles of wargaming, how to design them, play them, and integrate their analysis with operational exercises.

The Mathematics of Games of Strategy

Theory and Applications

by Melvin Dresher, ISBN 0-486-64216-X

An extremely mathamatical intensive discussion about strategy games. Performs a deep analysis of each game type, such as mixed strategy, saddle points, guess and verify, defense of two targets from attack, payoffs, duels as games of timing, and air-war games.

Nearly every page has an equation, graph, matrix, integral, or table on it. Without a solid foundation in math, this book will be a difficult read.

An Alternative to Wargaming

If the subject interests you, but you'd like a more approachable footing, consider games which offer basic simulations such as Dungeons and Dragons, GURPS, or Warhammer.