Hot off the press from the History of Wargaming Project is this new book on Matrix Games. My copy arrived this morning!
I have followed the development of the MG concept over the past 20+ years and designed several successful such games so it is pleasing to see this attempt to make MGs more accessible to both professional and hobby wargamers.
“In Matrix Games, knowledge, imagination, and persuasiveness dominate. Both the referee and the players find their greatest success by drawing on their storytelling skills. In many ways, Matrix Games boil down the art of gaming to its essence”. Peter Perla
Invented by Chris Engle, Matrix Games are an innovative way of wargaming situations and conflicts that traditional wargaming methods find hard to model. This book was written as a manual to help develop and run matrix games about modern conflicts. The examples included have all been used for real military training to develop understanding of complex confrontations.
This book includes:A foreword by Peter Perla, author of the classic Art of Wargaming.
An introduction to Matrix Games
S.C.R.U.D. Simple Combat Resolution Using Dice
The five scenarios are:
The Falklands War (1982)Chaoslavia- Former Yugoslavia (1993)
Crisis in Crimea: A Counter Revolution (March 2014)
The Red Line- The Civil War in Syria (August 2013)
Lasgah Pol- Peace keeping in Afghanistan (2008)
As can be seen from the list above, the book includes my own Falklands War game which has been used by the military establishment of at least one country...
At £12.95 this book is well worth a look - even if you are simply curious about how MGs work and their possible applications.
My copy arrived today too, though I've yet to play in a Matrix game.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Pete
ReplyDeleteThat's something else we'd better organise!
My idea of heaven I think is sitting down at a CoW conference with you guys and chatting into the early hours about our hobby
ReplyDeleteWill I get to the promised land?
Geordie
ReplyDeleteYes - but only if you book......
Sounds like a bit of a pot boiler, as far as the scenarios are concerned. Even if one never plays a matrix game, the thing looks well worth having in one's war games library. At that I have a friend who might be interested in this sort of concept...
ReplyDeleteArchduke Piccolo
ReplyDeleteThe scenario selection was largely driven by the book's target audience: the British Army. I have played MGs on subjects as diverse as 1066, the Peninsular War and procurement of a replacement for the CVR(T).....
Yes please Tim.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.