A few years ago, Wired had a story about Making History, a sophisticated World War II simulation that had caught historian Niall Ferguson’s fancy. It sounded like the kind of game I should pick up.
Now Making History 2 has come out — with input from Ferguson — and Jonathan Last takes the release as an excuse to write about boys, men, and the war-strategy game:
The reason Axis & Allies and other such games have such lasting resonance is that they teach a subject which is no longer fashionable: the mechanics of military history. Playing as Japan in Axis & Allies, for instance, you see that, as a tactical matter, you must attack Hawaii as soon as possible. Play as Russia and you can conduct What-If? experiments with variations on Stalin’s strategic retreat.
With very few exceptions (Prof. Ferguson’s Harvard colleague Stephen Rosen teaches a class simply titled “War”) the military aspect of history has been disappeared from American schooling. It’s something men intuitively miss, and seek out.
Because at heart, all boys are grognards.
Grognard — make sure to say it with a French accent, groan-yarr — is slang for wargamer:
Etymology
French grognard, “grumbler” from Fr. grogner 1. snarl 2. grunt 3. growl 4. grumble râler 5. gripe râler and Fr. grognon 1. grouch 2. curmudgeon.Noun
grognard m (plural grognards)
an old veteran soldier; specifically of the grenadiers of the Imperial Guard (Grenadiers à Pied de la Garde Impériale); an old complaining soldier
(Hat tip to Buckethead.)