#Wargame Library – Highly Recommended Wargame Texts (updated September 2022)

Reading to further expand on the seminal texts.

**NEW**Burns, Shawn, War Gamers’ Handbook: A Guide for Professional War Gamers, War Gaming Department, U.S> Naval War College, Jan 01, 2013.

Caffrey Jr., Matthew B., On Wargaming: How Wargames Have Shaped History and How They May Shape the Future, Newport: Naval War College Press (Naval War College Newport Papers 43), 2019. Part history and part advocate for wargames in defense planning. Matt Caffrey is one of the “Old Guard” (dare I say, Grognard) in wargaming and for many years ran the CONNECTIONS professional wargaming conferences.

Friedman, Norman, Winning a Future War: War Gaming and Victory in the Pacific War, Friedman is a well respected naval historian who adds another perspective on how wargaming prepared the U.S. Navy for the Pacific conflict in World War II…and how there are lessons to be learned and applied even today.

Harrigan, Pat and Matthew G. Kirschenbaum (eds), Zones of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2016. A wide-ranging collection of essays that cover the gamut of modern wargame issues and design. Part of MIT Press’ Game Histories series.

McHugh, Francis J., The United States Naval War College Fundamentals of War Gaming, 3rd Edition, March 1966 (Reprint), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. Fundamentals…for professional wargamers.

**NEW**Simpson, William L., A Compendium of Wargaming Terms, Center for Naval Analysis Wargaming Division, September 20, 2017. “The Wargaming Community uses many terms that have multiple definitions or meanings, reflecting the variety of ways the art of wargaming is practiced. For example, the Community cannot agree on the spelling or definition of the term “wargame.” Since there is no single agreed-upon set of wargaming terms, this compendium is an unofficial collection that attempts to gather and post as broad a collection of terms and definitions as possible.”

**NEW**Schelling, Thomas C., The Strategy of Conflict, Cambridge: Harvard University, 1960, 1980. “The term “strategy” is taken, here, from the theory of games, which distinguishes games of skill, games of chance, and games of strategy, the latter being those in which the best course of action for each player depends on what the other players do. The term is intended to focus on the interdependence of the adversaries’s decisions and on their expectations about each others behavior. This is not the military usage.”

Feature image courtesy https://www.militarynews.com/norfolk-navy-flagship/news/quarterdeck/naval-war-college-reenacts-jutland-war-game/article_0f668bba-5fbc-5b22-9c64-f8a9df65e33a.html