If we're wondering (and I am) whether most wargamers care more about the military history than game play, how are we to find out? So far, we've got Jim Dunnigan's "badly flawed" survey results on one hand, which indicate that many thousands of wargamers are primarily military-history buffs. And on the other hand, we've got lone individuals like you saying, "Well, my friends and I are much more into game play--so there."

It seems to me that JD's "badly flawed" survey results still weigh in much more heavily. Whether they're accurate or not, it'd be difficult to convince anyone that those statistics are nothing but a self-serving deception, designed to support JD's views with thousands of imaginary wargamers. Clearly those wargamers are not imaginary. The very fact that they continued to subscribe to S&T and send in survey cards says something about them. The fact that they bought so many Dunnigan-designed wargames (plus his book) says something too, as does the fact that so many of them are now playing historical computer wargames.

You may not like what it says about them. You may prefer to associate with a different type of wargamer. But it'd be ridiculous to suggest that those thousands of Dunnigan-type wargamers don't exist, or that they really can't stand history and would much rather be playing Ricochet Robots.

Whether the survey and its analysis is flawed or not, it's pretty clear that there are (or were, in the time period covered) many wargamers of the type Dunnigan describes. Wargamers who put history first, to the point where they'll often play wargames alone or just study them.

You're right: the statistics I quoted are not strong enough to indicate that Dunnigan-type wargamers are (or were) in the majority. I'm still wondering about that. But right now, we've got those survey statistics on one hand, stacked up against what you and your friends prefer on the other.

I'm still waiting to hear how to resolve the question. So far, I personally have to credit Dunnigan with representing the larger constituency. (And I'm not hopeful of finding any real resolution here in r.g.b., where most folks seem content with, "Who knows--or cares? Every gamer is unique, and different groups do different things. And besides, they're only games.")

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com