Recently in the Simulations Canada folder on ConsimWorld, Steve Newberg asked for contributions to a list of the most influential wargames ever published. He stressed that he was not as interested in the concept of first, as he was in the concept of first to be taken seriously.

As an example of this, he put forward Panzerblitz as an example of an influential wargame, because it got people thinking about the possibilities of tactical wargames for the first time. The fact is that Poultron Press, later to become SPI, published Tactical Game 3: Russia, 1944 quite some time before Panzerblitz.

However, gamers, even those who have actually had both games in their hands, tend to remember the latter but not the former. So technically, SPI’s Tactical Game 3: Russia, 1944 was the first, but Avalon Hill’s Panzerblitz, with lifetime sales of about a quarter of a million units, was the more influential.

With this differentiation clearly in mind, the preliminary list of contributions, in the table to the right, ended up with 31 influential wargames.

This is not a definitive list, and it may never be definitive. But there are likely to be a number of candidates missing, if the Seven Dwarves Theory (nobody can name more than six of the seven dwarves at any one sitting) holds true. So here is the challenge: to develop a list of the most definitive wargames. We have a good start already. We also admit that these initial choices aren’t cast in stone, and could be changed if the rationale were persuasive enough.

Game : First
Africa Korps : wargame
Avalanche : (GDW) impulse movement
B-17 : popular solitaire
CA : popular modern (post WWI) tactical naval game
Charlie's Year : DTP serious wargame
Diplomacy : set the standard for multiplayer
DNO : successful monster wargame
Fast Carriers : telescoping time scales
Flat Top : sophisticated carrier game
A House Divided : popular historical point to point
Imperium : (GDW) point-to-point
Invasion America : untried units
Jutland : blurring the border between minis and board wargames
Kingmaker : successful crossover wargame
La Bataille de la Moskowa : monster tactical game
Midway : double blind
Napoleon at War : Quadrigame
Napoleon at Waterloo : most widespread introductory game
NATO : examine a war that hadn't happened yet
OGRE : commercially successful microgame
Panzerblitz : got everyone thinking tactical
Panzer Command : chit pull
Quebec : block game 1759
Rommel in the Desert : hex based block game
Sixth Fleet : (SPI) modern operational naval combat
Squad Leader : obvious
Storm Over Arnhem : AH impulse game
Up Front : sophisticated card wargame
We The People : card-driven game
Winter War : (SPI) Random Events Table
Yalu : (Conflict) asymmetrical rules