Jon Freeman's The Complete Book of Wargames hit the shelves on the 1st of January 1980, arriving at a moment when the wargaming industry was expanding so rapidly that the book was already becoming obsolete before its first copy was sold. Published by Simon & Schuster under the Fireside imprint, this 285-page volume attempted to capture a hobby that was changing faster than the authors could write. The book was divided into two distinct parts, with the first quarter dedicated to explaining the very concept of wargaming to newcomers, while the remaining three-quarters offered capsule reviews of games ranging from ancient history to the Second World War. Critics like Nick Schuessler of The Space Gamer noted the irony of the situation, stating that the mercurial aspects of wargaming would likely leave any new publication a bit obsolete the day it was published, yet they still praised it as an excellent reference work available at a reasonable price. The rapid pace of the industry meant that major companies like Yaquinto Publications, which formed after the book was written, were entirely absent from its pages, and many of the games reviewed were no longer available by the time the book reached bookstores.
Can War Be Fun
The opening chapter of the book posed a question that seemed contradictory to many observers: Can War Be Fun? This section provided a brief history of wargaming and introduced the types of people who played these games, attempting to define the nature of the beast. Freeman and the editors of Consumer Guide explored the tension between realism and playability, a core debate that has defined the hobby since its inception. They detailed the physical components of wargames, including hexfields and terrain, and explained the Combat Resolution Table, or CRT, which served as the mathematical heart of most strategy games. The book also included a game called Kassala, designed to demonstrate the concepts mentioned in the previous chapters to readers who had never held a wargame before. This introductory game taught players how to read a CRT, maximize odds, and use terrain to execute defensive tactics on a hexgrid, effectively serving as a tutorial for the complex systems that followed.The Nature of the Beast
Defining wargaming proved to be a challenge that spanned the entire first part of the book, as Freeman sought to explain what made these games tick beyond simple rules and components. The text delved into the definitions of wargaming, exploring how different companies approached the simulation of conflict and the balance between historical accuracy and the need for a fun experience. Readers were introduced to the idea that victory conditions were not just about eliminating the enemy, but about reading a CRT and understanding the odds of success in any given scenario. The book examined the role of the rulebook as a legal document for the game, dictating how units moved and fought, and how terrain could alter the outcome of a battle. This section laid the groundwork for the extensive reviews that followed, establishing a framework for understanding why people played these games and what made them distinct from other forms of entertainment.