GAMES OF WAR
This is a site about games that were played while bullets flew: games telling stories about the wars of their times.
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Here you can see vivid illustrations from games that have tried to bring joy while helping to glorify, support, train for, endure and remember wars and battles. You can read the stories of war that these games tell. You can peruse a library of hundreds of such games dating back to 1663. You will see how fantastic artwork and entertaining rules can go hand in hand with mass killing. By looking at the history of war through games, we all can gain a better appreciation of what it is like to feel the effects of war – and why it is so important to do whatever we can to keep the peace for our own times.
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These games come from around the world. The United States, Britain and Germany have been the most prolific game publishers over the years. Here, though, you also will see games from Australia, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia (Soviet Union), Spain and Switzerland.
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You will find games both simple and complex. You will see images of every aspect of war, from gruesome carnage to touching compassion, from the leaders who wage war to the simple soldiers who put their lives on the line, from the front lines of land, sea and air to the technologies and industries that make war possible, from massive firepower to the everyday sacrifices of wartime civilians.
Did you know?
That the Japanese navy was the first to bomb ships in harbour using sea-launched planes ... in 1914, not 1941?
That during WWI, Germany traded with the United States using a cargo submarine?
That the first soldier to die in the U.S. Civil War was killed by accident?
That by 1941, Canada was the air training centre of the British Empire, with 92 training schools flying 4,000 planes 1,000,000 miles a day?
Gamesofwar.org is run by Canadian wargamer and collector
David Stewart-Patterson. Feel free to offer comments or additions to the site!