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95-728: William McCarty Little (6 September 1845 – 12 March 1915) was a United States Navy officer of the late 19th century. He is most noted for his contributions to the development of naval wargaming at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island . William McCarty Little (often referred to as "McCarty Little") was born in New York City on 6 September 1845 and entered the United States Naval Academy on 11 March 1863. For

190-589: A belle of Newport's summer colony. In 1878 Little was assigned as navigator on the training ship USS Minnesota under Captain Stephen B. Luce. In 1881 Luce was promoted to commodore and Little was assigned as executive officer of Luce's flagship, the venerable ship-of-the-line USS New Hampshire . Little had lost the sight in one eye in a shooting accident ashore in 1876, and strained his remaining eye preparing nautical charts in insufficient light while serving as navigation officer aboard USS  Adams . There

285-409: A competitive context. Recreational wargames can cover a wide variety of subjects, from pre-historic to modern – even fantasy or sci-fi combat. Games which do not include modern armaments and tactics are of limited interest to the military, though wargames covering famous historical battles can interest military historians . As professional wargames are used to prepare officers for actual warfare, there

380-676: A detached redoubt 650 yards (594 m) south of the main fort. In the United States, it is rivaled in size only by Fort Monroe in Hampton , Virginia, and Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas in Florida. Construction of the new fort began in 1824 under First lieutenant Andrew Talcott and continued at irregular intervals until 1857. From 1825 to 1838 construction was overseen by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Gilbert Totten ,

475-418: A fixed scenario. A wargame's level of war determines to the scope of the scenario, the basic unit of command, and the degree to which lower level processes are abstracted. At the tactical level , the scenario is a single battle. The basic unit of command is an individual soldier or small group of soldiers. The time span of the scenario is in the order of minutes. At this level, the specific capabilities of

570-817: A highly abstracted model of warfare which represents troop positioning and composition. Stones in Go have no properties, behaviours, or state on their own, and only potentially represent, relative to other stones, elements of a larger board position, providing an extremely abstract strategic model in which the determinant of victory is a generalisation of territorial control and influence projection. Contrarily, in wargames counters typically represent decidedly more concrete and internally quite complex entities (companies, battalions, etc.), with detailed interior state (stat blocks and tables of troop numbers, equipment, operational readiness, artillery charts, etc.), often with convoluted rules governing how they operate and interact, and furthermore

665-449: A modern JVM , while the other three are Microsoft Windows programs. Wargames were played remotely through the mail, with players sending lists of moves, or orders, to each other through the mail. In some early PBM systems, six sided dice rolling was simulated by designating a specific stock and a future date and once that date passed, the players would determine an action's outcome using the sales in hundreds value for specific stocks on

760-617: A player to find opponents with a computer game: a computer game can use artificial intelligence to provide a virtual opponent, or connect him to another human player over the Internet. For these reasons, computers are now the dominant medium for wargaming. In the recent years, programs have been developed for computer-assisted gaming as regards to wargaming. Two different categories can be distinguished: local computer assisted wargames and remote computer assisted wargames. Local computer assisted wargames are mostly not designed toward recreating

855-781: A professor at the United States Military Academy . Battery Reilly was named for Captain Henry J. Reilly, killed in the China Relief Expedition near Peking on 15 August 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion who previously served at Fort Adams. Battery Talbot was named for Silas Talbot , a U.S. Army officer from Rhode Island in the American Revolutionary War who later became a United States Navy officer and commanded

950-540: A result of the war gaming nothing happened during the war in the Pacific, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was a surprise. Wargaming There is ambiguity as to whether or not activities where participants physically perform mock combat actions (e.g. friendly warships firing dummy rounds at each other) are considered wargames. It is common terminology for a military's field training exercises to be referred to as "live wargames", but certain institutions such as

1045-641: A shot in anger. At the start of the Mexican–American War in 1846, the post was commanded by Benjamin Kendrick Pierce , the brother of President Franklin Pierce . The fort's redoubt , about 1 ⁄ 4 mile (0.4 km) south of the main fort, was built during this war. From 1848 to 1853, Fort Adams was commanded by Colonel William Gates , a long-serving veteran of both the War of 1812 and

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1140-433: A simple computation. At the strategic level , the scenario is an entire war. The player addresses higher-level concerns such as economics, research, and diplomacy. The time span of the game is in the order of months or years. A wargame must simulate warfare to a reasonable degree of realism, though what counts as sufficient realism depends on the players. Military wargames need to be highly realistic because their purpose

1235-558: A specific date and then dividing the NYSE published sales in hundreds by six, using the remainder as the dice result. Nuclear Destruction , by the Flying Buffalo , was an early PBM game in 1970. Origins Award Hall-of-Fame member Middle-Earth Play-By-Mail is still active today. Reality Simulations, Inc. still runs a number of PBM games, such as Duel2 (formerly known as Duelmasters), Hyborian War , and Forgotten Realms: War of

1330-440: A take-it-or-leave-it approach. Professional wargames, by contrast, are typically commissioned by the military that plans to use them. If a wargame is commissioned by several clients, then the designer will have to juggle their competing demands. This can lead to great complexity, high development costs, and a compromised product that satisfies nobody. Commercial wargames are under more pressure to deliver an enjoyable experience for

1425-494: Is a look at the constant design and development of new types of tanks during World War II. The most successful card wargame (as a card game and as a wargame) would almost certainly be Up Front , a card game about tactical combat in World War II published by Avalon Hill in 1983. The abstractness is harnessed in the game by having the deck produce random terrain, and chances to fire, and the like, simulating uncertainty as to

1520-552: Is at Fort Moultrie near Charleston , South Carolina. An unnamed battery of a single 8-inch M1888 gun on a converted 1870s carriage also existed briefly from 1898. In 1907 two additional batteries were completed, Battery Bankhead with three 6-inch Armstrong guns and Battery Belton with two 3-inch M1903 guns . Battery Greene-Edgerton was named for Major General Nathanael Greene of the American Revolutionary War and Lieutenant Colonel Wright P. Edgerton,

1615-403: Is longer than a sub-machine gun, due to the differing ammunitions) and thus preserve some verisimilitude, all the while compressing the battle to fit the confines of the table. Additionally, the ranges are multiples of 6, which makes them easier to remember. In real warfare, commanders have incomplete information about their enemy and the battlespace. A wargame that conceals some information from

1710-454: Is longer than most game tables. If model soldiers could shoot each other from opposite ends of the table, without the need to maneuver, the game would be very monotonous. For example, the miniature wargame Bolt Action solves this problem by reducing a rifle's range to 24 inches, a sub-machine gun's range to 12 inches, and a pistol's range to 6 inches. Even if these ranges are not realistic, their proportions make intuitive sense (a rifle's range

1805-486: Is naturally a strong emphasis on realism and current events. Military organizations are typically secretive about their current wargames, and this makes designing a professional wargame a challenge. The data the designers require, such as the performance characteristics of weapons or the locations of military bases, are often classified, which makes it difficult for the designers to verify that their models are accurate. Secrecy also makes it harder to disseminate corrections if

1900-400: Is proven to be realistic. For historical wargames, this usually means being able to accurately recreate a certain historical battle. Validating military wargames is sometimes tricky as they are typically used to simulate hypothetical future scenarios. Whereas the rules of chess are relatively simple, and those of Go even simpler, with the complexity of these games an emergent property of

1995-502: Is that the referee must be very knowledgeable in warfare and impartial, else they may issue unrealistic or unfair rulings. Another way to address complexity is to use a computer to automate some or all of the routine procedures. Video games can be both sophisticated and easy to learn, which is why computer wargames are more popular than tabletop wargames. Every wargame must have a sense of scale , so that it may realistically simulate how topography, distance, and time affect warfare. Scale

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2090-431: Is to keep the learning curve small. Recreational wargamers tend to have a lot of wargaming experience (it is usually considered a hardcore hobby), so learning a complicated new wargame is easy if it is similar enough to ones they've already played. By contrast, military officers typically have little or no wargaming experience. A second reason is that the technical data required to design an accurate and precise model, such as

2185-449: Is to prepare officers for real warfare. Recreational wargames only need to be as realistic as it pleases the players, so in most recreational wargames the emphasis is on verisimilitude, i.e. the satisfactory appearance of realism. In any case, no wargame can be perfectly realistic. A wargame's design must make trade-offs between realism, playability, and fun, and function within the constraints of its medium. Fantasy wargames arguably stretch

2280-414: Is usually expressed as a ratio, e.g. a scale of 1:1000 indicates that 1 cm on the game map represents 10 m (1,000 cm). In miniature wargaming, scale is more often expressed as the height of a model of a human measured from the base of its feet up to the eyes or top of the head (e.g. 28mm). Military wargames typically aim to model time and space as realistically as is feasible, so everything in

2375-649: The Fog of War is built into the game by representing units with upright wooden blocks that are marked on only one face, which is oriented towards the player who owns the block. The opponent cannot see the markings from his position. The first such block wargame was Quebec 1759 by Columbia Games (previously named Gamma Two Games), depicting the campaign surrounding the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Because of their nature, cards are well suited for abstract games, as opposed to

2470-480: The Franco-Prussian War , wargaming was widely adopted by military officers in other countries. Civilian enthusiasts also played wargames for fun, but this was a niche hobby until the development of consumer electronic wargames in the 1990s. A professional wargame is a wargame that is used by a military as a serious tool for training or research. A recreational wargame is one played for fun, often in

2565-788: The Franklin to begin an eight-month study leave in Europe. It was probably during this time he became acquainted with the German Kriegspiel (war game) which was used to train officers of the German Army in tactics. In 1872 he returned to the United States to become an instructor at the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, where he married Anita Chartrand, who was the daughter of a socially prominent Cuban family and

2660-680: The Spanish–American War . During the war he served as the executive officer of the Naval Training Station in Newport. After the war he resumed his duties at the Naval War College. In recognition of his valuable contributions, by a special act of Congress, Little was promoted to the rank of captain on the retired list on 21 February 1903 and made a permanent faculty member at the Naval War College. In 1912 his lecture "The Strategic Naval War Game Or Chart Maneuver"

2755-663: The USS Colorado , the flagship of the European Squadron . Little was commissioned as an ensign on 12 March 1868 and was assigned as a flag lieutenant (aide) to Commodore Pennock , the commander of the European Squadron. He was promoted to the rank of master on 26 March 1869 and assigned to the USS Franklin . He was then promoted to lieutenant on 29 March 1870. In 1871 Little was detached from

2850-595: The frigate USS  Constitution from 1799 to 1801. Battery Bankhead was named for Brevet Major General James Bankhead , who served in the War of 1812, Second Seminole War , and Mexican–American War. Battery Belton was named for Francis S. Belton, who served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. In 1913 Battery Bankhead was disarmed and its three 6-inch (152 mm) guns sent to Hawaii. The United States entered World War I in April 1917. During

2945-507: The protected cruiser Olympia at the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898. In 1862 Fort Adams became the headquarters and recruit depot for the U.S. Army's 15th Infantry Regiment . This regiment, along with several others, was reorganized into a regiment of three eight- company battalions , with the 3rd Battalion formed at Fort Adams in March 1864. From August to October 1863, Fort Adams

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3040-426: The 15-inch (381 mm) guns; the remainder replaced older weapons in the fort, of which all but 20 32-pounders were removed by 1873. For mobile defense, four 4.5-inch (114 mm) siege rifles , four 3-inch (76.2 mm) Ordnance rifles , and four 10-inch (254 mm) mortars were provided. In 1894, four 8-inch (203 mm) converted rifles were added in a new battery south of the fort. As time went by,

3135-538: The 6th Provisional Regiment), 66th Artillery Regiment (CAC), and 34th Artillery Brigade (CAC) also were organized at Fort Adams and sent to France, but only the 51st completed training in time to see action. Thornton Wilder , author and playwright whose 1973 novel Theophilus North is set in Newport, served a three-month enlistment in the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Adams during World War I. Wilder rose to

3230-560: The Avatars. Fort Adams Fort Adams is a former United States Army post in Newport , Rhode Island, that was established on July 4, 1799, as a First System coastal fortification , named for President John Adams , who was in office at the time. Its first commanding officer was Captain John Henry who was later instrumental in starting the War of 1812 . The current Fort Adams

3325-520: The College operational. Mahan mentioned Little in his memoir, From Sail to Steam, in describing the early days of the Naval War College when Mahan was preparing the series of lectures that became The Influence of Sea Power Upon History . In particular, Mahan noted that Little had drafted several of the maps for the book, an early instance of Little's commitment to visualizing strategic problems. Under Mahan's direction, Little introduced naval war gaming at

3420-639: The East Passage of Narragansett Bay in combination with the new Fort Wetherill in Jamestown , Rhode Island, as part of the Coast Defenses of Narragansett Bay . The Endicott and Taft-period batteries at Fort Adams were: Batteries Greene-Edgerton, Reilly, and Talbot were built between 1896 and 1899 and were the first of these to be completed. Battery Greene-Edgerton included sixteen mortars, all of which were at first called Battery Greene, but

3515-683: The Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay. The United States entered the war on 7 December 1941, and during the war Fort Adams and most of the other Endicott Period forts in Rhode Island were superseded by new defenses centered on Fort Church and Fort Greene and their guns were scrapped. However, the previous anti-aircraft guns at the fort were replaced by two 90-millimeter guns with several 40 mm Bofors guns and .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns . An Anti- Motor Torpedo Boat Battery (AMTB 925), with two 90-millimeter guns on mobile mounts,

3610-494: The Mexican–American War. The fort's garrison was ordered to California and many of the soldiers lost their lives when the steamer SS  San Francisco was wrecked in a North Atlantic storm on December 24, 1853. A report of 1854 stated that Fort Adams was armed with 100 32-pounder seacoast guns, 57 24-pounder seacoast guns, and 43 24-pounder flank howitzers . All of these weapons were smoothbore cannon . The flank howitzers were short-barreled guns deployed in casemates in

3705-692: The Naval Academy remain there after the civil war. Little was, apparently, a very bright student as he was allowed to graduate from the Academy in June 1866 after only three of the usual four years of study. After graduation, he served on the USS Macedonian , USS Saco and the famous sail racing yacht America —which was being used as a training ship by the Academy. He was granted three months leave in Europe and, in 1867, reported for duty on

3800-613: The Third System of U.S. fortifications. The new fort was designed by Brigadier General Simon Bernard , a Frenchman who had served as a military engineer under Napoleon Bonaparte . Bernard designed the new Fort Adams in the classic style and it became the most complex fortification in the Western Hemisphere . It included a tenaille and crownwork , a complex outer work on the southern (landward) side, designed to break up and channel an assault force. The fort also had

3895-713: The US Navy do not accept this. Likewise, activities like paintball and airsoft are often classified as combat sports . In contrast however the War Olympics also calls itself “the international army games” and often is referred to as wargaming colloquially. Modern wargaming was invented in Prussia in the early 19th-century, and eventually the Prussian military adopted wargaming as a tool for training their officers and developing doctrine. After Prussia defeated France in

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3990-656: The War College library while the College was temporarily closed for construction of improved buildings from 1890 until 1892. In 1891, Little was assigned to the US diplomatic mission to Spain regarding the commemoration of Christopher Columbus at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair . He worked closely with the special envoy, William Eleroy Curtis . Little was appointed as the commander of the Rhode Island Naval Militia in 1896 and returned to active duty during

4085-530: The battery was divided into two groups of eight in 1906. Battery Talbot, one of a number of batteries added on the United States East Coast at the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in 1898, included two 4.72-inch (120 mm) Armstrong guns . One gun of Battery Talbot is preserved at Equality Park in Newport.Rhode Island; another was in Westerly , Rhode Island, circa 1920–1977 and now

4180-617: The battlefield are represented by miniature models, as opposed to abstract pieces such as wooden blocks or plastic counters. Likewise, the battlefield itself is represented by model terrain, as opposed to a flat board or map; naval wargames are often played on a floor because they tend to require more space than a tabletop. Most miniature wargaming is recreational because issues of scale get in the way of realism. Miniature wargaming can be more expensive and time-consuming than other forms of wargaming. Furthermore, most manufacturers do not sell ready-to-play models, they sell boxes of model parts, which

4275-413: The battlefield inside computer memory, but employing the computer to play the role of game master by storing game rules and unit characteristics, tracking unit status and positions or distances, animating the game with sounds and voice and resolving combat. Flow of play is simple: each turn, the units come up in a random order. Therefore, the more units an opponent has, the more chance he will be selected for

4370-467: The college in a lecture he gave in 1886. The war games, typically using models of ships on a flat surface representing the ocean, were a useful tool for preparing officers attending the college to command squadrons and fleets of ships later in their careers. They were also useful in developing tactics which could be useful in future conflicts. Little is credited with adapting the naval version of Army war games being used by his friend, Major W.R. Livermore, who

4465-410: The combatants fight in a familiar and credible way. For instance, Warhammer Age of Sigmar has wizards and dragons, but the combat is mostly based on medieval warfare (spearmen, archers, knights, etc.). Some are also set in a hypothetical future or counterfactual past, to simulate, for example, a "World War Three" or rebellion of colonists on Mars. A wargame's scenario describes the circumstances of

4560-459: The combatants may wield and the environment they fight in. A historical setting accurately depicts a real historical era of warfare. Among recreational wargamers, the most popular historical era is World War 2. Professional military wargamers prefer the modern era. A fantasy setting depicts a fictional world in which the combatants wield fictional or anachronistic armaments, but it should be similar enough to some historical era of warfare such that

4655-530: The complexity also makes wargames difficult to enjoy, but some players enjoy high realism, so finding a balance between realism and simplicity is tricky when it comes to recreational wargames. One way to solve the problem of complexity is to use a referee who has the discretion to arbitrate events, using whatever tools and knowledge they deem fit. This solution is popular with military instructors because it allows them to apply their own expertise when they use wargames to instruct students. The drawback of this approach

4750-498: The concept of play-by-email gaming, however the presentation and actual capabilities are completely different. They have been designed to replicate the look and feel of existing board or miniatures wargames on the computer. The map and counters are presented to the user who can then manipulate these, more-or-less as if he were playing the physical game, and send a saved file off to his opponent, who can review what has been done without having to duplicate everything on his physical set-up of

4845-472: The deck is merely one of the most important elements of the game. The term "wargame" is rarely used in the video gaming hobby; the term "strategy game" is preferred. "Computer wargame" distinguishes a game from a "tabletop wargame". Computer wargames have many advantages over traditional wargames. In a computer game, all the routine procedures and calculations are automated. The player needs only to make strategic and tactical decisions. The learning curve for

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4940-406: The definition of wargaming by representing fictional or anachronistic armaments, but they may still be called wargames if they resemble real warfare to the satisfaction of the players. For example, Warhammer Fantasy Battle has wizards and dragons, but the bulk of the armaments are taken from medieval warfare (spearmen, knights, archers, etc.). Validation is the process by which a given wargame

5035-562: The duration of the American Civil War the Naval Academy had been relocated to Newport, Rhode Island , where Little and his wealthy parents had become accustomed to spending their summers. While at the academy, he met Lieutenant (later Rear Admiral) Stephen B. Luce who was to have a great influence in Little's life. Luce regarded Newport's Narragansett Bay as uniquely suitable for naval training, and with Little campaigned to have

5130-471: The early 1950s until the mid-1970s, Fort Adams fell victim to neglect, the weather, and vandalism. In 1965, the fort and most of the surrounding land was given to the State of Rhode Island for use as Fort Adams State Park . In 1976, Fort Adams was declared a National Historic Landmark in recognition of its distinctive military architecture, which includes features not found in other forts of the period. Through

5225-521: The early 1990s, Fort Adams was subjected to an environmental remediation program which made the fort safe for public access. In 1994, the Fort Adams Trust was formed; to provide guided tours at the fort and oversee restoration work there. In 1995 the Fort Adams Trust began giving tours at the fort from May to September. Since that time, the fort has had several areas of the fort restored as well as having its land defenses cleared of overgrowth, and

5320-653: The efforts of State Senator Eric O'D. Taylor, in the 1970s Fort Adams was cleaned up, opened for tours, and used for the filming of the PBS television miniseries The Scarlet Letter . The tour program was cancelled circa 1980 due to budget cutbacks by the State of Rhode Island. Since 1981, the Fort Adams grounds have been host to the Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Folk Festival . In

5415-767: The eight mortars of Battery Greene-Edgerton as Fort Adams' only armament. In the Second World War a peak strength of over 3,000 soldiers were assigned to the Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay . In September 1940 the 243rd Coast Artillery Regiment of the Rhode Island National Guard was mobilized and sent to Fort Adams to reinforce the Regular Army 's 10th Coast Artillery Regiment . The two regiments garrisoned several coast defense forts and anti-aircraft installations under

5510-489: The evolving strategic state of the board, wargames contrarily tend to have very sophisticated rules as a matter of their commitment to representing the concrete realities of (various kinds of) warfare. Generally speaking, the more realistic a wargame seeks to be, the more complicated its rules are. For example, chess pieces only have a few rules determining their behaviour, such as how and when they are allowed to move or capture based on their type and board location, providing

5605-546: The foremost American military engineer of his day. In 1838 Totten became U.S. Army Chief of Engineers and served until his death in 1864. The new Fort Adams was first garrisoned in August 1841, functioning as an active U.S. Army post until 1950. During this time the fort was active in five major wars – the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), American Civil War (1861–1865), Spanish–American War (1898), World War I (1917–1918), and World War II (1941–1945) — but never fired

5700-428: The fort as "an irregular star fort of masonry , with an irregular indented work of masonry adjoining it, mounting seventeen heavy guns. ... The barracks are of wood and bricks, for one company ." After the War of 1812, there was a thorough review of the fortification needs of the United States and it was decided to replace the older Fort Adams with a newer and much larger fort. This was part of what became known as

5795-532: The fort's armament was upgraded to keep up with technological innovations. Major kinds of ordnance used at the fort included muzzle-loading cannon in the 19th century, rifled breech-loading artillery pieces in the early 20th century, and anti-aircraft guns during and after World War II . The fort received significant armament, in the form of batteries to the south of the main fort, under the Endicott and Taft programs from 1896 through 1907. These were to defend

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5890-411: The four U.S. railway artillery regiments that saw action in that war (using French-made weapons) and their brigade headquarters. The railway gun units were designated the 52nd and 53rd Artillery Regiments (CAC) (originally the 7th and 8th Provisional Regiments), and the 30th Separate Artillery Brigade (Railway) (CAC) (originally the 1st Expeditionary Brigade). The 51st Artillery Regiment (CAC) (originally

5985-429: The game, and respond. Some allow for both players to get on-line and see each other's moves in real-time. These systems are generally set up so that while one can play the game, the program has no knowledge of the rules, and cannot enforce them. The human players must have a knowledge of the rules themselves. The idea is to promote the playing of the games (by making play against a remote opponent easier), while supporting

6080-447: The global state of the game is often governed by extensive non-local rules representing exigencies like seasonal weather or supply lines. This makes wargames difficult to learn, as it can be difficult to simply begin playing without already understanding a great deal about how to do so. Even experienced wargamers usually play with their rulebook on hand, because the rules for most wargames are too complex to fully memorize. For many people,

6175-521: The industry (and reducing copyright issues) by ensuring that the players have access to the actual physical game. The four main programs that can be used to play a number of games each are Aide de Camp , Cyberboard , Vassal and ZunTzu . Aide de Camp is available for purchase, while the other three are offered free. Vassal is in turn an outgrowth of the VASL (Virtual ASL ) project, and uses Java , making it accessible to any computer that can run

6270-491: The information he judges the players should know. Some recreational wargames use a referee too, often referring to them as "the GameMaster" (e.g. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader ). The fog of war is easy to simulate in a computer wargame, as a virtual environment is free of the physical constraints of a tabletop game. The computer itself can serve as the referee. Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming where units on

6365-429: The local conditions (nature of the terrain, etc.). Dan Verssen Games is a specialist designer and publisher of card games for several genres, including air combat and World War II and modern land combat. Also, card driven games (CDGs), first introduced in 1993, use a deck of (custom) cards to drive most elements of the game, such as unit movement (activation) and random events. These are, however, distinctly board games,

6460-448: The next turn. When a unit comes up, the commander specifies an order and if offensive action is being taken, a target, along with details about distance. The results of the order, base move distance and effect to target, are reported, and the unit is moved on the tabletop. All distance relationships are tracked on the tabletop. All record-keeping is tracked by the computer. Remote computer assisted wargames can be considered as extensions to

6555-417: The performance characteristics of a fighter jet, is often classified. The exact definition of "wargame" varies from one writer to the next and one organization to the next. To prevent confusion, this section will establish the general definition employed by this article. A wargame must have a setting that is based on some historical era of warfare so as to establish what armaments, unit types, and doctrines

6650-423: The player is called a closed game. An open wargame has no secret information. Most recreational wargames are open wargames. A closed wargame can simulate the espionage and reconnaissance aspects of war. Military wargames often use referees to manage secret information. The players may be forced to sit in separate rooms, and communicate their orders with the referee in the game room, who in turn reports back only

6745-434: The player is smaller, as the game can be played without mastering all its mechanics. The gameplay is faster, as a computer can process calculations much faster than a human. Computer wargames often have more sophisticated mechanics than traditional wargames thanks to automation. Computer games tend to be cheaper than traditional wargames because, being software, they can be copied and distributed very efficiently. It's easier for

6840-503: The players are expected to assemble and paint themselves. This requires skill, time, and money, but many players like the opportunity to show off their artistic skills. Miniature wargaming is often as much about artistry as it is about play. A board wargame is played on a board that has a more-or-less fixed layout and is supplied by the game's manufacturer. This is in contrast to customizable playing fields made with modular components, such as in miniature wargaming . In block wargaming ,

6935-552: The players, who expect a user-friendly interface, a reasonable learning curve, exciting gameplay, and so forth. By contrast, military organizations tend to see wargaming as a tool and a chore, and players are often bluntly obliged to use whatever is provided to them. Professional wargames that are arbitrated by an umpire or the players themselves (manual wargames) tend to have simple models and computations compared to recreational wargames. Umpires may even be allowed to make arbitrary decisions using their own expertise. One reason for this

7030-550: The political sympathies of residents in Maryland during the American Civil War , so the United States Naval Academy was moved in 1861 from Annapolis , Maryland, to Fort Adams. In September 1861, the academy moved to the Atlantic House Hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, and remained there for the rest of the war. Among the midshipmen assigned to the Naval Academy while it was at Fort Adams was Robley D. Evans who

7125-467: The rank of corporal in the Army. The two 10-inch (254 mm) guns of Battery Reilly were dismounted in 1917 for potential service as railway guns, but after considerable delay they were sent to Fort Warren near Boston , Massachusetts, in 1919 to replace guns removed from that fort. Eight of the sixteen mortars at Battery Greene-Edgerton were removed in 1918 for potential railway artillery service; this

7220-451: The simulation aspects of wargames. Traditional card games are not considered wargames even when nominally about the same subject (such as the game War ). An early card wargame was Nuclear War , a 'tongue-in-cheek game of the end of the world', first published in 1966 and still published today by Flying Buffalo . It does not simulate how any actual nuclear exchange would happen, but it is still structured unlike most card games because of

7315-463: The simulation conforms to a single scale. Recreational wargame designers, by contrast, tend to use abstract scaling techniques to make their wargames easier to learn and play. Tabletop miniature wargames , for instance, cannot realistically model the range of modern firearms, because miniature wargaming models are typically built to a scale between 1:64 and 1:120. At those scales, riflemen should be able to shoot each other from several meters away, which

7410-441: The soldiers and their armaments are described in detail. An example of a tactical-level games is Flames of War , in which players use miniature figurines to represent individual soldiers, and move them around on a scale model of the battlefield. At the operational level , the scenario is a military campaign, and the basic unit of command is a large group of soldiers. At this level, the outcomes of battles are usually determined by

7505-449: The specific conflict being simulated, from the layout of the terrain to the exact composition of the fighting forces to the victory conditions of the players. Historical wargames often re-enact historical battles. Alternatively, the game may provide fictional "what-if" scenarios. One challenge in the design of historical wargames is that the scenarios may be inherently unbalanced and present one side with an unwinnable situation. In such cases,

7600-414: The tenaille and redoubt to protect the fort against a landward assault. From 1859 to 1863 the fort was in the care of Ordnance Sergeant Mark Wentworth Smith, a Mexican–American War veteran who was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec . He died in 1879 at the age of 76, the oldest active-duty enlisted soldier in the history of the U.S. Army. The United States Department of War was concerned about

7695-421: The victory conditions may be adjusted for the disadvantaged side so that they can win simply by doing better than what happened historically. Some games simply concede that the scenario is imbalanced and urge players to switch sides and play again to compare their performance. It is easier to design a balanced scenario where all players have a fair chance of winning if it is fictionalized. Board wargames usually have

7790-506: The war over, Battery Talbot was disarmed in 1919 and its guns sent to Newport and Westerly as memorials. At some time after the war three 3-inch (76.2 mm) M1917 anti-aircraft guns were deployed at the fort, supplemented by at least two mobile 3-inch (76.2 mm) guns (or possibly mobile 75 mm guns ) on White truck or Ford Model T chassis. Battery Belton's two 3-inch (76.2 mm) guns were transferred to Fort Wetherill in 1925 to replace obsolescent M1902 guns there. This left

7885-698: The war, Fort Adams served as the headquarters for the Coast Defenses of Narragansett Bay , as well as a training center. The United States Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was chosen to man all U.S. heavy artillery in that war, as it was the only part of the U.S. Army with experience using big guns and had a significant number of personnel trained in the operation of such guns. Four heavy artillery regiments and two heavy artillery brigade headquarters were organized at Fort Adams and served in France, with troops of Coast Defense Commands from Maine , Rhode Island, New York, and elsewhere as their cadre . These included two of

7980-500: The wargame has already been delivered to the clients. Then there is the small player base. Whereas a commercial wargame might have thousands or even millions of players, professional wargames tend to have small player bases, which makes it harder for the designers to acquire feedback. Consequently, errors in professional wargame models tend to persist. Although commercial wargame designers study consumer trends and listen to player feedback, their products are usually designed and sold with

8075-414: The way it deals with its subject. In the late 1970s Battleline Publications (a board wargame company) produced two card games, Naval War and Armor Supremacy . The first was fairly popular in wargaming circles, and is a light system of naval combat, though again not depicting any 'real' situation (players may operate ships from opposing navies side-by-side). Armor Supremacy was not as successful, but

8170-544: Was also at Fort Adams by December 1943. As the war progressed, the number of troops was gradually reduced to about 500 by the end of the war in August 1945. In 1953, the U.S. Army transferred ownership of Fort Adams to the U.S. Navy, which still uses some of the grounds for family housing . President Dwight D. Eisenhower lived at the former commanding officer's quarters (now called the Eisenhower House ) during his summer vacations in Newport in 1958 and 1960. From

8265-426: Was also done as a force-wide program to improve the rate of fire due to overcrowding in the mortar pits during reloading. Some sources state that Battery Talbot's guns were redeployed to Sachuest Point , a few miles from Fort Adams, from 1917 to 1919. However, U.S. Army records show that these guns came from Fort Strong , Massachusetts, in the Coast Defenses of Boston . World War I ended on 11 November 1918. With

8360-590: Was built between 1824 and 1857 under the Third System of coastal forts; it is part of Fort Adams State Park today. The first Fort Adams was designed by Major Louis de Tousard of the United States Army Corps of Engineers as part of the first system of US fortifications . After some additions in 1809, this fort mounted 17 cannon and was garrisoned during the War of 1812 by Wood's State Corps of Rhode Island militiamen . The United States Secretary of War 's report for December 1811 describes

8455-550: Was buried at St. Mary's Episcopal Cemetery in Portsmouth, Rhode Island . Admiral Luce died two years later; and was interred in an adjacent grave. Mahan had died a year before, after publicly recognizing McCarty Little's essential role in maintaining the Naval War College's continuity of purpose through the difficult early years. Admiral William Sims said: "...so long as we have a Naval War College, his name must always remain intimately associated with its best traditions." Little

8550-547: Was commanded by Brigadier General Robert Anderson , who had commanded Fort Sumter when it was attacked by Confederate forces in April 1861, beginning the American Civil War. As part of a major upgrade to U.S. seacoast defenses, Fort Adams' armament was modernized in the 1870s with eleven 15-inch (381 mm) Rodman guns , thirteen 10-inch (254 mm) Rodman guns, and four 6.4-inch (163 mm) (100-pounder) Parrott rifles . Three new emplacements were built for

8645-501: Was danger of complete blindness, and he was involuntarily retired from the Navy on 16 May 1884 for "incapacity as a result of an incident in the service". Despite being retired, he volunteered to serve on the staff of the newly established United States Naval War College of which Stephen B. Luce was the first president. Little had helped Luce establish the College at Newport, and worked with Luce's replacement, Alfred Thayer Mahan , to keep

8740-697: Was published by the United States Naval Institute . This article in Proceedings emphasized the importance for officers to train their intuitive judgment through visualization of strategic problems through charts, game boards, and small models. Captain Little was a member of the Naval Order of the United States . Captain Little retired from the Naval War College in January 1915 and died at his home in Newport on 12 March 1915. He

8835-568: Was stationed at Fort Adams near the War College. The War College and Fort Adams conducted joint training maneuvers in 1887 with Fort Adams defending against a simulated night torpedo attack on harbor shipping in October, and a simulated amphibious invasion of Newport in November. Little persuaded Mahan to publish his classic The Influence of Sea Power upon History in 1890. He then translated French, Italian, Spanish, and German publications for

8930-767: Was the father of Major General Louis McCarty Little , USMC who was the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. General Little served in the Philippine Insurrection , World War I and World War II . McCarty Little Hall at the Naval War College is named in honor of Captain William McCarty Little. It is the college's war gaming center. In reference to value of naval war gaming at the Naval War College Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz said that as

9025-649: Was wounded at Fort Fisher , North Carolina , in 1865, commanded the battleship USS  Iowa during the Spanish–American War in 1898, and later commanded the Great White Fleet on the first leg of its epic around-the-world voyage of 1906–1908. Among Evans' classmates at Fort Adams were future Rear Admiral Charles Sigsbee , who commanded the battleship USS  Maine , and future Captain Charles Vernon Gridley , who commanded

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