Monster game

Board games that are either very large, very complex or both

Part of a series on

Wargames

Types

* Military wargaming
* Recreational wargaming

Level of War

* Megagame
* Monster game
* Grand strategy wargame
* Strategic wargame
* Operational wargame
* Tactical wargame
* Skirmish

Genres

* Air wargaming
* Board wargames
* Computer wargames
* Miniature wargaming
* Naval wargaming

People

19th century founders

* Johann Hellwig
* Fred T. Jane
* Georg von Reisswitz
* Julius von Verdy du Vernois

20th century pioneers

* Tony Bath
* Phil Barker
* Richard Berg
* Allan B. Calhamer
* Tom Dalgliesh
* Jim Dunnigan
* Don Featherstone
* Paddy Griffith
* Gary Gygax
* Larry Harris, Jr.
* John Hill
* Rodger B. MacGowan
* Charles S. Roberts
* Redmond Simonsen
* S. Craig Taylor
* H. G. Wells

Groups

* Castle & Crusade Society
* Game Manufacturers Association
* International Federation of Wargaming
* International Wargames Federation

Events

* Charles S. Roberts Award
* Gen Con
* Origins Game Fair
* World Boardgaming Championships

Lists

* List of board wargames
* List of miniature wargames
* List of wargame publishers

* v
* t
* e

A monster game is a game that is either very large, very complex, or both.[1] One criterion sometimes adopted is the number of pieces; a game which puts greater than 1000 counters into play at once may be considered to be a monster game.[2] This classification can technically be applied to any board game, but most commonly refers to the kind of non-abstract wargames in which a large amount of time is needed to play each turn as a result of a relatively high commitment to period accurate military realism. Drang Nach Osten and its companion, Unentschieden led to the Europa Series games, a giant WWII game.[3]

Games that are considered monster games include:

Wargame  | Company  | Year  | Counters  | Playing time (hours)  | Description

|
|
|
|
|

Drang nach Osten! (DNO)  | GDW  | 1973  | 1,792  | 200  | A game to cover Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of Russia.[4]
Europa series | GDW, GRD, Mill Creek Ventures and Historical Military Services (HMS)  | 1973-  |  |  | A series containing 17 war games (the first being Drang nach Osten!), which can be combined, most games classified as monster games.
La Bataille de la Moscowa | GDW  | 1975  | 1,440  | 16  | A simulation game of the Battle of Borodino. It is both complex and large.[1]
War in Europe | SPI | 1976  | 3,600  | 6  | A simulation game of the war in Europe. This game is a combination of War in the East and War in the West with additional rules and mechanics.[5]
Highway to the Reich | SPI | 1976  | 2,400  | 6  | The game is set during the Second World War, covering ten days of Operation Market-Garden, from 17 to 26 September 1944, with two hours per turn.
War Between the States 1861–1865 | SPI  | 1977 (1st edition) 2004 (2nd edition)  | 1,400  | 6  | A game that covers the entire American Civil War, the major theaters of operation from Galveston, Texas, to St. Joseph, Missouri, and from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Jacksonville, Florida.
Empyrean Challenge | Superior Simulations  | 1978  |  |  | A science fiction play-by-mail (PBM) game described by a reviewer in 1988 as "the most complex game system on Earth".[6] Turn results sent from the company to the player could be up to 1,000 pages in length.
War in the Pacific | SPI | 1978  | 3,200  | 6  | A simulation game of the War in the Pacific with 7 maps.[7]
The Longest Day | Avalon Hill | 1979  | 2,603  | 90  | Mammoth Operational wargame of the WWII Normandy Campaign, JUN-AUG 1944
The Campaign for North Africa | SPI  | 1979  | 1,600  | 1,000  | A game about the North African campaign of World War II
Lords of the Earth | Thomas Harlan  | 1983  |  | 25 years  | A PBM game involving expansion by conquest lasting about 25 years per game.[8]
Pacific War | Victory Games/GMT Games  | 1985  | > 2000  | 1–100  | A grand strategy hex and counter WW 2 of the entire Pacific Theater of Operations
The Great War in Europe | XTR Corp | 1995  | 1,200  | 6  | A simulation game of the first world war in Europe.
D.A.K. | The Gamers | 1997  | 1,540  | 6  | A game that covers the entire North African campaign at the regimental level
Case Blue | The Gamers | 2007  | 3,500 (2,660 unit counters and 840 marker counters)  | 375  | A game that covers both the Axis advance (between 1941 and 1942) as well as the Soviet counterattacks (Nov 42 to Jan 43) and the German counteroffensive at Kharkov (Feb-March 1943) including the Case Blue 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II.[9]

## See also

[edit]

* List of board wargames
* List of wargame publishers
* Simulation game
* Tactical wargame

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Palmer, Nicholas (1980). "Chapter 3 - The First Thousand Hours are the Hardest: Monster Games". The Best of Board Wargaming. New York, N. Y.: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-525-6.
2. ^ Palmer, Nicholas (1980). The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming. London: Sphere Books.
3. ^ the Staff of Strategy & Tactics Magazine (1977). Wargame Design: The History, Production and Use of Conflict Simulation Games. New York: Simulations Pubublications, Incorporated. ISBN 0-917852-01-X.
4. ^ Freeman J, The Editors of Consumer Guide (1980). The Complete Book of Wargames. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-25374-3..
5. ^ Dunnigan, James (1992). The Complete Wargames Handbook. New York: Quill. ISBN 0-688-10368-5..
6. ^ Townsend, Jim (1988). "The PBM Corner". White Wolf. No. 11\. p. 20.
7. ^ Perla, Pewter P. (1990). The Art of Wargaming. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-050-5..
8. ^ Harlan, Thomas (2002). "Lords of the Earth: Basic Rulebook" (PDF). Throne Enterprises LLC. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
9. ^ "Case Blue (2007)". Boardgamegeek. Retrieved 2017-12-28.

## External links

[edit]

* Drang Nach Osten! (Boardgamegeek)
* SPI Monster Games

* v
* t
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Wargames

Types|

| Professional|

* Kriegsspiel
* Western Approaches Tactical Unit
* Sigma war games

|

Recreational|

* 4X
* Board
* Block
* Tactical
* Grand strategy
* Miniature
* Computer
* Man-to-man
* Monster game
* Play-by-mail game
* Topics
* Naval
* Fantasy
* Business

Games|

* List of board wargames
* Little Wars
* Tactics
* D-Day
* Gettysburg
* Risk
* Axis & Allies
* PanzerBlitz
* Diplomacy

People|

| 19th
century|

* Johann Hellwig (1743–1831)
* Georg von Reisswitz (1794–1827)
* Julius von Verdy du Vernois (1832–1910)
* William McCarty Little (1845–1915)

|

20th
century|

* H. G. Wells (1866–1946)
* Jack Scruby (1916–1988)
* Don Featherstone (1918–2013)
* Tony Bath (1926–2000)
* Charles S. Roberts (1930–2010)
* Allan B. Calhamer (1931–2013)
* Phil Barker (born 1932)
* Gary Gygax (1938–2008)
* Redmond Simonsen (1942–2005)
* Jim Dunnigan (born 1943)
* Richard Berg (1943–2019)
* John Hill (1945–2015)
* Tom Dalgliesh (born 1945)
* S. Craig Taylor (1946–2012)
* Paddy Griffith (1947–2010)
* Marc W. Miller (born 1947)
* Larry Harris, Jr. (born 1948)
* Don Greenwood
* Frank Chadwick
* Stephen V. Cole
* Greg Costikyan (born 1959)
* Gilbert Roberts (1900–1986)

21st
century|

* Craig Besinque
* Ty Bomba
* Richard Borg
* James M. Day
* Mike McVey
* Joseph Miranda
* Rick Priestley
* Andy Chambers
* Mark Simonitch
* Jerry Taylor
* Dan Verssen
* Martin Wallace
* Matt Ward

Companies|

* List of wargame publishers
* Avalon Hill
* Simulations Publications Inc (SPI)
* Game Designers' Workshop (GDW)
* Fantasy Flight Games
* Publications:
* Strategy & Tactics
* Dragon magazine

Player
groups|

* Groups:
* Castle & Crusade Society
* Game Manufacturers Association
* International Federation of Wargaming
* International Wargames Federation
* Events:
* Charles S. Roberts Award
* Gen Con
* Origins Game Fair
* Origins Award
* World Boardgaming Championships

Related|

* Combat Results Table
* Counter
* Hex map
* Zone of control
* Books:
* The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming
* The Complete Book of Wargames

* Categories:
* Gaming conventions
* Play-by-mail games

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