The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming

About this expansion

The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming is a 1977, one-player overview of the board wargaming field, combining practical instruction, strategic analysis, and historical game references.

The book begins with The Wargames Explosion and the basics of wargaming before exploring strategy in three chapters: The Forest and the Trees, Reserves and Build-Up, and Political and Economic Affairs. Its tactics section covers defensive terrain, combined arms, and the relationship between waves and skies.

The final section focuses on winning through The Short Cuts and The Broad Sweep. The closing chapter presents a four-turn replay of SPI’s Nordlingen, giving the guide a detailed example of play and analysis.

• 224-page hardbound book with dust jacket
• Black-and-white photographs
• 63-page capsule section describing over 275 wargames
• Six wargame situations for readers to analyze, with answers included
• PanzerBlitz and Panzer Leader free-choice selection unit values
• SPI’s Strike Force One: The Cold War Heats Up – 1975 minigame included as an insert

Four appendices add answers to the problems, useful addresses, and reference material for PanzerBlitz and Panzer Leader. The address listings are noted as no longer very useful because of their age.

With its broad survey, focused lessons on strategy and tactics, and extensive collection of capsule descriptions, The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming captures the state of the hobby in 1977. It was published in hardback with ISBN 0213166461 and later in a 1980 paperback second edition with ISBN 0722166672.