Around 1980, when I was serving as a pastor in my home town of Colchester, England, I became interested in board wargames. These are complex reenactments, usually of famous battles, using small cardboard pieces on detailed maps. There were many complicated rules to be observed. It was hard to find the time to play these long drawn-out games. It was even harder to find someone else who had to time to play the other side. My uncle, Garth Cooper, had an interest in things military, but eventually he confessed that he was more interested in reenactments that used models of soldiers, rather then cardboard pieces.
After moving (for the second time) to the United States in 1982, I gave up any interest in board wargaming. Personal computers made it possible to play computerized simulations of warfare, without the need to keep track of all the tiny cardboard pieces, and the mind-boggling rules of combat.
For some reason, though, I still have a lingering fascination with those tabletop reenactments of the great conflicts of history. The other night I came across a website, based in Britain, that makes it possible to play, once again, these classic board wargames. Go to www.hexwar.com if you are interested in learning more.
There are those who might object to games based on war. War is hell. War is unspeakably ghastly. Why indulge in recreation based upon something that involves human misery on a huge scale?
Two answers come to mind.
First of all, these war games are not really about war, not really. They are not games of bloodshed, of violence, but of strategy. Though a lot of computer games, and computer simulations, portray bloodshed and suffering, the board wargame is much more like the game of chess, which is itself a stylized reenactment of war.
Second, even though these war games are nothing like real war, still, they allow one to "play" at war. Little boys love to play such games. So do big boys. Even though war is dark and shameful, the warrior, who fights only to protect, is a hero of light. And inside each grown man is a tiny boy who imagines he is a grown man who is a warrior.
These games will not appeal to everyone. They probably appeal to a tiny minority. But still, they have this appeal because of a very special magic they encourage... the magic of imagination.
