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Part of a series on
Wargames
Types
Military wargaming
Recreational wargaming
Level of War
Grand strategy wargame
Strategic wargame
Operational wargame
Tactical wargame
Skirmish
Genres
Air wargaming
Board wargames
Computer wargames
Miniature wargaming
Naval wargaming
People
19th century pioneers
Johann Hellwig
Georg von Reisswitz
Julius von Verdy du Vernois (1832–1910)
Fred T. Jane (1865–1916)
20th century Pioneers
H. G. Wells (1866–1946)
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)
Larry Harris, Jr. (born 1948)
Groups
Castle & Crusade Society
Game Manufacturers Association
International Federation of Wargaming
International Wargames Federation
Johnny Reb Gaming Society
Naval Wargames Society
Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers
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
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Naval wargaming is a branch of the wider hobby of miniature wargaming. Generally less popular than wargames set on land, naval wargaming nevertheless enjoys a degree of support around the world. Both historical and fantasy rulesets are available.
Model ships have long been used for wargaming, but it was the introduction of elaborate rules in the early 20th century that made the hobby more popular. Small miniature ships, often in 1:1200 scale and 1:1250 scale, were manoeuvred on large playing surfaces to recreate historical battles. These models were basic representations of ship types, with enough detail to make them recognisable. Firms such as Bassett-Lowke marketed these to the public in England,[1] along with more detailed versions that appealed to collectors. Prior to World War II, the German company Wiking became a leader in the field,[2] but the war ended its dominance.
After World War II, several manufacturers started business in Germany, which remains a major centre of production to this day.[3] Other companies started in Britain and the United States as well, first centering on the wargamer, but as time went by and models became both more detailed and costly, marketing to the collector. There has also been a diversification in scales. Plastic kits in 1/600 and 1/700 became widely available. In the UK Skytrex and Navwar pioneered the "micro scale" with extensive ranges of ships from pre-dreadnought ironclads to modern vessels in 1/3000. In the US CinC and GHQ followed with slightly larger and more detailed models in 1/2400. In recent years Hallmark have moved the scale down to 1/6000.
A separate branch of naval wargaming uses radio control ships capable of firing BB ammo from CO2 powered cannons, with the aim of sinking opposing ships, whose hulls are made of thin balsa wood.
^Head, Derek. Bassett-Lowke Waterline Ship Models London 1996 ISBN 1-872727-72-7
^Schönfeld, Peter Wiking-Modelle Die Schiffe und Flugseuge Hamburg 1998 ISBN 3-7822-0731-9
^Jacobs, Paul 1250 History on the steelnavy.com website
Navalwargaming is a branch of the wider hobby of miniature wargaming. Generally less popular than wargames set on land, navalwargaming nevertheless enjoys...
popular card wargame. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wargames. Air wargamingNavalwargaming Miniature wargaming Tactical wargame Business war...
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which military units are represented by miniature physical models on a model battlefield. The use of physical...
postgraduate training. Since 1894, wargaming has been a regular tool of instruction there. Wargaming was brought to the Naval War College by William McCarty...
tabletop wargames, which range from military wargaming to recreational wargaming. Wargames appeared on computers as early as Empire in 1972. The wargaming community...
Tactical wargame Palmer, Nicholas (1980). "Chapter 3 - The First Thousand Hours are the Hardest: Monster Games". The Best of Board Wargaming. New York...
Miniature wargames are a form of wargaming designed to incorporate miniatures or figurines into play, which was invented at the beginning of the 19th century...
for wargames. Air wargaming Game Manufacturers Association International Wargames Federation List of board wargames List of wargame publishers Naval wargaming...
A grand strategy wargame or simply grand strategy game (GSG) is a wargame that places focus on grand strategy: military strategy at the level of movement...
Air wargaming, like navalwargaming, is a niche specialism within the wider miniatures wargaming hobby. Due to the relatively short time over which aerial...
List of wargame publishers is an index of commercial companies that publish wargames. 3W or World Wide Wargames – publishers of the wargaming magazine...
material, see the Fletcher Pratt NavalWargame, published in 2011 by the History of Wargaming Project www.wargaming.co "The Fletcher Pratt Award". Civil...
established scale for Navalwargaming in Britain, e.g., NavWar. 1:2500 0.122 mm Sci-fi Wargaming (naval) A European size for navalwargaming ship models. Also...
organization of wargaming clubs and founded the Gen Con gaming convention. In 1971, he co-developed Chainmail, a miniatures wargame based on medieval...
was first introduced to wargaming during a stint at the Portsmouth Tactical School from 1935 to 1937. Roberts took to wargaming with great enthusiasm,...
uptake by the wargaming community. Armies use smaller scales still. The US Army specifies models of the scale 1:285 for its sand table wargaming. There are...
[citation needed] The genesis of tactical board wargaming goes back to 1969. Up until that time, wargaming—which in the modern, recreational form only dated...
only army in the world that practiced wargaming, so naturally many people credited Prussia's victory to its wargaming tradition. Armies around the world...
individual combatants. Navalwargaming is a variation of play where figures represents ships and do battle on the seas. Early wargames were focused on faithfully...
Gary Grigsby is a designer and programmer of computer wargames. In 1997, he was described as "one of the founding fathers of strategy war games for the...
wargaming was initially focused on historical subjects, other subjects also emerged. In the late 1960s, linguist M. A. R. Barker began to use wargame-like...
Waterloo by GMT Games 1995 – Best Amateur Wargaming Magazine : Berg's Review of Games (BROG) 1996 – Best Amateur Wargaming Magazine : Berg's Review of Games (BROG)...
This is a list of board wargames by historical genre (and some subgenres) showing their publication history. All games can be presumed to have been published...
fiction settings as well as Navalwargaming (Don't Give Up the Ship!, General Quarters), Air wargaming and Space combat wargames (Full Thrust, Attack Vector:...
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