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Peter P. Perla

The Art of Wargaming: A Guide for Professionals and Hobbyists Hardcover – March 1, 1990

by Peter P. Perla (Author), R. Dawn Sollars (Illustrator)

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Bizarre but true games about war continue to grow in popularity. Perla (research analyst, Center for Naval Analysis) synthesizes the recreational and military aspects of wargaming. He explores the subject from its early history to its future potential, with particular attention to current practice and the fundamental principles and techniques governing the design and use of wargames. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Print length

364 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Naval Inst Pr
Publication date

March 1, 1990
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

0870210505
ISBN-13

978-0870210501
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Robert Burks
34
Hardcover
16 offers from $33.50
John Curry
22
Paperback
19 offers from $22.14
John Curry
25
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9 offers from $26.33
Philip Sabin
73
Paperback
21 offers from $26.76
Francis J. McHugh
13
Paperback
9 offers from $7.94
Pat Harrigan
28
Hardcover
15 offers from $44.50

John Curry
22
Paperback
19 offers from $22.14
Robert Burks
34
Hardcover
16 offers from $33.50
Philip Sabin
73
Paperback
21 offers from $26.76
John Curry
25
Paperback
9 offers from $26.33
Francis J. McHugh
13
Paperback
9 offers from $7.94
Pat Harrigan
28
Hardcover
15 offers from $44.50

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Naval Inst Pr (March 1, 1990)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 364 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0870210505
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0870210501
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.58 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #802,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,014 in Military Strategy History (Books)
- #2,072 in Fantasy Gaming
- #23,314 in Engineering (Books)

Customer Reviews:
19 ratings

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Peter P. Perla

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5 star		63%
4 star		20%
3 star		7%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		10%

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Amazon Customer

Wargaming History Survey

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2007

Verified Purchase

This is a decent book. It gives an excellent history of wargaming through the ages, and covers the 70's period extremely well (taking me for a walk down memory lane). I agree with the other esteemed reviewers on the rest of the book, it's worth a read.

2 people found this helpful

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Robert L. Turner Jr.

Extremely Explicit and Clear

Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2013

Verified Purchase

The exact book we needed to increase our proficiency in wargame development. We used every concept and approach for our efforts. Thanks Dr. Perla!

Helpful

Hung Cheuk Man, Lawrence

An excellent reference book on wargaming

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2004

The most comprehensive book on the subject Wargaming from an insider -- Dr. Peter Perla. His theoretical approach to the making of this book combines with actual practices make this book an immensely useful and thought-provoking reference as to historical development, principles of designing and analyzing wargames. Mr. Perla is a naval guy and so there is much coverage on the naval game simulation at the start and in the end part of predicting the future use of wargames. If you can pass these rather technical materials drawn from his extensive experience in the Center for naval Analyses since 1977 where he works as a naval operations research analyst, you can find a vibrant, knowledgeable and insightful as to the modern commercial wargames. A lot of these games are covered especially those from SPI, Avalon Hill and Victory Games. You may jump to read Chapter 3 onwards to Chapter 9 if you are a hobbyist yourselves. Perla's book is more scholarlistic and hard to chew on than James Dunnigan's "The Complete Wargame Handbook". But at the same time, this book offers more depth and breadth on the subject. Highly recommended. The book was first published in 1990. Grab a copy of it before it goes out-of-print.

22 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bruce A Laue

Mostly history, not much on miniature gaming, per se.

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2002

This book focuses on the history of wargames. It focuses mainly on war games use by the militaries, with only token coverage of the hobby. To say it only discusses board games, though, is inaccurate. It discusses games from a military viewpoint, without discussing much in the way of game mechanics, in a specific manner. Dr. Perla does discuss the abstraction of game design, and the level of details. He discusses the purposes of a particlur game design, and how this is used to explore a particular set of criteria for a military operation. If that sounds complicated, it is. This book is not terribly complex or difficult to read, but the design of military war games, for the professional militaries, is. He does not go into detail for professional designs, but he does discuss the overall concepts well.
This book is aimed at discussing how war games are designed, applied, and used. It discusses what can be learned from such exercises, and what cannot be learned in a simulation. If you are a game designer, you will learn from this book, but perhaps not as much as you would like. He does not discuss details, but rather concepts, and focus level: is this game designed for a tactical level, or strategic level? What do the designers hope to learn from this simulation?
While this book accomplishes its tasks well, if you are looking for a book on the hobby of war games, it may leave you unsatisfied. It is primarily aimed towards professionals, in my opinion, and those who wish to know the history of "professional" war games.

22 people found this helpful

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Larry Doherty

Not for the Hobbyist

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2010

Peter Perla, based upon his experience as a hobby wargamer and then as a naval operations research analyst, has written a book on wargaming entitled The Art of Wargaming. Perla's objective in writing this book is to give the reader an understanding of wargaming and the important role it has in the military (professional wargamers). Perla claims wargames offer a "unique learning experience that leads to a deeper and more personal understanding and appreciation of warfare than can be attained by any other method short of actual participation on the field of battle." Therefore, wargaming becomes an important tool for training those who may go into harm's way in the future.
Perla divided his book into three different sections, which contribute to one's understanding of where wargaming originated (history), what wargames actually entail and finally what role wargames will have in the future. When Perla considers the beginning of wargaming, he not only considers the military's perspective, he also addresses the role hobbyist have had in wargaming. In looking at what wargames entail, Perla tries to clarify the differences in what a wargame is and what it is not, thereby showing the potential role it has with professionals. When considering the future, Perla ties the "historical perspective and the theoretical principles...to project into the future of wargaming." Basically, Perla seems to find a balance between playability and realism to achieve some means by what one can achieve in playing wargames.
Perla defines a wargame as "an exercise in human interaction, and the interplay of human decisions and the simulated outcomes of those decisions." He recognized that wargames, while short of the actual physical impacts of war, provide a means for learning the "dynamics of warfare." They provide a means by which "questions of strategy, human decision making, and war-fighting trends" can be analyzed. In comparison, James Dunnigan, author of The Complete Wargames Handbook, describes a wargame as "a combination of game, history and science."
Since every wargame has objectives, whether it is designed for a hobbyist or a professional, the more clearly the objectives are stated beforehand, the more likely a wargame will be successful. In hobby wargames, the designer usually determines the objectives of a wargame. Their ultimate goal is "intellectual entertainment." In a professional wargame, the objectives are usually determined by a sponsor (who sets up the goals of the wargame). The professional wargames are usually designed for educational or research reasons.
Perla distinguishes those games played by hobbyists and those played by professionals as those that are "played to meet educational or training objectives, or to conduct research about specific issues or concepts." Due to that, the design of each wargame is different. When designing wargames, Dunnigan believes that a wargame must accurately simulate a historical event (realism) while ensuring playability. According to Perla, those who help to create professional wargames have to ensure that the players will not only be able to learn something from playing a wargame, they have to ensure that they are also instructional tools. Both Dunnigan and Perla share fundamental principles though in designing games, as there are specific objectives, players, information tools and documents needed in both a hobby and professional wargame. In each case, the designers need to ensure that the wargamers (hobbyists and professionals) actually want to play the wargame.
Perla delves into the designing, development, playing, and analysis of wargames. Based upon his experience, he is able to provide a lot of information though it is done in a rather technical format. Perhaps, what is most evident when reading through this section is Perla's belief that wargaming has a significant, if not a very important role, in teaching, educating, and evaluating military leaders. While there may be some limitations in using wargames, the benefits of using wargames is significant.
Perla clearly is well versed on the subject of wargaming, however one must be able to read through all of his technical views/details of wargaming to learn about professional wargames. Perla appears to have targeted a different audience than Dunnigan, whose book has a lot more detail for the hobbyist. Perla's book seems to be written for the professional wargamer, especially those who may have an interest in the history of professional wargames, the design of wargames and the potential that wargames have to offer in our understanding of potential future conflicts. Based upon my review (as a hobbyist), I don't believe a hobbyist will enjoy reading this book as much as Dunnigan's book, unless they have an interest in understanding the difference between the two different types of wargamers.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2016

Good academic book on war-gaming, altough a bit outdated now. Things change continuously in this hobby.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Phil Dutre

Good history of wargames.

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 1998

From the point of view of a hobby wargamer, the most interesting part is the history of wargames. It goes much further than the typical Von Reissewitz - Wells story. There is almost no mention of miniature wargaming. Only board-wargaming and 'serious' army wargaming are described, but these parts are covered in great detail. Definitely worth reading if your interested in the history of wargaming.

27 people found this helpful

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Charles Vasey

More History Than Art

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2012

Verified Purchase

The title of this book should not be taken as descriptive. The author believes that the design of wargames is an art not a science (an interesting point) but most of the text concerns the history of wargaming usually in America and concentrating on the US Navy and Eighties hobby scene. Given that the book was written over 20 years ago much of that history now has an odd look where it concerns hobby or recreational gaming. Indeed I could not see how the history of SPI in business (for example) really helped anyone understand anything other than how to run a business. It is as if two book's texts have been involved in a crash and become hopelessly mixed, often to the benefit of neither.

Where the hobby is involved (my area of expertise) the views tend towards the complex, formal and linear end of the spectrum. The innovations arising from the arrival of the Euro game and card-driven games could scarcely be expected from the descriptions of trends in the book. Indeed, the whole tone of the hobby section reminded me of the views of the Salon of the Académie des Beaux-Arts just before the Impressionists appeared. The hobby was continuing to sink under its own complexity, but few in the book seem to espouse ditching that complexity: yet there were many in the Hobby who did at the time.

The military gaming section was of more interest but perhaps wisely never took us into detail. It is a pity that we did not hear more about the Black Art of design, but there are some helpful sections to make this absence all the more noticeable.

(My copy was the republished version by John Curry)

3 people found this helpful

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