Friday, July 02, 2010

"All Boys are Grognards"

Pretty good article in the WSJ about the latest generation of strategy wargames. It includes a nice summary of the evolution of the genre from the early days of 'Diplomacy' to the ground breaking 'Civilization' of Sid Meiers fame.
My hope is that my kids (who will get a pretty strong exposure to the genre) will still see the appeal of the boardgame and not just dive into the computer simulation. There is something nice about a smaller set of of rigid rules that drives a game. Chess has been a popular game for millennia not because of it's many options but because of it's clear choices.
The article introduced a new term to me:
Avalon Hill and Diplomacy gave birth to a new subspecies of hobbyist: the
grognard (The origins of which probably date to a term used for "a soldier of
Napoleon's Old Guard").

I've never heard of a 'grognard' before but I suppose I must be one. Question to Chris, Hans and Andrew; is that a term you guys are familiar with? Or is it one of those regional oddities that writers think are universal?

2 comments:

Chris said...

Grognard is a pretty common term for hardcore wargamers, usually of the hex and counter variety.

Alfred T. Mahan said...

I agree with Chris. It comes from the Napoleonic Wars, actually, although not applied to wargamers in that context.