Future Tense
Traditional wargaming has been dominated by a handful of themes (World War Two, Napoleon, American Civil War, and during the ‘70s/’80s Cold War-turned-Hot War), although there has always been a dizzying amount of subject matter to game. About any period in history can be found as a wargame, although obviously games with subjects like the Thirty Years War don’t get the same love as those on the Russian Front.
One subject though that has never really seen a lot of interest is speculative future warfare beyond the previously mentioned NATO/Warsaw Pact games. Over the years there have been a handful of games, such as War in the Ice, Invasion: America, and Orbit War, but it’s never been a big sub-genre. Even today, with the ever changing dynamics of global security, only a handful of games look to the immediate future, and those tend to be all designed by one designer, Joseph Miranda. You would think that someone would want to examine a US/NATO versus China scenario, or maybe an end-of-the-world fight for resources.
Wargamers love to refight history in an effort to change the outcome on their kitchen table, but it seems that when it comes to the future there is little interest. Why is that? Off the top of my head I can think of two potential reasons.
First, for many gamers the thrill is putting themselves into a situation, a situation that they are keenly aware of thanks to their study of the battle/campaign/war, and seeing what they could have accomplished. And with the outcome already known there is something to compare and contrast the experience with. You can’t do that with battles yet to be fought.
Second, there is a slippery slope when it comes to speculative future warfare. Get too speculative and you end up with something more akin to science-fiction. For gamers who got into the hobby for its historical basis there is little room for phasers and star drives.
If those reasons are correct than to design an appealing near future game it should (a) feature a conflict that is based upon historical extrapolation and (b) take place in the future, but not the far future.
How far is not too far? When the technology has no relationship to what we can currently produce, then it’s too far.
Could speculative future warfare ever enjoy more popularity than it currently experiences, or are most people just happy to push panzer divisions and Imperial Guard units around Europe?