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> there are a lot of games about strategy [..] and innumerable games about tactics [..], but very few about operations Operational wargames are a thing (at lea

> there are a lot of games about strategy [..] and innumerable games about tactics [..], but very few about operations Operational wargames are a thing (at least on boardgames) https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/181039/favorite-operationalstrategic-wargames-by-historic https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/181039/favorite-operation...

Kinrany 1y ago
Are there games in this genre that aren't historical?
- yomismoaqui 1y ago
  Don't know... maybe you can pick one of them in BGG and drill-down by mechanics?
- lmm 1y ago
  A couple of the ones on that list are what might be called "alternate history" e.g. one is a "cold war goes hot" WW3 scenario. There are plenty of abstract or futuristic war games, so I'm sure someone has done an operational one, but generally this kind of game appeals to someone who wants to play through a detailed simulation, and that's a lot less interesting (and harder to get right!) if you're trying to simulate an original fictional war environment. (I guess simulating the likes of Star Wars might appeal, but then you get into the issue of whether what's seen in the movies can be made to correspond to any kind of logistically grounded simulation at all)
mr_toad 1y ago
Arguably games like StarCraft include operational elements - managing and defending the peon line is as important as the front line.
- littlestymaar 1y ago
  It's still merely tactics though. I'd say that managing your rally points and reinforcements (for terran, mostly) is the only thing that is related to operations, and it's a pretty limited part of both the game and what operations is about.
  - navane 1y ago
    A lot is about predicting when you will need which size of army and preemptively build the right size of production to be able to produce that, just in time.
bee_rider 1y ago
Lots of games that are billed as “strategy” are really more operations (or even tactics!) than strategy, right? I mean it is often the case in a strategy game that you just start out at war with everybody else, taking away the most important strategic decision. Or, there are games like Civilization or Total war where, really, c’mon, you know it is just a matter of when, not if, you go to war.
hermitcrab 1y ago
I've played Polis a couple of times. It is brutally difficult (as in easy to lose, rather than difficult rules).

Kinrany 1y ago

Are there games in this genre that aren't historical?

yomismoaqui 1y ago
Don't know... maybe you can pick one of them in BGG and drill-down by mechanics?
lmm 1y ago
A couple of the ones on that list are what might be called "alternate history" e.g. one is a "cold war goes hot" WW3 scenario. There are plenty of abstract or futuristic war games, so I'm sure someone has done an operational one, but generally this kind of game appeals to someone who wants to play through a detailed simulation, and that's a lot less interesting (and harder to get right!) if you're trying to simulate an original fictional war environment. (I guess simulating the likes of Star Wars might appeal, but then you get into the issue of whether what's seen in the movies can be made to correspond to any kind of logistically grounded simulation at all)

mr_toad 1y ago

Arguably games like StarCraft include operational elements - managing and defending the peon line is as important as the front line.

littlestymaar 1y ago
It's still merely tactics though. I'd say that managing your rally points and reinforcements (for terran, mostly) is the only thing that is related to operations, and it's a pretty limited part of both the game and what operations is about.
- navane 1y ago
  A lot is about predicting when you will need which size of army and preemptively build the right size of production to be able to produce that, just in time.

bee_rider 1y ago

Lots of games that are billed as “strategy” are really more operations (or even tactics!) than strategy, right? I mean it is often the case in a strategy game that you just start out at war with everybody else, taking away the most important strategic decision. Or, there are games like Civilization or Total war where, really, c’mon, you know it is just a matter of when, not if, you go to war.

hermitcrab 1y ago

I've played Polis a couple of times. It is brutally difficult (as in easy to lose, rather than difficult rules).