computer assisted wargaming : a dead idea or time to resurrect ?

[limburger 22392xp 1]

One of the many games that were mentioned in the ‘Historicon 2019’ vlogs was one that used a computer to moderate the game.

The game used was ‘carnage and glory’ …

(link :  https://www.beastsofwar.com/liveblogentry/carnage-and-glory-american-civil-war )

A quick google later and it’s like I’m back in the prehistoric times  of the internet.
Even the ones posted by @phaidknott didn’t show signs of life.

I can’t help but think that there is room for improvement.
Why ? Because we’re seeing boardgames add support for this sort of thing.
GW has an app for ‘Age of Sigmar’, but other than an army list builder requiring the purchase of codexes in order to make it semi functional it’s not exactly a useful tool.

It made me wonder.

1. Is the idea of using computers to help play wargames such an anathema to wargamers that no one bothers ?
   In a discussion about automating ASL it was suggested that doing the table lookups and calculating the odds was ‘part of the fun’ of the game …
   (link : https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/152409/computer-assisted-paper-based-complex-wargames )
2. Did the streamlined / ‘dumbed down’ systems like Bolt-Action remove the need to automate the admin side of games ?
   Ergo : no need to automate anything because it is easy to remember
3. Or did people who wanted this simply turn to computer games like Total War series and play the entire thing on computers ?
4. something else ?

Maybe I’m too much of a computer geek, but I sense a missed opportunity here especially given the fact that almost anyone has a mobile phone or tablet that could be used to help play the game that tiny bit faster (and error free).

 

 

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