Video games portraying history

Interesting article on video games portraying historical subjects is up on Kotaku.

http://kotaku.com/5209313/can-games-handle-history

What do you think about history and board games?

Just as with video games, there are good and bad games in regard to historical accuracy or how well it portrays history.

TIDE OF IRON is the board game equivalent to CALL OF DUTY.

One can learn a lot about the Reformation when playing HERE I STAND.

I think the article's pretty much got it right, and I second the comment about Here I Stand, which I would say is one of the best representations of a particular period I've ever played.

Outside of wargames, however, few boardgames have the requisite detail to be useful in representing a specific period, and are more like the games the article focuses on, in that they give various accounts of the mechanisms of history. Among these there are definite winners and losers. Games like Risk and Diplomacy, for example, perpetrate the myth that history is about nations trying to take over the world, and a game like Imperial probably goes a little overboard (unless you're a Marxist) in ascribing all history to economic forces; Settlers of Catan portrays a much more family-friendly version of history as run by economic forces. A game like Twilight Imperium gives a fuller account of history by accounting for cultural predispositions (think faction abilities), trade, and technology, although it is still very much a take over the world game at its core.

I would probably rank Civilization at the top of these sorts of games, since it manages to represent the effects of climate/environment, culture/technology, trade, and even things like class conflict with some rather simple mechanics, a very rich model for human history.

Three words:

"Brothers in Arms"

I would rather see historical boardgames in the context of a civilization game than some of the other ways history tends to get portrayed. I like wargames and the "what if" component of them but I don't think that's really history. I would rather see a game where you can start an empire, bring it to some sort of epoch and crush other empires.

MattDP wrote:

Three words:

"Brothers in Arms"

Yes, a very historical and realistic computer game. The best WWII shooter.

Schweig! wrote:

MattDP wrote:

Three words:

"Brothers in Arms"

Yes, a very historical and realistic computer game. The best WWII shooter.

but why did they put that stupid hospital level in the last one?

I only played the first two.

the most recent one is the best of the bunch in my opinion. i hated the tank levels in the originals and they resolved that for me in this one by making them incredibly easy.

Searched article for term "Koei". Term not found. Article skipped.

As far as historical board games, what the hell is with the complete lack of games based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms? I'd also accept something from China's Warring States period.