The Berg doctrine of game design

Christian Lindke has a fine post ("Must Own Wargames #1") on his Substack about legendary game designer Richard Berg, who died in 2019. Mr Lindke relates Berg's Candide Principles of design, namely that every wargame based on real life should:

1. Allow the ‘player-gamer’ to have a few hours of relaxing fun.
2. Provide the historian with insight into the particular subject.
3. Allow the ‘assassin,’ the killer-gamer, to vent his spleen on his opponent by revealing The master plan which will not only destroy his opposite number, but history as well.

An important takeaway is: "The lens I bring to every wargame I sit down with [is] not 'did this recreate the event?' but 'did this recreate the effects that made the event historically significant?'" 

That's far more important than awarding victory points for specific events in history. That the Vikings controlled Dublin in a particular year or that the Black Death arrived in Europe in 1347 is not important. What matters is the interplay of social and economic factors at the time. It's when a game reveals the workings of history as a process that it's interesting.

If that's whetted your appetite, check out the article for more tips from a master of the craft.