Simulating Saratoga: How Saratoga-Themed Board Games Function as Experiential Historiography

Maurice Suckling

doi:10.2478/bgs-2020-0005

.blurhash-client-img { display: none !important; }

Simulating Saratoga: How Saratoga-Themed Board Games Function as Experiential Historiography

Board Game Studies Journal

Volume 14 (2020): Issue 1 (October 2020)

By: Maurice Suckling

Open Access

|Dec 2020

Abstract

Games deeply informed by history are not merely games. They may not be detailed simulations, but, nevertheless, they are conscious or otherwise expressions of historiographical viewpoints. This paper examines the historiographical perspectives of nine board games, published between 1974 and 2019, all on one or more aspect of the Saratoga Campaign (1777).

References

Burgoyne vs. Gates: Saratoga: 1777, Rand Game Associates/ Gamut of Games (1974, 1976).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
The Battle of Saratoga, Oldenburg Grenadiers (1976).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Birth of a Nation, 3W (World Wide Wargames) (1982).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Saratoga, GMT (1998/2006/2014/2017).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Turning Point: The Battle of Freeman’s Farm September 19, 1777, BSO/Worthington Games (2001/2009).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Saratoga 1777 AD, Turning Point Games (2013).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
First Saratoga: Burgoyne’s Gambit, Decision Games (2015).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Saratoga 1777, Worthington Publishing (2017).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
The Campaigns of 1777, Decision Games (2019).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Adams, 1920] Adams, C. F. Campaign of 1777. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 44, 1910–11.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Allison and Ferreiro, 2018] Allison, D.K. & Ferreiro, L.D. (Eds) The American Revolution A World War. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2018.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Bender, 2019] Bender, T. Strategy & Tactics, (316, May-June 2019): ‘1777: Year of Decision’.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Bird, 1963] Bird, H. March to Saratoga: General Burgoyne and the American Campaign, 1777. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Black, 1991] Black, J. War for America: The Fight for Independence, 1775–1783. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Corbet, 2014] Corbett, T. No Turning Point: The Saratoga Campaign in Perspective. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Ferling, 2007] Ferling, J. Almost a Miracle: the American Victory in the War of Independence. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Glickstein, 2014] Glickstein, D. After Yorktown: The Final Struggle for American Independence. Yardley: Westholme, 2014. eBook.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Higginbotham, 1983] Higginbotham, D. The War of American Independence. Northeastern University Press, 1983.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Ketchum. 1997] Ketchum, R. M. Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War. New York: Henry Holt, 1997.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Logusz, 2010] Logusz, M. O. With Musket & Tomahawk: The Saratoga Campaign and the Wilderness War of 1777. Haverton PA: Casemate, 2010.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[O’Shaughnessy, 2014] O’Shaughnessy, A. The Men Who Lost America: British Command During the Revolutionary War and the Preservation of the Empire. London: Oneworld Publications, 2014.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Mackesy, 1964] Mackesy, P. The War for America 1775-1783. London: Longmans, 1964.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Morrissey, 2000] Morrissey, B. Saratoga 1777: Turning point of a revolution. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2000.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Nickerson, 1967] Nickerson, H. The Turning Point of the Revolution. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat, 1967.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Pancake, 1977] Pancake, J. S. 1777: The Year of the Hangman. University, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1977.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Russiello, 1972] Russiello, W.R., Albert, L.J., and Nofi, A.A. (1972) The Saratoga Campaign, 1777. Strategy & Tactics, (30), 18-28.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Snow, 2006] Snow, D. 1777: Tipping Point at Saratoga. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
[Suckling, 2017] Suckling. M. The CEA Critic (Vol 79, Number 1 March 2017): ‘Board with Meaning: reflections on the intersection between game design and historiography in the board games Twilight Struggle, The Lost Cause, and Quartermaster General: 1914.’10.1353/cea.2017.0007
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
The Wargamer, Number 18 Jan-Feb 1982, Hatton, P. ‘Birth of a Nation, Historical Background’.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
https://www.academia.edu/10108456/Logistics_Failure_of_General_Burgoyne
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/educational-services/staff-rides/Staff-Ride-Handbook-Saratoga-Campaign.pdf
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101015131541;view=1up;seq=13
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
http://clausewitz.com/readings/OnWar1873/BK1ch07.html
Search in Google Scholar Back to article