Thoughts...

This weekend represents the 21st anniversary of the outbreak of the Yugoslavian Civil Wars.  As someone who not only games the period, but also was watching it as it happened on the evening news, and studies it for the history of the last major war in mainland Europe as much as for a gaming backdrop; it is a sobering thought to think of the realities of the war.

And I know, it's something I bang on about on this blog every so often, but I do wish more wargamers took the time to think about the realities of what they are doing (and I don't buy the "but I only play fantasy games" defence either).  Clearly I'm not looking down my nose at us, kinda hypocritical to do that, but I think everyone who plays games that involve people trying to do away with one another should have a full understanding of why that happens and what it entails.

In an ideal world, wargamers would be the biggest advocates for peace, as we would have a full grasp of the horrors that come with real war.  That at least is how I see it, and not everyone has to, or ever will share my standpoint on justifying our hobby; but I'd rather gamers had an opinion one way or the other, than not getting the point I'm making at all.

In relation to the original subject, I picked up a copy of Anthony Loyd's book about his experiences in the Bosnian war over the weekend:



Obviously I've had no time to read it yet; but I'm sure it will be a valuable and informative read, from a variety of perspectives.

As another blogger might say at this point though.

Peace.