A fantasy wargame is a wargame

Wargaming

A wargame is a strategy game that deals with military operations of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as...

 that involves a fantastical

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 setting

Setting (fiction)

In fiction, setting includes the time, location, and everything in which a story takes place, and initiates the main backdrop and mood for a story. Setting has been referred to as story world or milieu to include a context beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may...

, and employs rules for elements such as magic

Magic (gaming)

Some role-playing games or game systems can include a set of rules that are used to portray magic in the paranormal sense. These rules simulate the effects that magic would have within the game context, according to how the game designer intended the magic to be portrayed...

 and non-human intelligent creatures.

History

The rise in popularity in wargaming of the 1950s

1950s in games

-Significant games-related events in the 1950s:*Avalon Hill Game Company founded by Charles S. Roberts to publish the first board wargame, Tactics. For many years Avalon Hill was a dominant maker of wargames....

 through to the 1970s largely coincided with the rise in popularity of J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

novel. While wargaming was initially focused on historical subjects, other subjects also emerged. In the late 1960s, linguist M. A. R. Barker

M. A. R. Barker

Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker is a retired professor of Urdu and South Asian Studies who created one of the first roleplaying games, Empire of the Petal Throne, and has authored several fantasy/science fantasy novels based in his associated world setting of Tékumel.-Early life:Born in Spokane,...

 began to use wargame-like sessions to develop his fantasy creation Tékumel

Tékumel

Tékumel is a fantasy world created by Professor M. A. R. Barker over the course of several decades from around 1940. With time Barker also created the role-playing game Empire of the Petal Throne, set in the Tékumel fictional universe and first published in 1975 by TSR, Inc...

. In 1970

1970 in games

This page lists board and card games, wargames, and miniatures games published in 1970....

, the New England Wargamers Association demonstrated a fantasy wargame called Middle Earth at a convention of the Military Figure Collectors Association. The fantasy supplement to Chainmail

Chainmail (game)

Chainmail is a medieval miniatures wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the game with fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association member Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly, and the game was first published in 1971...

(1971

1971 in games

This page lists board and card games, wargames, and miniatures games published in 1971. For video and console games, see 1971 in video gaming....

) led to the development of the role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

 Dungeons and Dragons. Fantasy writer Greg Stafford

Greg Stafford

Francis Gregory Stafford , usually known as Greg Stafford, is an American game designer, publisher and shaman.-Glorantha and gaming:...

 created the board wargame White Bear and Red Moon

White Bear and Red Moon

White Bear and Red Moon is a fantasy board wargame set in the world of Glorantha, created by Greg Stafford and published in 1975. Stafford set up the Chaosium game publishing company solely to produce and market the game....

to explore conflicts in his fantasy world Glorantha

Glorantha

Glorantha is the Fantasy world created by Greg Stafford and since used as the background for several role-playing games, including RuneQuest , Hero Wars and HeroQuest , as well as several works of fiction and the computer strategy game King of Dragon Pass...

, though it did not see publication until 1974

1974 in games

This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 1974. For video and console games, see 1974 in video gaming.-Game awards given in 1974:...

.