Into the Breach

Deployment Mechanics in Analog and Digital Strategic Games: A Historical and Theoretical Framework

Deployment, the phase in which players place forces on a board or digital battlefield, is examined here as a revealing mechanic for understanding military-themed strategy games.

• Deployment, the phase where players place forces on the board, is used as a lens for understanding military-themed strategy games and their relationship to military interests and the liminal status of play.
• The study limits its scope to wargames, which simulate real battle conditions, rather than stylized strategy games such as Chess, and distinguishes strategically meaningful deployment from non-strategic set-up.
• Analog wargames such as Third Reich and Squad Leader use full information and reactivity, making deployment a consequential decision, whereas digital adaptations often black-box or simplify the phase and introduce fog of war, making deployment speculative.