What is wargaming?
Wargaming is the simulation of historical or fictional battles using figures, models or markers to represent the units and a set of rules which define the movement and combat. The playing surface is laid out to represent the battlefield with terrain and buildings, movement and ranges measured using tape measures and the chance element handled by throws of the dice.

There are three basic types of game: Battlefield - where a single battle is fought using figures to represent whole units; Skirmish - where each figure or model represents a single individual; and the Campaign game, which is fought using maps to move armies, culminating in battles fought wih figures.

Above: A Medieval siege wargame in progress

Below: American paratroopers launch an attack on a Normandy town during a WW2 skirmish game

What periods are played?
Anything. As history is continuous, so battles can be fought from the earliest times when man fought with stone axes to the future with battles in space.

History is usually broken down into the following distinct periods:

	Ancient	The pre-gunpowder age
	Medieval	The age of armour
	Renaissance	Horse and Musket
	18th Century	Development of professional armies
	Napoleonic	Massed firepower, massed armies
	19th Century	Hordes versus firepower
	20th Century	Includes WW1, WW2 and modern
	Fantasy & Sci-Fi	Whatever your imagination allows