Fantasy wargame
A fantasy wargame is a wargame that involves a fantastical setting and employs rules for elements such as magic and non-human intelligent creatures.
History
The rise in popularity of wargaming from the 1950s to the 1970s largely coincided with the rise in popularity of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novel. By the 1960s, a new genre of game was gaining momentum as more players introduced rules for battle that featured characters such as wizards and dragons and role-playing organizations began to emerge across the United States.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 led to the development of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Fantasy writer Greg Stafford created the board wargame White [Bear and Red Moon] to explore conflicts in his fantasy world Glorantha, though it did not see publication until 1974.