Analog Simulation and the Indian Wars: Encountering the Other Through Board Wargames

Abstract

Combining a historical perspective and game studies and using information from the BoardGameGeek online database, we analyze how board wargames simulate the Indian wars and represent Native North Americans. Based on 125 games published between 1960 and 2023, first, we identified the main historical moments reproduced, followed by an iconographic and formal analysis of these games. The conclusions reveal that, like other cultural products (novels, films, or video games), the focus is on the mythical founding moments of the history of the United States, mainly the late 19th-century war on the prairies and conflicts between European powers to gain control of the continent. Despite everything, it is observed that board wargames do not avoid traumatic themes such as raids on settlements and that in recent years there have been dynamics that offer new themes and perspectives dealing with the subject.