No Man's Land - historical board games' position between entertainment and education (Topic Discussion)

Historical board games occupy an awkward space in our hobby. They
are usually not designed to teach history in any formal sense,
and they are also not entertaining in the sense of being fun.
These games stop short of education, offering no syllabus, no
claims of being a detailed treatise of their setting, and no
obligation to explain themselves. The subject matter historical
board games draw on, war, exploitation, inequality, famine, and
systemic violence, doesn't suit the lightness or escapism people
often expect when playing board games as a leisure activity. The
result is a form of play that somehow feels serious but
incomplete. In this article, I want to explore this in more
detail.


Read the full article here:
https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/02/24/no-mans-land-historical-board-games-position-between-entertainment-and-education-topic-discussion/


Useful Links


Amabel Holland's blog Hollandazed: Thoughts, Ideas, and
Miscellany:
https://hollandspiele.com/blogs/hollandazed-thoughts-ideas-and-miscellany

Jeremiah McCall's Gaming the Past: https://gamingthepast.net/






Music


Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot
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Music:


Color In The Dark by Øraeth |
https://soundcloud.com/itsoraeth
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
(CC BY-ND 4.0)
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hidden thoughts by Øraeth |
https://soundcloud.com/itsoraeth
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
(CC BY-ND 4.0)
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a voice low by Øraeth | https://soundcloud.com/itsoraeth
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
(CC BY-ND 4.0)
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Perilune by AERØHEAD | https://soundcloud.com/aerohead
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA
3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US


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