[M]ost people will guess "A ketchup genius?" Wargamers will be ones who answer: "The German general who invented modern tank warfare, and who wrote a famous memoir, Panzer Leader."
That's from a very interesting article on the intersection of geek culture and all matters military. I think, in addition, that geeks are drawn to situations where the gloves come off, the normally Byzantine rules of society (that geeks are notorious for barely understanding) are cast by the wayside, and the geeks can finally flex their full mental muscles in an ultimate test of mind, will, and body. Sometimes that means war, but it also shows up a lot in survival fiction.
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I know who he was - way back, before I'd even heard of D&D, I was a wargamer and had the Tank Battles in Miniature series by Bruce Quarrie. Big black arrows stabbing out from Germany across Poland, France, the Low Countries, Russia.
Those were the days.
Loved Squad Leader too - two of the AH d6 are still in my dice bag.
Thank you very much for the link to the article. Both the article itself and your lines affirm my assumption that geekdom is one of the last refuges for male bonding outside sports. Up to know, I've been unable to point my finger at any plausible reason whatsover, but besides one's will to totally delve into a given subject, the geeky fascination for military aspects may very well be a lead worth pursuing.
He said -
"Logistics is the ball and chain of armored warfare."
; - )
You have to read the book - great reading. Not just for wargamers...
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