Wargamer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who participates in recreational activities involving the strategic representation of warfare through game mechanics and often uses miniature figures to engage in simulated combat scenarios
2. An individual who enjoys complex board or tabletop games centered around military tactics, often involving detailed models to depict various units and historical battles
3. A person engaged in the hobby of simulating military conflicts via strategic games that frequently involve the use of miniature figures to represent troops and battles

Etymology: "Wargamer" is a compound of "war" and "gamer," joining two words that each carry a long history of their own. "War" comes from Old French "guerre," itself borrowed from a Germanic source, while "gamer" is the agent form of "game," so a wargamer is simply someone who plays games about war. The hobby the word names, staging battles with strategy rules and often with painted miniature soldiers, is the sort of pastime where the compound fits its meaning exactly, with no metaphor needed. Because the word is built from two plain parts, its meaning follows directly from them. The "gamer" element has broadened over the past few decades to cover people who play video games, and "wargamer" sits comfortably beside it as a more specific label for those who prefer tabletop or board play centred on conflict.

Synonyms: strategist