This is not exactly breaking news – so apologies if you’ve heard it before – but it’s a new one on me.

Apparently, we have wargaming to thank for the Allies winning WWII.  According to no less an authority than Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the US Navy in the Pacific:

“ …the war with Japan had been re-enacted in the game rooms here by so many people and in so many different ways that nothing that happened during the war was a surprise – absolutely nothing…”

Quite a testimonial to the hobby, although Nimitz did add the caveat:

“…absolutely nothing except the kamikaze tactics towards the end of the war; we had not visualized those.”

There’s probably a set of rules that covers that now. So next time the significant other moans about the time you’re wasting on wargaming, just tell them that all the practice will come in handy in the event of World War III.