The Gamers

This article is about the wargaming company. For other uses, see Gamer (disambiguation).

The Gamers was a designer and publisher of board wargames that, over the course of 20 years, won over a dozen Charles S. Roberts Awards.

History

The Gamers was founded in 1988 by game designer and artist Dean Essig in Homer, Illinois.[1] Instead of designing a new game system for each game, Essig decided that The Gamers would produce a number of games, but categorized into different series. The games in each series would use a common set of rules. Each game within the series would also have a subset of rules to deal with situations unique to that battle.

The company's games received good critical reception, and won a total of 14 Charles S. Roberts Awards.

The Gamers was bought by Multi-Man Publishing in 2001. Multi-Man continued to use the services of Essig as game designer until his death in 2024.[2] Multi-Man publishes new materials for the original Gamers series as well as new games and new game series.

Series

The Gamers produced games in seven different series:

  • Civil War Brigade (CWB): American Civil War battles at the brigade level.
  • Regimental Sub-System Series / Line of Battle (RSS/LoB): American Civil War battles at the regimental level.
  • Tactical Combat Series (TCS): 20th-century platoon level battles.
  • Operational Combat Series (OCS): 20th-century battles at battalion and division levels.
  • Standard Combat Series (SCS): General system that allows simulation of a wide range of battles.
  • Napoleonic Brigade Series (NBS): Brigade-level battles during the Napoleonic Wars.
  • Battalion Combat Series (BCS): 20th-century battles at the battalion level.

(One game, Circus Minimus, was not categorized. A new category, Modern Tactical Combat, was announced but no games were ever published for it.)

Homercon

Homercon, a convention for The Gamers games, was held each September in Homer from 1990 until 2012.

List of games

Civil War Brigade Series

Game Subject Year Designer Series Number Awards
In Their Quiet Fields Antietam 1988 Dean Essig CWB 1
In Their Quiet Fields II Antietam 1995 Dean Essig CWB 1a
Thunder at the Crossroads Gettysburg 1988 Dave Powell CWB 2
Thunder at the Crossroads II Gettysburg 1992 Dave Powell CWB 2a
August Fury 2nd Battle of Bull Run 1990 Dave Powell CWB 3
Barren Victory Chickamauga 1991 Dave Powell CWB 4
Bloody Roads South The Wilderness 1992 James Epperson CWB 5
Perryville Perryville 1992 Dave Powell CWB 6
Embrace an Angry Wind Spring Hill & Franklin 1992 Dean Essig CWB 7
No Better Place to Die Murfreesboro 1994 Dave Powell CWB 8 CSR award nominee
April's Harvest Shiloh 1995 Al Wambold CWB 9 CSR award nominee
Champion Hill Champion Hill 1996 Ken Jacobsen CWB 10 CSR award nominee
Gaines Mill Seven Days Battle I 1997 Dave Powell CWB 11 CSR award nominee
Seven Pines Seven Pines & Seven Days Battle II 1998 Dean Essig CWB 12
Malvern Hill Seven Days Battle III 1999 Dean Essig CWB 13 CSR award nominee
Three Battles of Manassas 1st & 2nd Bull Run, hypothetical 3rd Bull Run 2004 Thomas Prowell CWB 14 CSR award nominee
Strike Them a Blow North Anna 2006 Bob Munns CWB 15

Regimental Sub-System Series / Line of Battle

Game Subject Year Designer Series Number Awards
This Hallowed Ground Gettysburg 1998 Dave Powell RSS 1 CSR award nominee
This Terrible Sound Chickamauga 2000 Dave Powell RSS 2 CSR award nominee
A Fearful Slaughter Shiloh 2004 Dave Powell RSS 3 CSR award nominee
South Mountain South Mountain 2008 Dave Powell RSS 4
None But Heroes Antietam 2011 Dean Essig LoB 1 CSR award WINNER
Last Chance for Victory Gettysburg 2014 Dean Essig LoB 2
To Take Washington Monocacy, Fort Stevens 2019 Dean Essig LoB 3
No Turning Back Battle of the Wilderness 2026 Dean Essig LoB 4

Tactical Combat Series

Game Subject Year Designer Series Number Awards
Bloody 110th Battle of the Bulge 1989 Dean Essig TCS 1 CSR award nominee
Objective: Schmidt Hürtgen Forest, Ardennes Campaign 1990 Dave Powell TCS 2 CSR award nominee
Omaha Omaha 1991 Dave Powell TCS 3
Matanikau Matanikau River 1993 Sam Simons TCS 4
GD '40 Stonne, Battle of France 1993 Wig Graves TCS 5 CSR award nominee
Hunters from the Sky[3] Maleme Airfield, Battle of Crete 1994 Wig Graves TCS 6 CSR award nominee
Black Wednesday Krasny Bor 1995 Dave Friedrichs TCS 7 CSR award nominee
Leros: The Island Prize Leros 1996 Dave Friedrichs TCS 8
GD '41 Tula Road, Battle of Moscow 1996 Wig Graves TCS 9 CSR award WINNER
Semper Fi! Korean War 1997 Lee Forester TCS 10 CSR award WINNER
Raging Storm Anzio, Allied invasion of Italy 1997 Nigel Roberts & Bob Runnicles TCS 11
A Frozen Hell Tolvajärvi, Winter War 2000 Al Wambold TCS 12 CSR award nominee
Screaming Eagles in Holland Veghel, Operation Market Garden 2002 Nigel Roberts & Bob Runnicles TCS 13
Bloody Ridge Guadalcanal, Bloody Ridge 2005 Michael Smith TCS 14
GD'42 Operation Mars 2009 Wig Graves TCS 15
Canadian Crucible Norrey-en-Bessin, Battle of Normandy 2013 Larry Brien TCS 16
Ariete First Battle of Bir el Gubi 2020 Mauro De Vita TCS 17
Goose Green Battle of Goose Green 2023 Carl Fung TCS 18
Force Eagle's War (Hypothetical NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict) 1990 Dean Essig Modern TCS

Operational Combat Series

Game Subject Year Designer Series Number Awards
Guderian's Blitzkrieg Operation Barbarossa 1992 Dean Essig OCS 1 CSR award nominee
Enemy at the Gates Stalingrad 1994 Dean Essig OCS 2 CSR award WINNER
Tunisia Tunisia 1995 Dean Essig OCS 3 CSR award WINNER
Hube's Pocket Western Ukraine 1996 Dave Friedrichs OCS 4 CSR award nominee
DAK Western Desert Campaign 1997 Dean Essig OCS 5 CSR award WINNER
Burma Burma Campaign 1999 Dave Friedrichs OCS 6 CSR award WINNER
Sicily Sicily 2000 Dean Essig OCS 7 CSR award WINNER (tie)
Guderian's Blitzkrieg II Operation Barbarossa 2001 Dean Essig OCS 8 CSR award nominee
Korea: The Forgotten War Korean War 2003 Rod Miller OCS 9 CSR award nominee
Case Blue Case Blue & Stalingrad 2007 Dean Essig OCS 10 CSR award WINNER
Baltic Gap Baltic Offensive 2009 John Kisner & Hans Mielants OCS 11
The Blitzkrieg Legend Battle of France 2012 Hans Kishel OCS 12
Reluctant Enemies Syria–Lebanon Campaign 2014 Curtis Baer OCS 13
Beyond the Rhine Northwestern Europe Campaign 2015 Roland LeBlanc OCS 14
Tunisia II Tunisia 2016 Dean Essig OCS 15
Operational Matters: OCS Guide (Sicily II insert) Sicily 2016 Dean Essig (game) OCS 16
Smolensk:Barbarossa Derailed Battle of Smolensk (1941) 2018 Hans Kishel OCS 17
Hungarian Rhapsody Siege of Budapest 2020 Stéphane Acquaviva OCS 18 CSR award nominee
The Third Winter Battle of the Dnieper 2022 Antony Birkett OCS 19 CSR award nominee
Crimea: Conquest and Liberation Crimean campaign & Crimean offensive 2023 Guy Wilde & Antony Birkett OCS 20
Luzon: Race for Bataan Philippines campaign (1941–1942) 2024 Matsuura Yutaka OCS 21
The Forgotten Battles Smolensk operation 2025 Antony Birkett OCS 22

Standard Combat System

Game Subject Year Designer Series Number Awards
Stalingrad Pocket Stalingrad 1992 Masahiro Yamazaki SCS 1 CSR award WINNER
Stalingrad Pocket II Stalingrad 1996 Dean Essig SCS 1
Afrika Western Desert Campaign 1993 Dean Essig SCS 2 CSR award WINNER
Afrika II Western Desert Campaign 2006 Dean Essig SCS 12 CSR award nominee
Ardennes Battle of the Bulge 1994 Dean Essig SCS 3 CSR award nominee
Yom Kippur Sinai Front, Yom Kippur War 1995 Al Sandrick SCS 4 CSR award WINNER
Crusader Operation Crusader 1997 Dean Essig SCS 5 CSR award nominee
Gazala Gazala 1999 Dean Essig SCS 6 CSR award nominee
Drive on Paris Western Front 1914 2000 Al Wambold SCS 7 CSR award WINNER
Fallschirmjäger Airborne assault against Holland 1940 2001, 2026 Al Wambold SCS 8 CSR award nominee
Operation Michael Operation Michael 2002 John Best SCS 9
The Mighty Endeavor Operation Overlord to V-E Day 2005 Steve Newhouse & Tim Armstrong SCS 10 CSR award nominee
Guadalajara The Battle of Guadalajara in 1936 2006 Ernesto Sassot SCS 11
Rock of the Marne The last German offensive in WW1 2008 John Best SCS 12
Bastogne Siege of Bastogne, Battle of the Bulge 2009 Dean Essig SCS 13
Karelia '44 Karelian Offensive, Continuation War 2011 Ken Jacobsen SCS 14
It Never Snows Operation Market-Garden 2012 Dean Essig SCS 15 CSR award nominee
Heights of Courage Golan Heights, Yom Kippur War 2012 Steve Newhouse SCS 16
The Mighty Endeavor: 2nd Edition Operation Overlord to V-E Day 2013 Dean Essig (expansion) SCS 17
Day of Days Normandy Landings from D-Day to D+9 2015 Lee Forester SCS 18
Panzer Battles The Battle for the Chir River, 1942 2016 Dean Essig SCS 19
Autumn for Barbarossa (Spec OPS #7) Battle of Smolensk (1941) 2017 Dean Essig SCS 20
Rostov '41 Battle of Rostov 2020 Ray Weiss SCS 21
North Africa Western Desert Campaign 2021 Dean Essig SCS 22
Iron Curtain Hypothetical NATO-Warsaw Pact offensives, 1945-1989 2020 Carl Fung SCS 23 CSR award nominee
Ardennes II Battle of the Bulge 2023 Dean Essig SCS 25

Napoleonic Brigade Series

Austerlitz Austerlitz 1993 Dave Powell NBS 1 CSR award nominee
Marengo Marengo 1995 Dave Powell NBS 2 CSR award nominee
Aspern-Essling Aspern-Essling 1999 Jerry Malone NBS 3
Espinosa Espinosa 2002 Anders Fager NBS freebie
Montebello Montebello 2006 François Vander Meulen NBS freebie
Talavera Talavera & Vimeiro 2007 Jerry Malone & Anders Fager NBS 4 CSR award nominee

Battalion Combat Series

Last Blitzkrieg Battle of the Bulge 2016 Dean Essig BCS 1
Baptism by Fire Battle of Kasserine Pass 2017 Dean Essig BCS 2
Brazen Chariots Operation Crusader, Siege of Tobruk, Operation Brevity, Operation Battleaxe, Operation Skorpion 2019 Jim Daniels BCS 3 CSR award nominee
Panzers Last Stand Operation Konrad, Siege of Budapest, Operation Southwind, Operation Spring Awakening 2021 Carl Fung BCS 4 CSR award nominee
Arracourt Battle of Arracourt 2022 Carl Fung BCS 5 CSR award nominee
Valley of Tears Yom Kippur War 2023 Carl Fung BCS 6 CSR award WINNER
Inflection Point Battle of Kalach and Battle of Chir River 2025 Dean Essig and Carl Fung BCS 7
Danger Foward Battle of Gela 2026 Dean Essig and Carl Fung BCS 8

Uncategorized

Circus Minimus Chariot racing 2000 Dean Essig —

References

  1. ^ Essig, Dean; Davidson, Larry (2015). "Standard Combat Series: Series Rules, ver 1.8" (PDF). Multi-Man Publishing. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  2. ^ Didymus-True, Mike (26 March 2024). "Tributes pour in after death of award-winning veteran wargame designer Dean Essig". Board Game Wire. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  3. ^ "Pyramid: Pyramid Pick: Hunters from the Sky". www.sjgames.com.
  • The Gamers Archive Rules, errata, etc. for all of The Gamers games
  • MMP Producers of current The Gamers products and brand owner of older games

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