Turn-based Nerds, in Three Generations
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To first understand the tactical nerd, particularly the simulationist, you need to understand the origin of the genre. Many simulationists were hardcore gamers before anyone they knew even owned a computer. That's because the turn-based strategy began on paper and cardboard with the board game. Long before the first computer games, nerds everywhere were getting their kicks on tabletops with miniature wargaming and even pen and paper RPGs like D&D. Risk's release and subsequent success in 1957 probably pushed a lot of these young gamers into this enthusiasm, but many more came from a much more unlikely source: sports. Indeed, some of the most loved and respected proto-TBS games were sports titles like Strat-O-Matic Baseball and Football. These games allowed players to enter what could be considered a realistic simulation of war or sports, respectively, and make decisions and learn what their real-life consequences would be.
A major fallback for these games, though, is that they're limited to simple math and even simpler randomized probability; if a ten-year-old couldn't do it with a pad of paper and a six-sided die, the game would have a hard time gaining any traction. Over the seventies and eighties, however, the reality of personal computers began to dawn on these gamers, and the reality of a truer, more realistic turn-based strategy was more apparent as well. Many of these tactical nerds began trying their hand at translating their favourite board games to the computer, and eventually, some made entirely new ways to simulate reality.
