The Gamers
The Gamers was a wargaming company founded and run by Dean Essig in Homer, Illinois. Their distinction was the focus on a few series, with special rules for each individual game. This made it easier to play new games within a series that was well known to the players. Homercon, a convention for The Gamers games was held each September in Homer, IL from 1990 until 2012. This company was bought out by Multi-Man Publishing in 2001 who continues to publish new materials for the original Gamers series and new games and game series designed by Dean Essig.
Games
The Gamers produce games in several different series:- CWB – The Civil War Brigade Series simulates battles at the brigade level during the American Civil War.
- RSS/LoB – The Regimental Sub-System Series / Line of Battle simulates battles at the regimental level during the American Civil War.
- TCS – The Tactical Combat Series simulates 20th century platoon level battles.
- OCS – The Operational Combat Series simulates 20th century battles at levels ranging from battalions to divisions.
- SCS – The Standard Combat Series is a general system which is easy and allows simulation of a wide range of battles.
- NBS – The Napoleonic Brigade Series simulates brigade level battles during the Napoleonic Wars.
- BCS – The Battalion Combat Series simulates 20th century battles at the battalion level.
- The Modern TCS series has been discontinued.
| Game | Subject | Year | Designer | Category | Notes |
| 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, & a 3rd Bull Run? | 2004 | Thomas Prowell | CWB 14 | CSR award nominee |
| Strike Them a Blow | North Anna | 2006 | Bob Munns | CWB 15 | |
| 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 | 2019 | Dean Essig | LoB 3 | |
| 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 | Dean Essig | TCS 5 | CSR award nominee |
| Hunters From the Sky | 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 | 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 | |
| Force Eagle's War | 1990 | Dean Essig | Modern TCS | ||
| 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 |
| 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 | 2015 | Roland LeBlanc | OCS 14 | ||
| Tunisia II | Tunisia | 2016 | Dean Essig | OCS 15 | |
| Operational Matters: OCS Guide | Sicily | 2016 | Dean Essig | OCS 16 | |
| Smolensk:Barbarossa Derailed | Battle of Smolensk | 2018 | Hans Kishel | OCS 17 | |
| 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 | 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 | |
| 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 | SCS 17 | |
| Day of Days | The first days after D-Day | 2015 | Lee Forester | SCS 18 | |
| Panzer Battles | The Battle for the Chir River, 1942 | 2016 | Dean Essig | SCS 19 | |
| Autumn for Barbarossa | Battle of Smolensk | 2017 | Dean Essig | SCS 20 | |
| 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 |
| Last Blitzkrieg | The Ardennes Offensive | 2016 | Dean Essig | BCS 1 | |
| Baptism by Fire | Battle of Kasserine Pass | 2017 | Dean Essig | BCS 2 | |
| Brazen Chariots | Battle for Tobruk | 2019 | Dean Essig | BCS 3 | |
| Circus Minimus | Chariot racing | 2000 | Dean Essig |