Only a Game.

There seems to be a common theme running through various posts and also in the wargaming press, regarding wargamers who see my hobby as only a game, with very little relevance to war and the study of the whole subject of warfare.
 Now I havent seen any of the various quoted posts regarding the fact that wargaming is only a game and therefore there is no requirement or need to research the period that you are attempting to represent, so I can only speak from a subjective point of view, although if anyone can direct me to where these views are being discussed I would be very grateful.
 So is wargaming ''ONLY A GAME'' and therefore there is absolutely no need to know anything about the subject and period one is playing?
 Well my view is the whole beauty of wargaming is the fact that there is a need to understand the period one is wanting to fight, and without the basic understanding of what the war was about then you can never attempt to refight the period with any hope of representing the correct tactics and different types of army of the period of choice.
 Wargaming and the study of military history are synominous, and without the latter then wargamng is pretty pointless.
 As it is, there is always a risk that a wargamer may attempt to use some anachronistic tactic in an attempt to gain some gaming advantage, I think the most common being the use of a heavy skirmish screen in any historical period before the Revolutionary wars, and the other is the use of a Grand Battery prior to the Napoleonic wars.Both common mistakes.
 The problem that is arising is I think because of a trend towards smaller wargames, where the aim is to achieve a result in a few hours in a game that can be quickly packed away after it is finished, almost like a board game of old.
 There have been attempts in the recent past to provide a wargame, with everything that is needed for a wargamer, painted figures, a small board, and fairly simple rules, nothing wrong with these attempts, if this is viewed as a starting point for a new wargamer.
 The problem comes when the game takes over from the war part of the whole event.
 I am not saying that to be a wargamer one needs a massive table and loads of accurately painted figures, but I think its very easy to slide into the trap of believing that to wargame, all one needs is a few badly painted and researched figures, and a set of rules that 'explain' the background to the game or perhaps provides a 'list' which can then be used to select the players figures without having any knowledge of the history behind the period being fought. Basically a dumbing down of the hobby as a whole.
 Now I am certainly not implying that I am an intellectual giant [plus 4 on the combat dice] and that to take up wargaming one needs to have  a degree in history, but without a knowledge of the period what is the point!
  I know in the past I have banged on about the poor knowledge of would be new wargamers and have attributed this to my old fart's view that the English education system is basically not providing a decent education, history wise, and is letting down our young people.
  Lets be right, New Labour made the teaching of British History almost an anathema in schools, pouring scorn on anyone who attempted to give a opposing view to the opinion that our history had no place in their brave new world.
 Wargaming is what it is. An attempt to represent a battle or event from history, based upon an understanding of the said battle or war, but in the certain knowledge that one can never truly represent the battle, due to several things, ie hindsight, more knowledge than the real persons would have had at the time, and most importantly the ability to see what the other side is doing at any one time.
  But because of a wargamers understanding of the history, and their choice of a set of rules that they feel represents that period of history, then at least a flavour of the problems faced can be represented on a gaming table.
 The worrying thing for me would be if I came around to believing that wargaming was just a game with pretty counters, and  there had been absolutely no need to read copious accounts of battles, uniform guides, witness accounts and it had all been for naught, and in fact all I needed was to read the latest set of army lists and rules associated with the lists. God help us, I think I better lie down in a darkened room.