Historical themes have been a part of games for some time. They run the gamut from detailed simulations to themes that are "pasted-on" superficially in order to make the rules more memorable.
It is interesting, once again, to compare the medium to the film industry, where historical themes also turn up in a variety of ways. In movie theaters, we can, for example, watch a documentary that is often very true to life. Then there are the films that are based on a true story. And finally, there are those that can only claim to be "inspired by a true story."
In board game design, war games have the most similarity to documentaries. Their main purpose is to reenact a particular battle or war, and the details are important, even if it means pages of rules to remember.
Then there are Euro games which try to capture the flavor of a particular historical setting, such as building up the island of Puerto Rico or the routes of Germany's early horse-drawn postal service. Most Euros, however, abstract the theme to such a degree, that the historical content would fall into the "inspired by a true story" category.
Is this such a bad thing?
