A "realistic" war game has many of the same problems as
Desert Bus. First things first, atrocities aside, someone out to kill you doesn't really care if it's "exciting".
Some of the fun-fun things about war I read during my research included artillery barrages lasting days (particularly WW1), "harassing" fire meant to deprive the enemy of rest or sleep, and cutting supply lines to starve out the enemy without fighting (highly recommended). IIRC I also read somewhere that ancient armies (long before germ theory) would try to set up camp upriver of their enemies so they'd drink the shit-tainted water and get cholera. I've read accounts of everything from slingers harassing water-bearers to dehydrate the enemy to using children as suicide bombers. The latter wasn't just to kill; a traumatized enemy was just as neutralized as one taken down with a bullet or disease.
Historically, a soldier more often died of starvation or disease than combat. Fast, slow, didn't matter, as long as you were removed from the battlefield. The symbol of war really shouldn't be some bearded guy with an assault rifle, but rather an emaciated teenager with a thousand-yard stare shitting his brains out and then falling over dead.
Sounds like a fun game, eh?
