I have always been interested in table-top wargaming, especially in the Ancients period where I eventually settled on using the DBM rule-set. I dabbled with 'computer moderated' wargames for a while but found that the time needed to enter all the details into the PC just resulted in everything taking a lot longer - so to speed up games I went back to using pen and paper :-)
For a while I did play some computer based 'wargames', however I soon became disillusioned with the authors choice of unit 'characteristics' and 'combat effectiveness' which were always aimed at 'entertainment value' rather than any sort of 'realism' or 'simulation'. Recently, however, I stumbled across 'Crimson Fields', a simple hex-based wargame designed to run across multiple platforms from desktop computers (PC, Mac) to 'smart' phones and tablets (Android). Whilst it's another 'entertainment' game, what really made it different from all the rest was the small size of it's 'source code' and the fact that it was available under Open Source licence ! The small size meant that it could be 'understood' by one person (rather than needing a team of dozens) = so I decided to see if I could modify it meet my own requirements.
