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War Game
Edited byjohn Curry
Verdy’s ‘liree Kriegspiel’ was first primed as The Tactical \‘C"argat11c
(1876), :1 Tmnslation ofthe General V. Vetdy Du Vernois ‘Beitrag '/run
Kreigsspiel’ by]. R. l\I:1cd0nell by \‘C'illiam Clowes and Sons Ltd in 1884.
The Victorian /\rm_v’s Wargame was firstpublished in 1896 as the \‘('21r
Office Rules for the Conduct ofthe \Y/ar—Ga111e on a Map by Her
Majest_\"s Stationary Office.
This F,dition printed 2008 by Lulu.c0m
Other books byjohn Curry
Donald Fe2ttherst0ne’s \\7’ar Games
The Fredlane Naval \‘C"arga1nc
Donald Featherstone’s Skjrmish Wargaming
Pzicldy Gri’ffith’s Napoleonic \‘(r"argaming for Fun
ISBN 9784-4092-2796-0
©john Curry
Table of Contents
Introduction to Kriegsspiel ..5
....................................................
The History ofBritish Kriegsspiel ..6
.........................................
Howto playthe TacticalWargame or‘Free Kriegsspiel’ ..9
......
THE TACTICALWAR GAME ..l1
.............................................
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 12
..........................................................
PREFACE 14
.............................................................................................
THECONDUCTOFAWARGAME 19
............................................
INTRODUCTION. 21
............................................................................
CONDITIONSAND PREPARATIONS UPTOTHEBEGINNING
OFTHEGAMEUPONTHEPLAN. 23
............................................
1- CONDITIONS FORCAPTAIN A. (EASTERN DETACHMENT)
26
.................................................................................................................
1-CONDITIONSFORCAPTAINA. (EASTERNDETACHMENT)
26
.................................................................................................................
2.—CONDITIONS FORCAPTAIN X. (WESTERN
DETACHMENT.) 27
..............................................................................
COMMENCEMENTOFTHEEXERCISE. 31
................................
COMMENCEMENTOFTHEGAMEONTHEPLANS.36
1.ADVANCEOFBOTHDETACHMENTS,AND
RECONNOISSANCEBYTHEFOREMOSTSQUADRONS36
2. RETREATOFTHECAVALRYOFTHEEASTERN
DETACHMENTTOTHEOTHERSIDEOFTHE PLEISSE. S4
3. FLANKMARCHOFTHEWESTERNDETACHMENTTOTHE
RIGHT, FROMGAUTZSCHTO CHATEAU MARCK
KLEEBERG 60
.........................................................................................
4. RECONNAISSANCEANDADVANCETOWARDS
CONNEWITZ BYTHEWESTDETACHMENT, ALONGTHE
RIGHTBANKOFTHEPLEISSE 69
.................................................
5. ENGAGEMENTATCONNEWITZ. 79
.......................................
6. END OFTHEACTIONANDRETREATOFTHEWESTERN
DETACHMENT 99
.................................................................................
THEDISCUSSION. 101
...........................................................................
CONCLUDING REMARKS 109
............................................................
APPF.NDICliS ..11()
...................................................................................
The Victorian Army’s 1896 War Game ..115
...................................
CHAPTER 1. GHNERALDESCRIPTION OFTHEGAME. 116
..
CI-IAPTER 11. MODEorCONDUCTING THE GAME. 122
.......
(jH,»\PTF,R 111. RULES FORTHE GUIDANCE OFTHE UMPIRES.
................................................................................................................. 126
(IHAPT}iR IV. RULICS FORTHEGUIDANCEOFTHE PLAYERS.
................................................................................................................. 135
CHAPTER V.THE 1\1r\PSr\ND PIECES 136
.....................................
CHAPTERVI. RATF.S()1“-MARCHING ..138
...................................
CHAPTERVII. LF.NGTH O17COLUMNS ON MARCH 140
.........
Appendices for Kriegspiel ..153
......................................................
APPENDIX 1: DMIX AI)\u-\N(:H DlsT.»\NC1«;s 154
...................................
/\PI’HNDI>( 2: D,»\n.\'MARCHING DISTANCES 156
................................
A1>1>1;N1)1x 3: DlSTANCI~'.SATWH1C1—1TROOPS MAYBE
DISTINGI11511141) BYTONY I-L»\\\"'KINS.............................................. 157
/\l’Pl€f\Jl)l.‘{ 4: RAn.TRANsI=ORT BY GL‘\' PARISH ..158
.........................
/'\PP1-ZNl)lX 5: BA’m,l=‘, P1,ANNIN(.;Tl1\Il’.S 1940-cURR1«;N’1‘DA\‘.. 161
Introduction to Kriegsspiel
ere did wargaming start? is a question periodically asked
by wargamers. There are many potential answers, ranging
fromjohn Clerk’s naval wargame of 1700, to the abstract
Chinese games, such as ‘Go’ or Chinese Chess, but the
Prussian Kriegsspiel has perhaps one ofthe stronger cases.
In 1811, Two young Prussian Princes, Fredrick and William,
learnt ofa wargame invented by Herr VOI'1 Reisswitz who was living in
Berlin. They were in intrigued by the idea and soon Reisswitz was
given a room in the palace to build a large plaster contoured model of
countryside at the arbitrary scale of26 inches to the mile. The troops
were represented by wooden blocks with coloured paper stuck on
them. The games were regulated by a set ofrules to decide the crucial
matters such as movement and firing. Within a year, the king himself
started to play the wargame.
The development ofthe game was then led by Von
Rcisswitz’s son, who turned the rules for the game into something
resembling a simulation ofwar. The playing area model was replaced
with more practical maps at a scale of8 inches to 1 mile. Dice were
introduced to represent the element ofchance in war. The two sides
were labelled as ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’; a naming convention that is still in
wargaming.
In 1824, Reisswitz gave a lecture on the game to the general
staff, followed by a demonstration. The Prussian ChiefofStaff,
General Muffling, received the game somewhat coldly at first, ‘but as
the operations expanded on the map, and move by move the
combatants worked out their plans, the old genetal’s face lit up, and at
last he broke out with enthusiasm: ‘It’s not a game at all, it’s training
for war. I shall recommend it enthusiastically to the whole army".
Professionally wargamingwas then established.
Quoted in Wilkinsin S.E.r:qy.r on tbe Wargame, London, 1887
1
The History ofBritish Kriegsspiel
he Prussian Army readily took to Kriegsspiel as a new training
tool, but in Britain, the army ignored the developments on the
continent. \‘C“'hat finally caught the British \‘(/arOffice attention
was almost certainly the success ofthe Prussian military in the Franco
Prussian Warof 187071 and the published claim by some Prussian
Officers that their wargames made an important contribution to their
victory.
The British Official Rules for the Conduct ofthe Wargame were
published in 1872. initially, they were a reprint ofthe 1824 Prussian
game, hence were somewhat dated, but over the next twenty years the
rules were updated by various British officers. Curiously enough, the
most ardent enthusiasts for the rules were amongst the Volunteers (the
part—time force raised to defend key points during the French invasion
scare of 1859 onwards).
As the game became more competitive, the rules needed to be
tighter and more rigid. The downside ofthis became apparent on the
continent as tactical reality became submerged by the rule book. On
occasions, the games produced results that defied military logic. In 1876,
Verdy du Vernois, produced a new version of kriegspiel, ‘Beitrag zum
Kriegsspiel’. This largely dispensed with the rules and the dice, instead
relying on the sound military judgementofthe umpire to arbitrate the
actions in the wargame.
This ‘free Kriegsspiel game’was translated by_].R.MacDonell in
1884 and published as ‘The Tactical Wargame by General_]. yon Verdy
du Vernoi’ after first being published in serial form in the Volunteer
Service Gazette.
Although free Kriegspiels aim to dispense with rules, tables of
data about movement distances, match column lengths, weapon ranges
and some guidelines about combat outcomes need to be prepared before
the game could commence. The Victorian War Game of 1896, used by
the British army, was an example ofrules which turned the free
Kriegspiel concept into a practical game or military exercise.
Soon afterwards, the free Kriegsspiel concept took its next
logical step and was beingused to run strategic level wargames. The
earliestexample ofsuch a British game I have foundwas the Defence of
Indiawargame, run atSimla (1903) by the Committee ofImperial
Defence.
‘Free Kriegspiels’ became an established partofplanningand
training for the military around the world. Theyhad significantinfluence
on various countries warplans. Thejapanesegamed ‘Pearl Harbour’,
while Admiral Nimitz, leadingtheAmerican side, gamed almost every
operation and later said thatdue towargaming, nothingthathappenedin
thewarwas a surprise except the Kamikazesz. An interesting example, in
Fugate and Dvortesky’s work about the Russian defeat ofHitler’s
Blitzkrieg, includes an entire chapter to discussinghow the Russian
wargames ofearly 1941 shaped the Russian defensive strategyofdefence
in depth.3
1 have slightly changed the use ofindentation to make the
original text clearer and I have added a few notes whereI thought further
claritywas required. These are in brackets and annotated with the initials
]C to differentiate them from the original text.
3PeterPerla(1990)TheArtofWargamingpage73.\Whileconcentratingonthenaval
side,thebookiswellworthreadingforanyoneinterestedinthehistoryofwargaming.
3SeeBryanFugateandLevDvortetsky (1997)ThunderontheDneprchapter 1, ‘The
WarGamesofEarly 1941’.Thebookalso notes (page44) thatGeneralPaulus,the
quartermastergeneraloftheGerman armyranawargameaspartoftheWehrmaclutHigh
Command (OK\‘(/) planning forBarbarossa.Thegameshowedthe\X’ehrmachtdid not
havethestrengthand necessarylogisticsupportitneededtodefeattheRedArmyand
conquertheSovietUnioninablitzkrieg. However,theGerman high command choseto
ignoretheoutcomeofthewargameandexplained awaytheGermandefeatinthegame.
