Episode 3: Kriegsspiel
During the Napoleonic Wars, a German “board game geek” set out to make a tabletop wargame that accurately simulated real combat in a way that earlier games in the genre did not. His son picked up development in the 1820s, and through what we would today call an “iterative design process,” created the game of Kriegsspiel (literally “war game”). An explicitly educational game, Krieggspiel was used as a training tool for officers in the Prussian military, contributing to its dramatic victories in several late 19th Century wars and, perhaps, indirectly to some of the 20th Century’s darkest chapters. It also introduced a number of crucial game design innovations that have unlocked entire popular genres we still play today.
Notes & Resources
International Kriegsspiel Society
The International Kriegsspiel Society is the modern home of the game. Their website features many resources, including overviews, rules and links to join their Discord server for online play. They’ve even got a podcast of their own. This video overview comes from the site as well.
Descendents of Kriegsspiel
Tabletop Wargames
Modern miniauture tabletop wargames owe a lot to Kriegsspiel. Warhammer: Age of Sigmar is one current iteration in the popular Warhammer franchise, which also includes titles with other conceits like sci-fi in addition to high fantasy. There’s even one based on Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
If franchise tie-ins are your thing, you can find tabletop wargames from places like the Star Wars, Marvel, Star Trek and Game of Thrones universes.
Videogames with Wargame Influences
Tactical combat games — of which the XCOM franchise is probably the best known — feature mechanics rooted in turn-based tabletop wargames like Kriegsspiel. The Warhammer franchise’s digital games are also widely played.