Don't Shoot the Messenger
Kriegsspiel Event
David Commerford, UK
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"The work has been aided by the support graciously given to me by His Royal Majesty Prince Wilhem, by His Excellency General Lieutenant von Muffling, by many high ranking officers, and by the true and faithful support of my friends." So wrote George Heinrich Leopold, Freiherr von Reisswitz - Kaderzin und Grabowska on the publication of 'Anleitung zur Darstllung militarisch Manover mit dem Appart des Kriegsspiels' (Instructions for the representation of military manouvers with the Kriegsspiel apparatus) in 1824. This was the culmination of twelve years of work started by his father to bring together a game that would provide the possibility of examining the tactics of early 19th Century warfare in a realistic way. In this, one might generally suppose he succeeded for "His Majesty, our most gracious King, has ordered that every regiment of the army be furnished with the apparatus." followed and the formal training of the Prussian officer corps, soon to be copied across Europe and the rest of the world, began. Indeed, although they were revised in 1828 and several other military authors altered the data and concepts within Kriegsspiel, through out the l9th Century, as weapons changed and innovations, like the telegraph, were introduced, these apparatus, or rules, still trace a direct line into modern officer training. Kriegspiel Kriegsspiel as a document, in its original form, is still worth studying even if you never intend to roll a dice in anger. For it represents view into the minds of people who, either fought in the Napoleonic Wars, or served alongside those who did. As such it is a valuable insight into what they considered important, in a tactical sense, striped of all the political bias and self praise that too easily creeps into the memoirs of the great and the good. It also provides an opportunity to try and unravel how these tactics were applied in a practical manner. Which is, all to often, difficult to fathom from the perspective of authors, who while they may have fought, or lead armies during the Wars, took it for granted that the tactical process they described was self evident, or of no detailed interest to their readers. As with most forms of Wargame, Kriesspeil's popularity (outside military circles) has waxed and waned. During Victorian times it was popular as a form of board game and while it never totally disappeared due to its military affiliations, like most things to do with conflict, it took a drop in popularity in the post Great War period. Today it remains something that most wargamers have heard of, even if they are not quite sure what it is. Many are aware of its place in the origins of the modem hobby, alongside H.G.Wells 'Little Wars' and some will have seen, or even played, the more modern variants, during military service. However, in general terms it now holds a background position, in an era of spectacular terrain and figures, that would have caused 'H.G.' to swallow his pipe in amazement! Some may be surprised to know, that there are keen supporters of the genre, who still actively pursue this branch of the hobby. Not only in the Napoleonic period but in many others and with a good deal of innovation as well. I knew that Kriesspiel games still went on. Like many others, up until recently, I had seen Bill Leeson and Arthur Hannan's demonstrations, at the Salute convention in London, every year. Tucked in the remote comer of Kensington Town Hall they were confined to, like eccentric uncles that the family did not know quite what to do with. Along with the rest of the gaming fraternity I stood, watched, scratched my head and then wandered off to spend more money on figures I would never paint! However, contact with the, late lamented, George Jeffery who's ideas on Napoleonic games had a lot of Kriegsspiel about them, brought me into contact with a number of people, world wide, who still maintained an interest in the map end of gaming. This in turn led to Martin James and the Kriegsspiel Newsletter and subsequently to participation in a game itself! Although I had played in forms of Kriesspiel before (notably James Machin's DIS game, described in FE58) the real thing was unknown to me. So I was elected to join Martin, Bill, Arthur and Co. for a Napoleonic period game for my first real exposure to this area. I suggested that on this first occasion, in order the 'learn the ropes' (should have been a Napoleonic Naval game?) that I join the Umpire team so I could get a good overview of how they played and glean some background for this article. Thus, I joined the company of that other famous messenger and Kriesspiel exponent, von Muffling, picked up my paper and pen and proceeded to wear out Bill's carpet as I went back and forth between Red Force, Blue Force and the Umpires, one Saturday afternoon. For those of you who have know knowledge of this type of game at all a quick overview is in order. The basics require two sides, Red and Blue (which contrary to modem belief, have always been there and have nothing to do with the NATO practice of the former Soviet Union being Red Force, in their exercises). These players are kept in two separate locations and the Umpire(s) occupy a third.
Players are given what is referred to as the General Idea (Heard that one before? As in 'You get the General Idea' now you know where it comes from!) which describes the overall situation as known to both sides and their own individual forces. In some games a more specific idea is given to one, or both sides with additional information only they would be in a position to be aware of. Orders and initial dispositions are then written and given to the Umpire(s) and the game begins. From this point, all communications with units, in the respective commands and between players on the same side, who are not in physical contact on the map, are by written orders/requests via the Umpire(s). The Umpire(s) move the markers on the map in accordance with the orders, up date the game clock and decide the arrival time of messages in accordance with the time they originated and the distance messengers have to travel (up and down Bill's stairs, in my case!). They also decide when units come into contact, what can and cannot be seen by units on the map and generate messages back to players based on the likely observations made by the troops on the ground. Finally, they also adjudicate any firing and combat results and their effects on the game, when such things take place. So what was it like in practice? Well I have to admit to being a little nervous to begin with. Chiefly because I did not know what (given 30 years of Napoleonic gaming) would be the more embarrassing, a monumental tactical blunder (skilfully avoided by opting to join the Umpire Team) or a stunning piece of misinformation that blew the whole game by me giving things away! However, I soon got into the swing of things. Trotting back and forth with messages (look, if they were role playing, so was I!). Recording message arrivals and departures and watching things unfold. Periodically, Martin as Chief Umpire would halt proceedings for a visual inspection of the map by both sides. These were based purely on what could actually be seen and required careful covering up of different areas of the map so that accidental information did not get passed on to the players. In addition at periodic intervals verbal updates were give to each team, on their current situation, to represent the flow of reports between commanders and staff. The game itself followed well. There were no awkward situations, or down right cock ups (much to my relief) and the experience of those concerned showed well to the fore. On a personal front I soon appreciated all that I had heard about the workings of the game and the differences between playing this way and completely observable unreality of table top games. Players were obviously a lot more constrained by the lack of information available and the uncertain nature of their own and the enemies' movements. It was an interesting feature that must have represented the novice general in reality, that the other 'new boy' on the day, who had heroically opted for a command first time out, wrote about ten times as many orders, questions and instructions to his command than the 'old hands'. A reflection no doubt of the differing approach that many table top gamers would bring to this situation, accustomed as they are to constant information and the ability to tinker with formations and unit positions. For my part I soon got into the messages and began to offer opinion as to lines of sight and probable circumstances on the map (helpful ones I hope!) and as I have experienced in the past, in other games, the Umpire role has its own rewards. The only slightly difficult moments involved the mental adjustments I had to make, when reporting to players, who had a much smaller version of the master map. This caused some hasty improvisation as I reoriented myself to spot the key features, so as not to reveal hidden units. What of the game itself? Well unfortunately it's the nature of these things that original Kreigsspiel maps tend to be a little on the detailed side, so I apologise for the drastically simplified version that accompanies this piece. The General Idea was that Red was advancing North to try and take Metz (off map) and Blue was in turn trying to prevent such an occurrence. The sides were fairly well matched with around 30-40 battalions of infantry and 30-40 squadrons of cavalry of various types, per side, plus artillery. Blue were informed of the possibility of Red being reinforced at some point in order to ensure that they could not really afford to just sit back and wait for something to happen. Red chose to advance on two roads. Veson Augny and Coin sur Seille - Coin les Cuvry. They did not meet any resistance until on the Veson Augny road they found Blue cavalry coming out of the woods shown as the limit of Blues forward movement on the map. Just prior to this, Red's other advance had found what appeared to be a strong blocking force of all arms on the high ground at Coin les Cuvry. This developed as the first major action of the game as Red deployed to try and assault the position with infantry and artillery while sending cavalry round both sides. This turned into a sharp contest with the Red attack being stalled by Blue counter attacks and the position turning into a stand off. Meanwhile on the other road, Red had driven back the Blue scouting force along the Veson Augny road so effectively that Blue remained unaware that Red had a considerable portion of their cavalry moving that way. This cavalry was then able swing east, beyond Sabre, and flank the Blue force holding the Coin les Cuvry position. With a renewed attack from the South and this fresh attack from the West, the Blue command counter attacked again but numbers had their way and the defenders soon had no option but to retire North pressed by Red cavalry. Shortly after these moves came the predetermined nightfall and so the game drew to close. As is customary the game ended in a debrief for both sides where the opposing commanders were invited to say how they thought things had gone and what sort of position they felt they were in at the end of the day. Both sides had a pretty good appreciation, with Blue being a little surprised at the size of Red's flanking force and Red in turn not being aware how much infantry Blue had held back in the North. The game was played using the group's own rules for larger engagements. Which use 15 min turns. The original Kreigsspiel uses 2 min turns and has a level of detail, which without considerable resources in terms of players, umpires and messengers would not cope very well with this size of game. There again they were intended for use with smaller formations, as well. So the traditional problems associated with writing any rules to try and fit all sizes of action, applied then, as much as they do now. I would just like to close by thanking all those involved in my introduction to Kreigsspiel for their hospitality and enthusiasm that gave rise to a most enjoyable event. Any one who is interested in Kreigsspiel may wish to contact Martin James, who is the Editor of the Kreigsspiel Newsletter, by email as martin.a.james@lineone.net Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #64 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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All present have a copy of the map to be played over, but only the Umpire's shows the current situation for both sides. The players have to rely on what they can find out as the go along, from contacts of scouting, to update their own maps. Only the Umpire will ever know exactly what is happening at any point in time.