image/svg+xml Umpiring team Red team Blue team A Prussian infantry brigade is about to attack the Zuckerfabrik(German for "sugar factory", obviously an important objective) south of SADOVA. Two Austrian battalions are deployed to defend it. Austrian artillery stands on a hill to the east, and two full regi-ments of cavalry have been sent on a southern route to flank the approaching Prussians The Prussian Kriegsspiel (German for "war game")was designed to familiarize officers with fog of warexperiences, decision making in uncertain situa-tions, and effective information processing.To learn more about how this was done in the 19thcentrury, click thorough this presentation, or navi-gate with the arrow keys on your keyboard. 21/ How to Play the Prussian KriegsspielSteffen Pielström & Jorit Wintjes2019 Message Inbox Round no. 6 Round no. 6 Round no. 6 UmpiringThe basic idea was to rely completely on umpiresfor implementing rules and game mechanics.Participants in the teams needed no knowledge ofrules at all. They were only required to asses thesituation according to written messages, with theaid of a topographic map, and a set of tokens re-presenting units on the battlefield. They were ex-spected to decide according to their tactical judge-ment, and take action by writing orders, as theywould in the field. Three mapsThe Kriegsspiel is playedon three maps, ideallyplaced in three separaterooms. The red team therefore has a relatively realistic picture of theimmediately surrounding their command post. The Austrian commander, indicated by the flag has placed him-self with his artillery on the hill. He can directly see the enemy battalions on the ROSKOS hill. The Prussian forces behind that hill can be seen by the Aus-trian battalions to their south, but messages from there arrive at the commander's position only with a delay.The cavalry regiments are on the move and temporarily out ofcontact. The Austrian commander's idea about their current po-sition slightly deviates from the "reality" at the umpires' table. Only the umpires have to deal with the rule book. The rules try to reward sound tactical decisions, but add a fair amount of uncer-tainty by dice rolls. Players are only informed about the results by messages writtenby their simulated subordinates, i.e. the umpires. At the same time, the Prussian commander atop the ROSKOS hill can also see only a part of the Austrian units. Keeping his brigade together, he can see all his battalions and has a fairly realistic picture of his own forces. Now the Austrian commander wants to take action against theapproaching enemy. He wants his artillery... Back to main site. ...to pound the Prussian battalions on the opposite ROSKOS hill. Meanwhile, the plan is for the cavalry to charge down from the heights around DUB into the enemy flank. OrdersThe way to take action in the Kriegsspiel is to write an order. To the right, you can see what such an order actually looked like in the late 19th century.It is an order written during a Kriegsspiel of the British Army, addressed to a brigade level forma-tion From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: 11th rifled battery at: hilltop NE of CISTOWESRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:38 PMMessage no.: 9Engage enemy infantry on ROSKOS hill! From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: cavalry brigade von Pücklerat: east of MXANRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:42 PMMessage no.: 10My dear Franz,enemy infantry, maybe in brigade strength,is moving against our position at the Zuckerfabrik from the north. I kindly ask youto take the heights around DUB without revea-ling your advance, and then charge the enemyflank to expel the Prussians from the valley. Meanwhile, my artillery will fire at enemy infan-try on ROSKOS hill.Your humble and obidient servant. The orders written (or dictated) by our Austriancommander may look like this. As they are ad-dressed to two different units, two orders are necessary (they will be despached by staff gal-lopers).It is very important to note one's own and the re-ceivers likely position, as messengers actually have to find recipients on the battlefield. Players put their orders into a message inbox nearthe door of the umpires' room, where the umpirespick them up at the beginning of each new round.Messages from red team are written on red paper,messages from blue team on blue paper. From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: 11th rifled battery at: hilltop NE of CISTOWESRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:38 PMMessage no.: 9Engage enemy infantry on ROSKOS hill! From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: cavalry brigade von Pücklerat: east of MXANRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:42 PMMessage no.: 10My dear Franz,enemy infantry, maybe in brigade strength,is moving against our position at the Zuckerfabrik from the north. I kindly ask youto take the heights around DUB without revea-ling your advance, and then charge the enemyflank to expel the Prussians from the valley. Meanwhile, my artillery will fire at enemy infan-try on ROSKOS hill.Your humble and obidient servant. Now, at the beginning of round 7, the umpires willread the Austrian commander's orders.The recipient of the fist order is close by on the map, the artillery can take action instantly. A roll of dice compared to a table in the rule book tells the umpires that the 2nd battalion of the 68thPrussian Infantry Regiment, the front unit in the Austrians' line of fire, loses 38 men due to artilleryfire. From: 2nd battalio 68th Infantry Regimentat: south of ROSKOS HillTo: commander 11th Infantry Brigade at: ROSKOS hillRound: 7Simulated Time: 12:14 PMReal Time: 12:55 PMMessage no.: 3On the move southwards to ZUCKERFAKRIK. Taking heavy casualties by enemy artilleryfire from eastern direction. As a consequence, the umpires write a messageto the Prussian team, simulating how a subordi-nate officer would write a despatch to his superiorin a similar situation in the field. The cavalry brigade addressed in this order is veryfar away from the commander. The umpires decidethat it will take another 3 rounds until the despatcharrives and the recipient can act accordingly.In the meantime, the umpires will decide how thecavalry commander interprets his older standingorders and move the cavalry force accordingly. The umpire's mapThe situation on umpire's maps represents the "true reality" of the simulation. Umpires use thismap to judge what information should be available to the players.We are using this part of an original map with kind permission of the British Library (BLL01004805936). Back to main site. Back to main site. From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: 11th rifled battery at: hilltop NE of CISTOWESRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:38 PMMessage no.: 9Engage enemy infantry on ROSKOS hill! From: commander 11 infantry brigadeat: hilltop NE of CISTOWESTo: cavalry brigade von Pücklerat: east of MXANRound: 6Simulated Time: 12:12 PMReal Time: 12:42 PMMessage no.: 10My dear Franz,enemy infantry, maybe in brigade strength,is moving against our position at the Zuckerfabrik from the north. I kindly ask youto take the heights around DUB without revea-ling your advance, and then charge the enemyflank to expel the Prussians from the valley. Meanwhile, my artillery will fire at enemy infan-try on ROSKOS hill.Your humble and obidient servant. From: 2nd battalio 68th Infantry Regimentat: south of ROSKOS HillTo: commander 11th Infantry Brigade at: ROSKOS hillRound: 7Simulated Time: 12:14 PMReal Time: 12:55 PMMessage no.: 3On the move southwards to ZUCKERFAKRIK. Taking heavy casualties by enemy artilleryfire from eastern direction. forward back slide overview
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  1. Start
  2. Welcome
  3. Umpiring
  4. Thee maps
  5. The umpires' map
  6. Rules
  7. An example situation
  8. Red commander
  9. Red commander on the red map
  10. Red map situation picture
  11. Blue map situation picture
  12. Ordering artillery
  13. Artillery target
  14. Cavalry order
  15. Historical order
  16. Red orders
  17. Message inbox
  18. Processing the artillery order
  19. Rolling the dice
  20. Informing the victims
  21. Delaying orders