Baron Vinnturius von Reisswitz, Prussian war counselor, Invented first modern wargame, 1779-1824

Barron von Reisswitz is credited by most as the inventor of modern wargaming. In 1811, while serving as the Prussian War Counselor at Breslau, Herr von Reisswitz, invented a wargame that finally broke with the grid and alternating move of chess and other earlier abstract wargames.  This new generation wargame could truly be called a simulation that modeled actual space and time with a consistent scale.  First, he constructed a table with a 3D model of actual terrain.  He then represented units by blocks, painted in regimental colors and taking up an area on the terrain table that matched their actual frontage on the scale of the table.  Each side would give their orders to an umpire who was required to update the terrain table, resolve combat and tell each side only what they would actually know.  To determine casualties, umpires first consulted complex tables that indicated an envelope of likely attrition based on range, terrain and other factors.  The exact attrition was determined by a die role, to depict the uncertainties of the battlefield.

Arguably, not since Gutenberg had one man made so many interlocking breakthroughs at the same time.  Yet some historians do NOT credit Herr von Reisswitz with initiating modern wargaming.  Why?  Because for all its innovation, Prussia used Reisswitz’s invention in the same old way – educating princes in war.

(Last Updated 23 September 2011.)

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