Rules for the Conduct of the War-Game on a Map

This short book was published in 1896. I've converted an old paper copy of the rules into a modern ePUB format.


In 1896 the British Government published this paper which formalised the adoption of War-gaming in the Empire forces. The rules closely follow those created in 1812 by Reiswitz under the German name of “Kreigsspiel”.

These rules describe and give guidance on how a group of officers can use small blocks laid out on a large-scale map to represent various troops, and then issue orders to those troops. It further describes how those blocks move and how the umpires act as both judges and messengers.

Buy the ePUB from LuLu or get a copy at Wargame Vault

Brigade Commander

The inspiration and model for this rules set has come from two very fine existing published rules sets.

The first “De Bellis Antiquitatis“ is a simple yet wonderful quick-play focused mode that models warfare in the ancient world.

The second set “Chef de Battailon” is an exceedingly detailed set of Napoleonic rules with each commander controling a single battalion. In this set, the player is constantly faced by the nightmare of moving troops around terrain while under fire.

Both sets are excellent at what they do, but as the main designer of these rules I wanted the detail of “Chef” and the speed of “De Bellis”. Much play testing and tinkering has resulted in the set of rules you now hold.

The rules are written up in a PDF which is stored on my windows Sky Drive ( Thankyou Microsoft! )