New to the forum and kriegsspiel

[Archinerd]

Hey everybody.
I'm jumping into the world of kriegsspiel finally, after realizing that it is still an actively played game and not just a footnote in the history of wargames. I'll be poking around here for a bit as I get a handle on how to play. If there are any kriegspiel players within a few hours of Chicago (my location) I'd be willing to meet up sometime to experience a game or two.

Just for kicks, here's a short list of my favorite wargames that share some things in common with kriegsspiel (I think).
Boardgames:
Napoleon's Triumph / Bonaparte at Marengo - Simmonsgames
Friedrich / Maria - Histogames
Hammer of the Scots - Columbia
This Accursed Civil War -GMT
PC:
Take Command: 2nd manassas - Madminute
There's actually a sequel to this set during Gettysburg that is similar but slightly more developed.

[Lugnakh]

Welcome to the group. Chicago is a little far for me, but hopefully you'll find some folks nearby.

Good selection of games there, I really like Friedrich/Maria, Napoleon's Triumph and the Take Command: Manassas games. The newer Scourge of War: Gettysburg looked good too from the demo, but I've not got round to buying it yet. Someone posted here recently that they had bought a copy though.
Short thread on the Simmon's games here:
http://forum.kriegsspiel.org.uk/t172-simmons-marengo-austerlitz-gettysburg#933


Cheers!

[Martin]

Welcome from me too.

Yes it is a good list of boardgames. I nevertheless feel that boardgames in general struggle to offer the kriegsspiel experience, as they typically have everything on show, so fog-of-war is often limited to having dummy counters or off-map rosters for unit strengths, which is a poor substitute. At least in my view. I think there are a couple of possibilities though:

(a) Use the boardgame as the basis for an umpired k/spiel. It gives you map, OOB, counters etc. You may find you need to streamline combat mechanisms to keep the game moving however

(b) Buy a boardgame which uses a 'double-blind' system, where each player has his/her own map & counters. These are not too thick on the ground, but 'Across the Potomac' on the Gettysburg is one of the more successful efforts. A few years old so it may be eBay.

As for PC games, I agree that the 'Take Command' ACW battle series are about the most like k/spiel, and the new one on Gettysburg carries the development of the series further in that direction. There are also a couple of older Napoleonic games by Frank Hunter which do something similar for campaigns, and which I think can still be bought from Matrix Games. These are on the 1806 campaign against Prussia, and the 1805/9 campaigns against Austria. Like the 'Take Command' ACW games, they do not show friendly forces which are distant from the player, and feature the use of couriers in transmitting your orders.

Hope that helps

Martin