Tthe first games from table inspire to crashs between men in crews yes forgiveness to you in the night of the times, old 30 centuries, one of first known are the ancient Chinese game Wei-Chi, renamed Go from the Japanese, consisted in a subdivided chessboard from 19 vertical lines and 19 horizontals on which the two adversaries tried to encircle the opposing pawns.

Other old war game to remember is the Chaturanga Indian, strangely considered from someone the progenitore of the game of chess. Over a chessboard, subdivided in 81 cases, four players, with the aid of a dice and following covered obligate to you, tried to arrive to the final goal capturing mutual the pawns. Worthy of famous also the other ancient Chinese game Xiang-KI, set up on regulations still more sophisticated than that one of Chess. The chessboard was crossed from a river, the general of the encampment could not exit from the fencing, defended from faithful servitori. Some pawns had different movements to second that they had or crossed the river there were not the guns that talked nonsense here of the infantry.

We still remember the great national game Japanese original Shogi of China. A king with two knights and 17 makes you operated in one chessboard dl 81 cases. The main characteristic of this game consisted in the possibility to annex in just the army the pawns captured to the adversary.

We find again other games of war origin in ages to we more neighbors: from the Checkers, most diffuse in Europe, to the varying Alquerque of Arabic derivation, to lappone the Tablut, where 16 moscoviti soldiers had to imprison the king of Sweden, defended from 8 knights, finally to the Halma classic, modified in the Chinese Checkers.

In Europe the slow but constant technological development, after to have restructured the conduction of the wars,  the game of Chess appeared, typical example of war game, that it endured various modifications, such to allow the insertion of the main crews in use in that period: towers, horses, flagmen; but in other games you appeared also lancers, halberdiers and crossbows. In Germany Game of the king appeared, other processing of Chess, with marshals and chaplains.

In France, in XVIII the century, two war games saw the light, basing on I besiege and the other on the maneuver. Still in Germany it came introduced a game that, for before the time, it employed of the pawns that represented entire military units, rather than single soldiers. Yields necessary to introduced a judge, with the task to resolve the cases doubts and to control the correct application of the regulations.

In the 1811 Berliner von Reisswitz, inventor of a new war game, was invited to the Court of Prussia in order to show and to illustrate its work. The king got passionate itself to you, prince Guglielmo the diffuse ones in Russia gto gaming with prince Nicholas. The regulations came then perfected from the son of its inventor: the scale of reduction from: 200 passed to: 666, the realism was improved. The two alignments came designated respective with the colors red and blue, convention still adopted. To the players a time of two minuteren was granted in order to move, all or in part, the own pawns, their movement was proportional to the distances covered from the troops in the truth.

In order to reproduce in the game the chance, second which a sure fact I know could or meni to verify, it came introduced the dice. Appropriate obtained tables the military experience, established the losses of one sure unit in one determined situation.

The regulations were object of ulterior improvements: in 1824 young Reisswitz lieutenant it had the possibility to illustrate its studies to the General Staff. It was clamorous happening.

The official young person was invited to Pietroburgo; subsequently arbitrator to Berlin one crash between prince Guglielmo and the zarevic. The Kriegsspiel, endured adopted from every imperial regiment was been born. Most numerous associations rose and centers of study in various German cities were formed.

To the game regulations the General Staffs of France and Turkey were interested. But at the same time in Prussia the first critics rose: the author was transferred in Sassonia. Detached from the friends, encircled from incomprehension, in 1827 he placed aim to its days. Its denigrators were increase to you, the modifications to the rules originate them were by now numerous; the tactical crashs on the game table were lead with too much freedom. One was delineated important technical distinction: rigid regulations and free regulations.

First, written, mostly they were used for tactical crashs; the second ones,  found employment in the strategic games, for which it turned out of primary importance the discretionary power and the remarkable experience of an judge-arbitrator.

The prussiane military victories of the 1870 left traces deep. Some famous English officials declared openly of must great part of their successes to the study of the war games. The British army decided to be interested officially to the Kriegsspiel. Between most active there was Spencer Wilkinson: official lawyer let alone not professional of the Body of the Volunteers, alternated with great enthusiasm the regarding instruction of the military history to the studies, arguments, newsgroups, publishing activities the war games. If in England the modified war games from the Wilkinson were consider you too much German, this did not happen in the United States.

Beyond Atlantic the greater W. R. Livermore, after to have consulted numerous German works, it published in the 1879 five types of games: tactical, large tactical, strategic, from fortress, naval. The rigid regulations of the tactical simulation, in 1: 500, generated, in spite of the efforts of its author, a course of the rather slow game. This encouraged the lieutenant To L. Totten to the search of a system of games that could be integrated between of they. It is its smaller tactical Gioco that greater tactical Gioco inspired to the classics Chess: the chessboard comprised 1920 cases of cm 2,3 of side. The games more engaged to you were lead on maps, some norms were little realistic and convinced the General Staff to riporre one greater confidence in the German simulations. It is not for case, but if continental Europe had turned out the crib of the land games, the United States it were for the naval games. Remarkable it turns out obtained in this field the lieutenant to you of navy William McCarty Little, to which the Conference granted later on the degrees of captain for special merits. To the School of naval war, after it begins them passed period using regulations set up on a duel between two battleships, came played one simulation with two fleets contrapposte: six officials were re-united in one know it appropriate fortified of checkered pavement. A third party game, more processed, came lead for the strategic part on the nautical papers, in order then to continue to tactical level in consequence of the ballistic contact.

Alfred von Schlieffen, head of the Joint Chief of Staff of the German army from 1885 to the 1906, inventor one of the  slowly that she previewed the invasion of France through Belgium and the Lussemburg, was a assiduous player and just from these strategic simulations and the relative analyses its plan of invasion was been born. Proceeding in the repeated maneuvers on the game table it had been convinced more and more of the importance that had in the operation the forces schierate to the skillful wing. It did not analyze in depth the problem seriously. Not to the Chancellor not to the Kaiser. But not enough. It estimated with attention the Belgian railway network, but nearly it ignored that French, thanks to which the French they succeeded fastly to move their reservoirs and stopping the slow one being left over of the Germanic left wing!

The processors of the plan did not hold in no account the political eventuality that English would have sent troops in aid to the assaulted ones, as the much longest one of the previewed one did not estimate the economic consequences to which would have carried the forced Germany to support one war.

The general underrated moreover the ability to resistance of the enemies of the Germany. The regulations of the simulation were of the rigid type, without space of maneuver for the wills: it had not been previewed the fury with which the Belgian and the French defended their lands! But if it is true sometimes that to the Germans the imagination has made defect, is equally true that similar errors, not less catastrophic, will be repeated, from officials to the orders of an other type of emperor, little less than 30 years after.

Useless then the war games? Us deduction seems one a po' too much semplicistica. We answer with the words of Wilkinson: "Probably no shape of military study is more useful (of the war games) if executed like must; of other part nobody equally is exposed to malamente being used ".

Between the numerous simulations conduct from the high German officials we limit ourselves to  most clamorous. Like, example, the  Ardenne, played months after the beginning of the second world war: the time employed from the troops in the May of 1940, regarding that calculating in the war game, later on was attributed to one minor effectiveness of aviations French and Belgian. The famous operations "Marine Lion" and "Barbarossa", conventional denominations assigned respective to the German disembarkation on the English coasts and to the invasion of Russia, always to work of the Germanic army, preventively were played from the High commando of the Wehrmacht and in both cases, the response was negative for the armys of Hitler.

At the beginning of 1942 to edge of the Japanese superbattleship Yamato the occupation came carried out the regarding simulation of the island of Midway. An other ignored warning. In the game it was taken place that, in the course of the attack it begins them, the group of aircraft carriers to the commando of Nagumo was attacked from American airplane while those Japanese ones were attempts to the strafing of the island. The tables of the regulations sentenziarono the sinking of two aircraft carriers, but the director, rear admiral Ugaki, arbitrarily modified the response of dice and the models of the two units returned.  The which thing but it it was not possible to repeat with the 4 the true aircraft carriers june of the same year.

With the memory of an episode happened in the Ardenne in 1944 cannot be omitted. The General Staff of German general Model from had little begun a regarding game the countermeasures apt to contain an eventual attack American, when from the forehead arrived the news that the attack truly was begun! One tells that Model, rdered to continue the simulation using the relationships that arrived from the forehead and forwarding to the troops orders operated to you it gains to you from the course of the game. In Great Britain, instead, during according to world-wide conflict, sure aversion for the war simulations persisted one. An honest engagement was only dedicated to the games organizes in order to prepare the large ones disembarks to you in Africa of the north and Normandia. The high officials of Navy. , Chief of general staff Nimitz the admiral, had to declare, to concluded conflict, than the war with Japan it had been fought before on the tables for the simulations, from many persons and in many ways that null of happened how much in the truth one surprised had constituted for they, absolutely null, except the Kamikaze.

In the post-war period the war games have received a most remarkable impulse, species in the United States, until becoming in little years one true and own scientific activity. The remarkable organizational ability to the Americans, the enthusiasm which had to turns out you positi to you is achieved in the course of the last world-wide conflict, the heavy sealed with lead responsibilities on their shoulders has carried to this proliferation.

The enormous caught up technological development from the modern crews has advised the students of the war games to take advantage itself of the aid of the electronic computers, is in order to reduce to the maximum the time necessary in order to carry out the calculations is for having within short time one answer to a great number of questions, numerous difficult yields from variable. These equipment turns out useful also in order to simulate with varying small the same situation hundred of times in order to search the more valid solution.

Interesting  to notice as in the Anglo-Saxon world also the University has been interested to the strategic models, species those political-military. In Scozia in the 1967 some tens of students simulated the existing situation in the Middle East; after two days and means the game finished with ready Israel and Egypt to attack itself. Exactly as it happened little months after. Still in Great Britain folto a group of participants to a seminary of studies on the conflicts: students, university civil employees of the Ministry of the Foreign countries, teacher dedicated to a regarding game the first world war. Amazing to signal that also in that occasion Italy distorted somewhat, until abandoning the Triple Alliance.

Wargame - hobby

First which the merit goes to have codified and published a collection of rules, having like the only object the amusement of the players, was English writer H.G. Wells. These, in 1913, an entitled book Little Wars published to work of the publisher Frank Palmer (Small Wars),  the book is considered the historical prototype of all the works that have been later on published on the argument, even if in the light of systems put into effect it them the contained rules in it are by now simple and elementary.

The game of the war was not asserted endured, but they above all wanted several years to us because it caught up, in England. In 1962 an English player, Donald Featherstone, published a text of general introduction on the argument, entitled Wargames. The book obtained an immediate one happening, and to it it began to above all follow a more and more numerous series of works and reviews specialized, which an always greater dissemination of the game was accompanied of equal step, until the definitive outbreak, at the beginning of years ' 70, in Great Britain and the United States.

From then the popolarità of the game he has recorded a continuous increase, earning land in the comparisons of the modelling, its eternal enemy friend.

The wargame he sure constitutes a perfect coupling between the passion for the modelling, the historical interest and the present competitive spirit in the human mind; its main fascination creed consists in the possibility that it offers to bring back while still alive made and personages of the alive history under one light and realizes, offering beyond that an amusing pastime a cultural enrichment.

Gruppo Murat