Kriegsspiel dice: Why there is no luck in wargaming and why all wargames are simulations

Abstract

Exactly 200 years ago, professional military wargaming emerged, when Kriegsspiel was introduced in the Prussian army as an officer training tool in 1824. From its very beginning it included dice as a means to simulate uncertainty on the battlefield. Following the arguments of Kriegsspiel designers and Clausewitz’ concept of friction, the article shows that uncertainty and contingency are at the core of modern wargaming ever since its invention and argue with Huizinga and Luhmann that all games as systems of contingency ultimately must be understood as simulations.