Main Quest: Part of what I hope to do over the next year(s) of my life is to live the evolution of the tabletop roleplaying game through a series of games, readings, and experiences. This 'pilgrimage' is inspired by memoirs like Of Dice and Men by David Ewalt and Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf. I'm wrapping up this part of the quest with a little more musing about the significance of Chess before moving on to wargames... You can check out Part II here or Part I here.
It's important to note (since I was almost completely unaware of this fact) that the kriegspiel developed by Johann Christian Ludwig Hellwig should probably be subtitled: "No not that kriegspiel" since there are a few game entities that traded under that name. The wikihole is deep and branches into a tunnel system a short way in- and I'm not ready for dungeon delves at this point.
However, since my mind was not occupied with the task of recognizing strategies, discerning optimal moves, and all the other elements of playing a winning game of chess- I was able to think about the game itself.
I see the value of the game as a pastime in the era before all of the flash of modern boardgaming, and I can see how it might be viewed as a tool for improving certain mental capacities (logic and foresight). What I don't see is why skill in the game of chess has been portrayed as a indication of skill in actual warfare- or at least why that shorthand has been used in popular media. For instance, you can play chess to increase your logic attribute in Sims and you need a high logic to get access to the top positions of the military career track.
The standard chessboard does not emulate the terrain of a battlefield. There are not mountains, swamps, forests, plains, or the blue mana one. There is no cover to seek in trenches or behind walls. There is not real differential even in the strength of the pieces in play. The original concept from Chaturanga was that the pieces represent the divisions of the military, but why doesn't the knight (ostensibly the cavalry) have more power than the pawn (if its meant to be footsoldiers)? These are some of the things that Hellwig sought to address with the design of his game, and I imagine these are many of the things that I will see accounted for in most of the wargames that I'll examine.
The game of chess may very well be foundational in understanding the later games in my Main Quest, since it lends a lot of conceptual pieces to them: The idea of a miniature (possibly) representing a group of individuals, the idea of simulating conflict, and the idea of constructing a narrative based on the events of the game- but I hope that skill in Chess (or lack thereof) doesn't drastically impact my other ludological pursuits.
