Squared grids: A short (and incomplete) history

My PORTABLE WARGAME rules are designed to be used with either a square or hex grid, hence the use of the term 'grid area' in the text. Over the years, I've used both types of grid and have come to the following conclusions:

• Square grids work well in wargames set during historical eras when armies fought in linear formations.
• Hex grids work well in wargames set during historical eras when armies fought in more flexible formation.

I am currently working on the draft of a set of PORTABLE BELLE ÉPOQUE WARGAME rules and I have yet to decide which type of grid to use. However, as part of my deliberations I have spent time looking at the history of square grids ... and decided that it might be of interest to my regular blog readers if I shared the results of my researches.

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As far as my research shows, wargames with square grids were being used by the time that Johann Christian Ludwig Hellwig – the Duke of Brunswick’s Master of Pages – first published his wargame in 1780. An improved edition appeared in 1782, and this was followed in 1803 by a drastically revised edition.

A reconstitution of Hellwig's wargame.
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This was followed in 1812 by Lieutenant Georg Heinrich Rudolf Johann von Reisswitz's famous KRIEGSSPIEL, which also used a gridded terrain although movement and weapon ranges were measured using dividers.

All the playing equipment used in von Reisswitz's KRIEGSSPIEL was stored in a specially constructed wooden chest.

The top of the specially constructed wooden chest turned through 180 degrees and opened to become the playing surface.

Some of the playing equipment used in von Reisswitz's KRIEGSSPIEL.

Von Reisswitz's KRIEGSSPIEL in use. It shows some of the terrain squares.

This game was developed by his son, Georg Heinrich Rudolf von Reisswitz, into the game that was widely used by the Prussian Army ... and subsequently by many other nations.

Later examples of nineteenth and early twentieth century wargames that used squared grids include:

• STRATEGONON (1830) by Wilhelm Freiherr von Aretin.

An Illustration from STRATEGONON showing examples of the two-dimensional buildings and trees used to play the game. These are reminiscent of the two-dimensional building used by Joseph Morschauser.

An Illustration from STRATEGONON showing examples of the playing pieces used to play the game. It is thought that the figures were fixed to the wooden blocks using wax.

An Illustration from STRATEGONON showing examples of the differently shaped wooden terrain blocks used to play the game.

• THE GAME OF WAR (1858) by Walter Whitmore Jones*.
• WAR-CHESS OR GAME OF BATTLE (1866) by Colonel Charles Richardson. This used a grid of diagonal squares.

• POLEMOS, THE NEW GAME OF WAR (1883) by Dr. David Charles Ballinger Griffith.

An image from the Illustrated London News of POLEMOS, THE NEW GAME OF WAR being played at the Royal United Service Institute (RUSI).

Some of the painted figures supplied with boxed stes of POLEMOS, THE NEW GAME OF WAR.

• GAME OF NAVAL BLOCKADE (1888) by Lieutenant H Chamberlain RN.

A reconstruction of Lieutenant Chamberlain's GAME OF NAVAL BLOCKADE..

• NAVAL WAR GAME (1898 onwards) by Fred T Jane. Like von Reisswitz the Elder’s wargame, Fred Jane’s game used a square grid as its playing surface, and in the first edition (1898) movement and weapon ranges were measured using the grid. In subsequent editions this was done using rulers.

A naval battle being fought using Fred Jane's NAVAL WAR GAME rules.

• BATTLE (1908) by T H Ward and J Ward. This used simple wooden pieces and a board that was almost identical to a chessboard.

The wooden BATTLE playing pieces.

The BATTLE board and playing pieces set up for a game.

• SOLDATEN-SPEIL (1908) by E L Böttcher. This used a squared grid with 630 squares (30 x 21) and sixty two metal playing pieces per side (twelve cavalry and fifty infantry).

The top of the box containing the pieces required to play E L Böttcher's SOLDATEN-SPEIL.

The figures included in E L Böttcher's SOLDATEN-SPEIL.

• JEU DE LA GUERRE (1907) by Ms Julie Moller. This was very similar to L'ATTAQUE.
• L’ATTAQUE (1908) by Ms Hemance Edan. This game formed the basis of several other wargames, including MANOEUVRES, LE CHOC, DOVER PATROL, AVIATION, TRI-TACTICS, and STRATEGO.

One of the illustrations used in the patent granted to Ms Hemance.Edan for the game L'ATTAQUE.

An early example of the L'ATTAQUE games board and playing pieces.

In the 1960s, Joseph Morschauser wrote several sets of rules that used square grids. These included his FRONTIER rules.

A battle being fought using Joseph Morschauser's 'Frontier' rules. His square grid appears to have 384 (24 x 16) 3-inch/7.5cm squares, making his tabletop 6 foot x 4 foot (180cm x 120cm).

A close up of Joseph Morschauser's Britians soldiers in action on his gridded tabletop.

In more recent times, the French Marxist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic, and founder of the Situational International Guy Debord devised A GAME OF WAR, which also uses a square grid ... which allows diagonal as well as orthogonal movement.

A screenshot of a battle being fought using the computer version of Guy Debord's A GAME OF WAR.

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* Walter Whitmore Jones also wrote the first standardized rules for croquet, and this led to the establishment of the All England Croquet Club in 1868.