Over the past couple of years I have been following the adventures of John Rogers, a YouTuber and writer whose channel is dedicated to 'immersive London walking tours exploring the hidden history of London, its streets, suburbs, and forgotten places – from ancient paths and lost rivers to post-war estates and overlooked corners of the city.' He also explores 'coastal paths, countryside walks, and historic locations across the UK.' His films 'combine walking, storytelling, psychogeography, and cultural history, uncovering the layers of the urban landscape and the stories embedded within it.' John is occasionally accompanied by others, including Ian Sinclair, who is a great advocate of psychogeography.
So, what is psychogeography?
Psychogeography was developed as a concept by members of the Letterist International and Situationist International in the early 1950s and is defined as being 'the exploration of urban environments that emphasises interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes.' The concept was influenced by Marxist and anarchist theory and the Dadaists and the Surrealists.
In INTRODUCTION TO A CRITIQUE OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY – published in 1955 by The Situationist International Text Library – Guy Debord defined psychogeography as 'the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.'
In the UK, it has a small but very active following, particularly amongst academics, artists, filmmakers, and writers. The latter include Peter Ackroyd and Will Self.
So, why did I become interested in psychogeography?
The answer is very simple. I live on Shooters Hill and it has been identified by the late Steve Moore and Ian Sinclair as being a psychic hotspot, which apparently makes it an important location in psychogeography.
And what links psychogeography to wargaming?
Again, the answer is simple ... Guy Debord. In the 1960s, he felt that if the left-wing remained ignorant of military strategy, they were unlikely to prevail in the class war he expected to take place soon. In conjunction with Alice Becker-Ho, he devised a grid-based wargame – LE JEU DE LA GUERRE – that he hoped would fill this void.
The cover of the 1987 edition of Le Jeu de la Guerre.
The game was published in France in 1977, and an English edition followed in 1985. In recent years, Class Wargames – a London-based group – has revived interest in the game, and an electronic version is available to download.
Members of Class Wargames playing Le Jeu de la Guerre in Brazil.
I have played the latter solo many times on my iPad (it has an AI opponent option available as well as the option to play online against other wargamers), and it certainly helps to develop ones strategic thinking!
A screenshot of the electronic version of Guy Debord's wargame.
Time – and life – permitting, I hope to investigate further into the possibility of applying psychogeography to wargaming.
Hi Bob, My wife and I are big fans of John's YouTube channel and watched a couple of his videos only yesterday, I guess both being Londoners makes them of particular interest to us. His knowledge of the City is amazing!
ReplyDeleteLee.
‘Lee,
DeleteMy wife and I are great fans of John Rogers… and he has even traced the course of a local ‘lost’ river - the River Wogebourne - on my recommendation.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteI have an idea I've seen something of the sort before - at least 'Le Jeu de la Guerre'. Never heard of psychogeography before, but i can relate to your brief introduction to it.
I was wondering about where war games terrain might slot into the concept. During my Blacklands Wars I was struck by the occasionally picturesque (as it seemed to me) environments in which several of the battles were fought. Ditto the Kavkaz campaign.
One of the areas I have been looking into my 10x10 Mediaevals, was a dice generated terrain with just three types of feature 1-3 hills or ridges ; 1-3 woods; and 0-1 village or hamlet (the numbers determine by dice roll. Two D10s determined the location. As the hills could be 1, 2 or 3 squares long, the orientation of the 2- and 3-square features were determined by a further dice roll.
This generated a huge variety of terrains, some scattered about the edges, others offering trick passage in the centre. Occasionally the outcome presented some attractive looking country.
Maybe this has nothing whatever to do with psychogeography, although I would like to think that it had. I recall George Gush writing about the fight over the fords connecting a river island to both banks - a small section of country in one corner of a vaster battlefield. He so enjoyed that action, and its geographical features, that he recollects nothing at all of the battle elsewhere.
By the way, all this has nothing to do with how 'realistic' is the terrain presentation. I've seen some lovely war games countryside - reality in miniature - but can be taken equally by imaginatively 'diagrammatic' displays of country.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI am currently drafting a follow-up blog post that explores the relationship between psychogeography and wargaming, I hope to upload it later this week.
The George Gush story is very much in line with what I understand to be psychogeography. His memory of the terrain he fought that battle over gave it a unique place in his wargaming life … and it acquired an importance to him.
I like terrain generation mechanism you’ve devised for your 10 x 10 Medieval project. I hope to give it a tryout myself as soon as I can.
Whilst I like realistic-looking terrain, it’s no guarantee that a wargame fought over it will be any better than one fought over a less detailed one.
All the best,
Bob
An interesting set of concepts. I'm looking forward to seeing where this takes you. In response to Ion's post, I've made up a number of random terrain generators, but I find they work best as guidelines and often make some changes to the layout for aesthetic reasons or to present more interesting tactical challenges.
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteI am finding my research into psychogeography quite enthralling ... and it has provided a framework for some ideas that I've been mulling over for some time.
I created a terrain generator for my PORTABLE COLONIAL WARGAME book ... and I'm always on the lookout for other people's approaches to this.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
DeleteThose nice battlefields in the Blacklands and to some extent the Kavkaz, were generated using your system. Occasionally, particularly in respect of towns, a piece would be a 'given'. Otherwise, it was all generated according to the PW system.
I felt, though, that it would probably lead to too cluttered a battlefield for my mediaevals, which is why I came up with the simple 2x10D6 system for my 10x10 board.
Speaking of which, I have some action to play out somewhere to the northeastern regions of the Settee Empire, as the Kavkaz campaign morphs into a more general war. Some catching up to do there...
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI can see why you went for a slightly different mechanism to create your Medieval battlefields. In that sort of landscape there’d be more woods, tracks rather than roads, etc.
I always look forward to your battle reports; they make me very envious as well as spurring me on to do work on my own Bette Epoque project.
All the best,
Bob
I'm a big fan of John Rogers' videos. Such an enthusiast for seemingly obscure. Inspired me to do a few river walks in my part of the metropolis.
ReplyDeleteNundanket,
DeleteIt’s great to find another person who appreciates John Rogers’ work! He’s done quite a few in places that I know quite well, and they’ve sparked a lot of forgotten memories.
All the best,
Bob
Interesting discussion on terrain. Something that should dress up the table, compliment the figures and bring challenges to a game.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of Psychogeography, but it sounds interesting. I'm all for anything that immerses players deeper into the game.
WEK 3,
DeleteTerrain is - in my opinion - a vital element in wargaming. When looking at the terrain on a wargame tabletop, I’m always put in mind of General Reynolds question to General Buford at Gettysburg, ‘Is it good ground?’
There’s more to come about psychogeography and wargaming, hopefully later this week.
All the best,
Bob
An enjoyable dérive through psychogeography . I first encountered it many moons ago when Jan did her O.U degree, then it came into my daughter’s work too. Last year l took a weekly class on it at the University of Glasgow which was fascinating. I don’t know the videos, am intrigued and will follow up on. A wee primer on the subject if folk are interested is the book by Merlin Coverley. The subject of psychogeography came up in my art history courses due to the flaneur aspect. I was very intrigued by Guy’s game and didn’t know it was available on line , fascinating. I await your next post with great interest Bob
ReplyDeleteTradgardmastare,
DeleteI am simply amazed just how many people I know have knowledge of and have practiced psychogeography!
I only discovered from John Rogers’ latest video that Will Self is a visiting professor of psychogeography at a university! It’s certainly a topic that I need to know more about!
All the best,
Bob
Btw this is of topic slightly but interesting-
ReplyDeletehttps://www.commonground.org.uk/parish-maps/
I have used the idea with pupils to produce individual maps of where they live putting in what was important to them and found it fascinating. I have also tried to do one for my childhood home in Edinburgh. The children produced superb work both individually and collectively. I wonder if this too might have a place in wargaming. Perhaps a table/board where figures move according to their perceptions which may be totally different from the enemy. Hmmm need to have a think.
Tradgardmastare,
DeleteThat’s a very interesting concept … and is of particularly relevance as the area of London where I live - Shooters Hill - which is very much of an urban village. We have a church, two schools, two pubs, a shop, a golf club, a bowls club, a tennis cafe, a community centre, and two cafes.
I remember playing a wargame at COW many years ago where the terrain in front of the players was ‘disclosed’ as they advanced. I think that it used a grid of beer mats that had the terrain on the underside of the mat, and they were turned over as figures moved into them.
All the best,
Bob