Kriegspiel

By: Derek Yu

On: March 10th, 2008

Kriegspiel, or “War Game,” is a digital remake of a board game developed by French avant-garde writer, film maker, and activist Guy Debord.

One of the fundamental strategies behind the game is to maintain various “lines of communication” across the map, while cutting off your opponent’s lines. These lines radiate from arsenals and relay points and allow your troops to move and attack. If a troop is not on a friendly line, it’s immobilized, but if it’s on an enemy line, it blocks the line at that point. The game is won when a player’s arsenals or troops are completely destroyed.

RSG, the developers of the remake, have chosen not to add a single-player component to the game, in order to preserve the “fidelity” of the original idea. Unfortunately, it makes the game, already in a niche, that much more challenging to get into. But for war/strategy buffs, I think it’s worth checking out what looks like an extremely elegant, Chess-like game (and a well-done remake).

(Source: Tim Stone, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun)