[Ger., = war-game.] A game in which blocks representing parts of armies, guns, etc., are moved about on maps: see quot. 1811. Introduced into the English army after the Franco-German War of 1870.
[1811. Q. Rev., May, 403. In Switzerland a game has lately been made of war (Das Kriegspiel), which is played with figures upon a map, and recommended as exceedingly instructive to military students, because the principles upon which it is constructed are applicable to real operations in the field.]
1871. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Dec., 10/1 (article title). The Kriegspiel, or War Game.
1878. Besant & Rice, By Celia’s Arbour, xxxiii. (1887), 248. They tell me that the officer of to-day is scientific and plays Kriegspiel.
1887. Athenæum, 12 March, 344/3. As in a game of ‘kriegspiel,’ the onlooker will often find himself wondering what on earth was the object of this or that move.
