Guy Debord’s Kriegspiel

February 22, 2008 at 12:00 pm · Filed under New Media, Wargame History, Wargames

Turns out Situationist extraordinaire Guy Debord (The Society of the Spectacle and other works) was also a grognard:

In January 1977, the French Situationist Guy Debord founded the Society for Strategic and Historical Games. The Society had an immediate goal: to produce the “Kriegspiel,” a “game of war” that Debord had already designed in his head years before. Inspired by the military theory of Carl von Clausewitz and the European campaigns of Napoleon, Debord’s game is a chess-variant played by two opposing players on a game board of 500 squares arranged in rows of 20 by 25 squares.

Debord’s Kriegspiel has now been reimplemented online by new media arts collective RSG. There’s also a printed edition available from Atlas Books. Here’s an excellent background article.

Debord and his wife, Alice Becker-Ho playing the game

Debord's Kriegspiel, as implemented by RSG

(Via GrandTextAuto.)

1 Comment

  1. NOT BORED! said,

    December 13, 2008 at 8:12 pm

    two essays that are relevant here:

    http://www.notbored.org/clausewitz.html

    and

    http://www.notbored.org/nathan-heller.html

    The first objects to the denigration of Clausewitz in HcHugh’s review of Debord’s “Kriegspiel,” while the second shows the factual errors of nother (negative) review of Debord’s game.