Many people think HG Well’s was the first with his
classic book Little Wars in 1913.
Some know about the classic article about Robert Louis Stevenson’s toy soldier
game from an article in the Scribiner
dated 1898. My book on Early Wargames volume 1 has some further details about
the Stevenson Game. It is possible that the actual Stevenson rules may yet
reach the public domain. Both The Great
War Game (1908) and The Game for Boy
Scouts (1910) predated Well’s game. (See Early
Wargames Volume 1 link
Volume 2 of the Early Wargames series has the Captain
Baring’s simplified version of the German Kriegspiel (1872). Also included in the same book is the
semi-legendary game of Polemos, This
was first published in 1883, although I have reproduced the rules from a slightly
later edition. Polemos is probably
the earliest current contender for a wargame with model soldiers. It has the
distinction of being a hobby game and realistic enough to be played at the RUSI
the Royal United Services Institute in 1885.There are other early wargames such as the game of war (1858) which uses counters on something like graph paper to arbitrate movement and the Invasion of Britain Wargame 1888 with its draughts like movement. The invasion of Britiain game was the first I have found with its clear political messages of do not build a channel tunnel and Britain is vulnerable to invasion.
Polemos may not keep the title of the earliest model soldier game. 19th Century Europe also had model soldiers and wargames. So perhaps the ‘New War Game of the War in Italy’ from 1860 with its 30mm semi-flats made by Allgeyer, might yet prove to the earliest wargame. I have not yet found a copy, so I reserve judgment at the moment.
I have several other early wargames from the 19th
century and in the new year I will strive to get them into print.
