The Prussian war-game of 1824, umpired by Georg Heinrich von Reisswitz.
Stage 1 · the open game
None yet.
You command one side. The umpire commands the other from a disposition he writes and seals before he reads your plan. You give orders in plain words — as you would to your officers — and he turns them into movement, fire and assault on the true map, two minutes of battle at a time. The dice decide only what no commander could foresee. Your own losses come back as returns, in men; the enemy’s you must judge by what you see.
No winner is declared. When the exercise ends, the sealed disposition is opened, every ruling is shown with the paragraph of the 1824 rules it rests on, and the umpire gives his critique.
You may also talk with von Reisswitz himself — the scholar, not the umpire of your game — in the panel at the foot of every game page, where you can brief him on your game, or at his scholar page.
In 1824 only the umpire saw the dice. In the open game you may show them, so you can learn how fire and assault are reckoned: the number or circle that decided each throw is marked in gold.
The dice are hidden, as in proper play. Turn on Show the dice above the conversation to see them.
This is not the umpire of the game at hand. Here you speak with the Georg Heinrich von Reisswitz Simulacrum in his own room, as with any scholar of the Universitas: about the rules of 1824 and why they are as they are, the umpire’s craft, the history of the game. He makes no rulings in your game and can change none. Until your game is over he will not judge your play or tell you what to order next — that was his own rule. Conversation here is charged to your allowance like any tutorial.