The Martian invaders have fallen, for now, slain by the microbes of Earth.  But the War continues on.  The War of the Worlds should have united Man.  An end to history was prophesied.  But instead, The War of the Worlds has launched a World War, a Worlds’ War, early.  In this fallen world,  History never ends.  

Wargaming, as we know it today, took off with the 1824 Kriegsspiel.  Yet modern wargames have changed a lot over the years. 

The rules of Kriegsspiel were all assumptions the author, Georg Heinrich Rudolf Johann von Reisswitz, had about War.  How many men could be in a Battalion Effectively, how far could they shoot, how many paces in 2 minutes could they be expected to walk 

Today Wargames often have gamified terms that have no correspondence to reality – hit points, mana, arbitrary attack bonuse.  This language, while less precise in modeling actual combat, allows for creativity amongst game designers, allowing each faction to feel like its own.  

Worlds’ War 1898 is an attempt to strike a balance between these two philosophies.  Like Kriegsspiel, combat is largely determined by battle-odds decided by population of the contesting units, though this calculation is made much easier by use of Power Numbers.  Rules emphasizes objective things about the battlefield – how far can a unit move, shoot, how do Cavalry and Infantry interact.  

However in addition to Standard Units, there are Hero Units that reflect factions from H.G. Wells’ work.  These will allow for powers that are expressed in more “gamified” language. 

Print and Play Icons for Kriegsspiel Blocks are already available, as well as an under development rulebook and a one page summary of the system.