This is an excellent example of a British officer's wargame, designed for the instruction of military personnel in military manouevres; a later British version of "Kriegsspiel", a wargame originally invented by Lieutenant Georg von Reiswitz for training officers in the Prussian army during the early 19th century.
The game is played on a map drawn on a scale of 6 inches to the mile, and the troops are indicated by small slate blocks, coloured red for one force, and blue for another. The example in the National Army Museum Collection also has 15 maps of the West Dorking training areas, including Aldershot, Camberley, Hog's Back and are part of a series issued by the War Office which have been coloured specially for the purpose.
"To carry out the Game of War in as most complete manner as possible, the instructions inform that one should have enough officers to fill the following posts:
Two officers to represent the commanders of the opposing forces.
Subordinate officers to command any detachments of importance from the main body.
An Umpire
Two Assistant Umpires
An Officer to keep a journal recording the progress of the operations, time of the despatch and receipt of messages and losses".