This goes back a long way. Obviously, Chess is a kind of wargame, but the Germans invented Kriegspiel specifically to simulate war well enough to train officers

This goes back a long way. Obviously, Chess is a kind of wargame, but the Germans invented Kriegspiel specifically to simulate war well enough to train officers in strategy. Of course, playing Kriegspiel is nothing like actually standing on the battlefield in the era of Bismark, but nevertheless, the generation of officers who were trained in the simulation were better prepared for their first battle than those who weren’t.