Master Umpire Academy

Our mission

Our mission is to preserve Kriegsspiel, to make it accessible to enthusiasts, hobbyists and practitioners, to provide extensive resources to study and play Kriegsspiel, and to contribute to the development of new Kriegsspiel systems.

In order to reach these goals, we encourage every person interested to learn more about and play Kriegsspiel to join the community, no matter their experience level, social, educational, or religious background, age, or gender.

To ensure the quality of official IKS games and to enable our members to host and run their own Kriegsspiel games, the IKS offers the Master Umpire Academy, a peer assessment program.

Who wants to become a Master Umpire needs to apply for the Master Umpire Academy to undergo following program: 1) Prove experience as player and ideally umpire of Kriegsspiel games, 2) Elect one of our Master Umpires as sponsor to guide and support you througout the evaluation process, 3) prepare and run a Kriegsspiel following the Master Umpire Evaluation Criteria below, and 4) be elected by the majority of Master Umpires after .

We encourage applications from candidates from diverse and under-represented backgrounds.

The Master Umpire Academy is free of dues and fees.

International Kriegsspiel Society Umpire Roles
Definition and Requirements

  1. Lead Umpire
    1. The Lead Umpire role contains discord permissions to set up events and channels in order to host live games on the main IKS discord server.
    2. This permanent role is given to anyone who is interested and has a reputation of having successfully hosted at least one or two Kriegsspiel games. To receive the role, ask any mod or admin.
  2. Assistant Umpire (Temporary)
    1. Assistant Umpire (Temp) is a temporary role given to people who volunteer to assist the host of a live-game in umpiring.
    2. To have this role, a user has to ask the game host of a live-game during the first few minutes of the event if they are in need of an assistant umpire. Help is always welcome!
  3. Master Umpire
    1. A game hosted by a Master Umpire is guaranteed to be an excellent experience. The role acts as a recognition of the absolute best of umpires, an “IKS seal of approval”. Server permissions of a Master Umpire match the Lead Umpire. A Master Umpire is allowed to brand their games as “official IKS games”.
    2. Criteria for enrolling as a Master Umpire Candidate
      1. The candidate has been selected by a Master Umpire who will act as their “sponsor”, vouching and assisting them through the process of becoming a Master Umpire.
      2. The candidate holds a reputation of being a friendly and respectful member of the IKS.
      3. The candidate contributes to the IKS in a positive way. This may include:
        1. Knowledge transfer, providing insights and knowledge from external events, qualifications, or professional background.
        2. Sharing of resources like maps, literature, modules, graphics, etc.,
        3. Supporting the development of other systems.
        4. Training and assisting first-time umpires.
        5. Providing lectures and best practice guides on Kriegsspiel, facilitation, game or scenario design, research.
      4. The candidate has hosted 5 live or 3 play-by-post (PBP) games of exemplary quality that all fulfill the following criteria:
        1. Ran until a satisfying conclusion is reached.
        2. Ran with a consistent and brisk pace.
        3. For Live-games:
          1. Set up time (time until first discord timestamp of the first posted turn) maximum of 30 minutes from scheduled beginning of the event.
          2. Average turn resolution time (time between the Discord timestamps of the old and new turn) maximum of 15 minutes or less.
        4. For PBP-games:
          1. The game has had on average at least one turn per week.
          2. Delays between updates are kept to a minimum.
        5. Enjoyable, exciting and/or thought-provoking experience for the players.
        6. Features descriptive updates, realistic gameplay, inventive mechanics.
    3. Candidate Evaluation Process
      1. After the sponsor of the Candidate has informed the Master Umpires of the user’s application, the Master Umpires will vote.
      2. The vote will be conducted anonymously by the Master Umpire Committee Chair (MUCC – currently James) and can include multiple criteria and/or scores
        1. The MUCC is selected by the Master Umpires according to their own criteria and can be changed as often as they want
      3. If at least three Master Umpires are against, the user’s application will be rejected and the poll immediately concluded with feedback provided. The rejected user won’t be able to reapply for 3 months.
    4. Final Masterpiece evaluation to become a Master Umpire
      1. A Candidate must submit a Masterpiece game fulfilling the following criteria:
        1. The games exhibit the same qualities as listed to become a candidate.
        2. At least two Master Umpires/Master Umpire Emeritus have played or umpired in the Masterpiece game to attest to its quality.
        3. The Candidate must do one of the following to document the game, its specifics, player feedback, and umpire reflections:
          1. Write a comprehensive after-action report (AAR).
          2. Do a recorded interview with two other Master Umpires covering the game.
        4. The MUCC leads an anonymous vote amongst the Master Umpires using the same rules listed in 3.3 and is encouraged to solicit anonymous feedback from the players as guidance.
    5. Maintaining the title of Master Umpire
      1. To maintain the title of Master, an umpire needs to meet certain requirements:
        1. Host at least one kriegsspiel-game within the IKS community every year.
        2. Contribute to the IKS in a positive way using the same criteria as a Master Umpire Candidate.
      2. Those who don’t meet these requirements will be given the title of “Master Emeritus” and will need to requalify as Master according to the requirements above.

Map drawing, arrangement and photograph by Robert Mastrud.

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Join the Discord

Join our Discord server and become part of a growing community of over 2,800 members from all around the globe.

Logo of the IKS, showing the globe and classical Kriegsspiel pieces in the center, surrounded by a circle of national flags and "International Kriegsspiel Society – Aut Caesar Aut Nihil Alea Iacta Est" on the outer ring.

Contact us

Get in touch either on Discord or via e-mail, leave us some feedback or suggestions or ask us anything about Kriegsspiel.

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Our pledge

The IKS is commited to ensure inclusiveness and diversity within the community and stands against discrimination and harassment.

We endorse the Derby House Principles.

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