Fog of war

A sensitive and discriminating judgment is called for; a skilled intelligence to scent out the truth.It has been pointed out that von Clausewitz does not use the exact phrase "fog of war", and also uses multiple similar metaphors, such as "twilight" and "moonlight", to describe a 'lack of clarity'.

"[7] Abstract and military board games sometimes try to capture the effect of the fog of war by hiding the identity of playing pieces, by keeping them face down or turned away from the opposing player (as in Stratego) or covered (as in Squad Leader[8]).

[citation needed] Solitaire games also by their nature attempt to recreate fog of war using random dice rolls or card draws to determine events.

[10] Complex double-blind miniature wargames, including military simulations, may make use of two identical maps or model landscapes, one or more referees providing limited intelligence to the opposing sides, participants in the roles of sub-unit leaders, and the use of radio sets or intercoms.

[citation needed] A computer's ability to effectively hide information from a player is seen as a distinct advantage over board games when simulating war.

[16] Two large Blizzard franchises, Warcraft and StarCraft, use a fog of war which only reveals terrain features and enemy units through a player's reconnaissance.

[19] In some strategy games that make use of fog of war, enemy AI may have knowledge of the positions of all other units and buildings on the map regardless, to compensate for lack of true intelligence, which players may consider as cheating if discovered.

A block wargame , Richard III by Columbia Games , showing the fog of war in play: the red player can see the identity of their own pieces, but not those of the white player.
In the computer game Freeciv , completely unexplored areas are fully black, while explored but currently unobserved areas are covered in a grey shroud.