Wargaming Small Wars (merged thread)

[AmericanPride]

I figure I might as well share the concept while I hammer out the remaining details. I intend to set up a quick website or forum in the near future to help facilitate play testing. If anyone is interested in helping develop the project (or just play testing for the fun of it), please PM me.

Anyway, The Long War: Afghanistan 2001 - 2016 is a strategic simulation of the War in Afghanistan allowing players to control the US (and NATO/ISAF), GIRoA, or the Taliban (and its affiliated networks). Players must pursue distinct victory conditions by the end of 2016 while contending with the complexities of a protracted small war in a fourth world state. The game board will depict Afghanistan's 34 provinces, four of its major cities, eight Pakistani border provinces, and AFG's northern and western neighbors. Each province has a terrain, weather, stability, and development modifier.

Turns represent six months of time, starting in Fall 2001 and ending in Fall 2016. There are fixed events tied to some turns, such as US Presidential Elections, that affect game rules for that turn.

Each side has a respective opinion rating measured 0 - 100 that is at the core of the player's objectives. Not only are they tied to victory conditions, but the rating also affects the number of available actions in a turn as well as how many cards that can be drawn at the end of a turn. There is also a fourth rating to measure international interest in the conflict.

Each side also has unique rules, policies, cards, and units. Policies are overarching strategies that affect which cards are available (i.e. counter-terrorism vs counter-insurgency). Because each card also has a condition that must be met (often tied to the type of unit in a province), there is a direct connection between policy decisions, force structure, and tactical/operational decisions. Policies can be changed at will but at considerable cost to oneself, or under specific conditions at no cost (i.e. after an election for a US player).

During a turn, a player may conduct a certain amount of actions. These actions may be with a specific unit (each unit has its own mission type, and mobility and survivability ratings), which have minimal affects on the big picture, or with an operational card, which represent tactical and operational decisions (such as a "Night Raid") and have a slightly larger impact. However, besides their immediate effects, cards also have counter-actions and unintended consequences. Counter-actions are designated operational cards in another player's deck that can be played out of turn in immediate response to a played card (both operational and strategic). Counter-actions can be played until players decide to quit using them or until the card hand is exhausted. Cards can also have unintended consequences, which is determined by a die roll and have a negative impact on either the player himself or another player. For example, the "Night Raid" card might be effective in removing Taliban pieces from the board, but it also reduces GIRoA legitimacy. Legitimacy is further damaged if "civilian casualties" occur. The playing of the card can prompt the GIRoA player to use the "Denounce Civilian Casualties" card as a counter-action, which repairs GIRoA legitimacy to some extent but at the cost of US domestic opinion.

Players can also play one strategic card during a turn, which has a greater impact on the game or even game mechanics. It may significantly improve ratings across the board, or it might suspend the use of another player's advantage. These reflect larger political decisions that shape the battlefield on its edges. The US can play a "Political Pressure on Pakistan" card to reduce Taliban unit survivability across the board in Pakistani provinces (making them more vulnerable to some US operational cards). Like operational cards, these too have a counteraction and unintended consequence. But they are more severe -- the UI to the US card mentioned above is the low-risk of prompting a military coup that jealously guards its sovereignty, resulting in the revocation of the US in using some cards.

Lastly, victory conditions are "complex". That is, they are not necessarily dependent on the success or failure of the other players, which can result in any combination of players "winning", or none winning at all. For example, the US and GIRoA share a common victory condition in measuring GIRoA legitimacy, but the necessary number is different, giving some space for tension (and exploitation by a shrewd Taliban player).

There are a host of other details, such as US force caps and deployment schedules and Taliban key leaders, but I'll leave that for later in the conversation. The intent is to capture the complexity of decision-making, with its constant change in opportunities and dangers, while trying to stay focused on the light at the end of the tunnel and keeping the other players at arms length. The US could crush the Taliban militarily, but at what cost to GIRoA? And what would it cost and how long would it take for the US to shift policies? Can GIRoA afford to forgo development to focus on security and stability? And what strategy can the Taliban implement to exploit the narrow but deep differences in its two adversaries?

[AmericanPride]

A few updates:

- I decided to add ethnicity as a major game play factor. I am still considering how this will influence the basic ruleset since I want to avoid the RPG-like model of different groups have people having inherently different advantages (or disadvantages). With that in mind, ethnicity will be probably be abstract and relational.

- Key Leaders will be a central element for each side, who will have unique leaders (i.e. commanders, diplomats, aid workers, etc) that represent different parts of the institutional effort. I am still working out how this look precisely, though they will be extensively tied into policies, cards, and actions. Having key leaders in the wrong place at the wrong time (and using the wrong policy and units) will have an incredibly negative impact on the player's strategy implementation to reflect bureaucratic resistance and the necessity of political buy-in by supporting agencies.

- Although using real-world military designations would add some flavor to the game, I decided against it so players focus instead on the operational and strategic options made available by the use of some types of units in lieu of others. So Army light infantry brigades, special operations forces, and paramilitaries, among others, will all be abstracted (though at a future date I may change this, as I see opportunities to add another dimension to strategy here).

- Lastly, I am looking at scrapping the hard end date of Fall 2016 to something more gradual. An array of conditions will likely trigger an "End-Game", which will use a series of fixed events to move the game towards a conclusion. Right now, this might be when a faction achieves its victory conditions in any turn, which will trigger a set series of events to allow for the other players to grab what's left; i.e. the US might achieve its objectives earlier than anticipated, triggering a gradual US drawdown, encouraging GIRoA and the Taliban to redouble efforts in a set amount of time. This is still under consideration so any feedback is welcome.

[Steve Blair]

I honestly don't see how you could model something like this without using ethnicity in some way. Personally, I'd be inclined to base it more along the lines of a negative interaction modifier if local groups aren't of the same ethnicity. It's not so much giving one ethnic group a bonus as it is modeling the difficulty often present when it comes to getting two different groups to work together or trust each other. The modifier could be negated over time (possibly by steps taken by the outside nation), or it could actually be enhanced (due to a number of factors).

[AmericanPride]

I honestly don't see how you could model something like this without using ethnicity in some way. Personally, I'd be inclined to base it more along the lines of a negative interaction modifier if local groups aren't of the same ethnicity. It's not so much giving one ethnic group a bonus as it is modeling the difficulty often present when it comes to getting two different groups to work together or trust each other. The modifier could be negated over time (possibly by steps taken by the outside nation), or it could actually be enhanced (due to a number of factors).

That is what I am leaning towards right now. Some background: there will be operational leaders (people in the field) and policy leaders (people in Washington, Kabul, or Quetta, etc). Anyway, operational leaders will have an ethnicity trait that will influence their effectiveness in different provinces, all of which will have a fixed ethnicity assigned to it. So, the US, GIRoA, and Taliban will all face this challenge.

[Steve Blair]

Of course, ethnicity is a fairly fluid thing, and could be modeled down to tribal affiliation if necessary (although it sounds like at the level you're talking about this would be a touch too micro). I'd be tempted to take it one step further and have ethnicity and "outsider" status modifiers, with "outsider" (or whatever) applying to US/Western folks (with a higher negative, at least at first) and then the internal ethnic considerations. Over time, one player could work to lessen the "outsider" penalties (although they'd likely never go away completely).

[AmericanPride]

I think I'm simply going to have US leaders labelled with "American" ethnicity, with a few and far between exceptions among some of the diplomatic, aid, and contractor staff. I don't know yet what the penalty will be, however. I'm thinking a penalty in unit/leader survivability and an increase chance for the UI of a played card in that province.

[Rex Brynen]

What's the intended audience? Is the boardgame for hobbyists, educational uses, or other purposes?

Mike Markowitz's presentation at the NDU gaming roundtable today was about developing an operational-level Afghanistan boardgame for the TRADOC Analysis Center (that also interfaced with tactical, digital sims). The audio and slides may be up later at NDU CASL, but you'll find some detail in Brant's live blog of the event at Grog News (http://grognews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/liveblogging-casl-strategic-wargaming.html) (and a little discussion at PAXsims (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/ndu-casl-roundtable-and-talk-with-thoughts-from-a-virtual-lurker/) too).

[AmericanPride]

What's the intended audience? Is the boardgame for hobbyists, educational uses, or other purposes?

Mike Markowitz's presentation at the NDU gaming roundtable today was about developing an operational-level Afghanistan boardgame for the TRADOC Analysis Center (that also interfaced with tactical, digital sims). The audio and slides may be up later at NDU CASL, but you'll find some detail in Brant's live blog of the event at Grog News (http://grognews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/liveblogging-casl-strategic-wargaming.html) (and a little discussion at PAXsims (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/ndu-casl-roundtable-and-talk-with-thoughts-from-a-virtual-lurker/) too).

Thanks for sharing the links. I'm of the general opinion that context determines everything, and so my focus is on developing a strategic-policy level game. I have not thought much about the audience, though it's definitely not the way families are going to want to spend their Friday nights.

[BayonetBrant]

updated link to the article, since TSJ's website has been rearranged

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120201/TSJ02/302010011/Firmer-Ground

[BayonetBrant]

http://tsjonline.com/story.php?F=7681050


just an update, the corrected link is

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120201/TSJ02/302010011/Firmer-Ground

since TSJOnline rearranged all their content

[Rex Brynen]

Thanks for sharing the links. I'm of the general opinion that context determines everything, and so my focus is on developing a strategic-policy level game. I have not thought much about the audience, though it's definitely not the way families are going to want to spend their Friday nights.

Brant is the one with the commercial wargame experience here, but my advice would be start with the audience--everything else flows from that. Who is going to play it? Hobbyists/boardgamers? Professionals/policy types?

[Steve Blair]

Brant is the one with the commercial wargame experience here, but my advice would be start with the audience--everything else flows from that. Who is going to play it? Hobbyists/boardgamers? Professionals/policy types?

I've dabbled some (not to Brant's degree to be sure) and can only strongly second this comment. Audience is everything. A game intended for a casual audience can have much less detail than one intended for a professional audience. Context is important, don't get me wrong, but your audience determines the amount of detail you put into that context.

[BayonetBrant]

I've started a page at GrogNews to collect info on COIN wargaming

I've love input from folks on articles / links that should be there.

Thanks!

http://grognews.blogspot.com/p/coin-wargaming.html

[AmericanPride]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I started the game design with what I would consider enjoyable; so I assume a professional/academic audience. I intend to let the play-test phase determine the level of detail.

[Rex Brynen]

These two forthcoming wargaming talks at the Center for Applied Strategic Learning (http://casl.dodlive.mil/), National Defense University may be of interest to some folks (although neither is about "small wars"):

2 May 2012: "Nuclear Wargaming," Dr. Tim Moench (Air Force Global Strike Command Wargaming and Strategic Studies), Dr. Chris Yeaw (Air Force Global Strike Command Chief Scientist), and John Harris (Air Force Concepts, Strategy, and Wargaming Division)

More details here (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/ndu-nuclear-wargaming-252012/).

9 May 2012: "The Continuing Merits of Manual Wargaming," Professor Philip Sabin (Kings College London)

More details here (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/ndu-phil-sabin-on-the-continuing-merits-of-manual-wargaming-952012/).


If (like me) you're not in the DC area, the presentations will also be streamed online.

[BayonetBrant]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I started the game design with what I would consider enjoyable; so I assume a professional/academic audience. I intend to let the play-test phase determine the level of detail.

Check out the developer diaries over at GrogHeads

http://grogheads.com/dev-longwar1.html

http://grogheads.com/dev-longwar2.html

[SWJ Blog]

Wargaming Courses of Action During Other-Than-Major Combat Operations (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/wargaming-courses-of-action-during-other-than-major-combat-operations)

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/wargaming-courses-of-action-during-other-than-major-combat-operations) and make any comments at the SWJ Blog (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog).
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

[Rex Brynen]

What more could you ask for? Volko Ruhnke (who designed the terrorism/counterterrorism board game Labyrinth (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/review-labyrinth/)) AND Brian Train (whose Algeria (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/review-algeria/) wargame is the basis for game designs used at DoD, CIA, and elsewhere) are collaborating on a wargame of contemporary insurgency and counterinsurgency in Afghanistan. I'm certainly looking forward to this...

COIN in Afghanistan: A Distant Plain (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/coin-in-afghanistan-a-distant-plain/).

The game is in early development and play test at the moment--hopefully it will be out next year.

[Rex Brynen]

An update on the Connections 2012 interdisciplinary wargaming conference (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/the-connections-2012-gamelab-challenge/) at PAXsims, with celebrity endorsements from Napoleon Bonaparte and Winston Churchill.

[BayonetBrant]

discussion of an ongoing project for rapid-prototyping and development of scenarios for current events

warning: a lot of wargame assumptions made of the reader

http://grognews.blogspot.com/2012/07/revisiting-c2e2.html

excerpt

How will the overall model work together? We need some way of tracking the local civilian 'mood' and support for the different sides, through political organized, governance, levels of I/O, etc. We also need a way to keep track of the body count, and what thresholds of dead units start to trigger counter-actions from the dead units' families. How do you know what true effects you have on the local areas, and how do you assess it, and how do you establish the longevity of the effects?

When military forces deploy to a tsunami zone, what are they bringing with them in terms on N-K factors, and how well does that play in affecting the local perception of them? How does training units in certain aspects change what their performance can be on the ground? If you plus up an infantry brigade with a variety of N-K assets and training, are they really more effective on the ground in N-K roles, or have you just degraded their KIN capabilities instead?

comments welcome!

[Rex Brynen]

The annual Connections 2012 interdisciplinary wargaming conference wrapped up yesterday at NDU, with more than one hundred professional wargamers, government and commercial wargame designers, scholars, and other analysts in attendance.

Various AARs on the event are linked via the Wargaming Connection blog (http://wargamingcommunity.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/connections-2012-aars/).

[BayonetBrant]

What more could you ask for? Volko Ruhnke (who designed the terrorism/counterterrorism board game Labyrinth (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/review-labyrinth/)) AND Brian Train (whose Algeria (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/review-algeria/) wargame is the basis for game designs used at DoD, CIA, and elsewhere) are collaborating on a wargame of contemporary insurgency and counterinsurgency in Afghanistan. I'm certainly looking forward to this...

COIN in Afghanistan: A Distant Plain (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/coin-in-afghanistan-a-distant-plain/).

The game is in early development and play test at the moment--hopefully it will be out next year.

Interviews with the designers here
part 1: http://grogheads.com/int-adp1.html
part 2: http://grogheads.com/int-adp2.html

some great background info from the guys on how the game has developed.

[Rex Brynen]

Recently I gave one of my McGill University political science classes the option of writing an interactive story (written using Inklewriter (http://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter)) rather than submitting a conventional research paper. Since the course in question examines peacebuilding and civil conflict, not surprisingly all four "adventures" are set amongst civil wars: in the first you must negotiate humanitarian access with armed groups; in the second you have demobilize ex-combatants, in the third you must survive the Syrian civil war, and in the forth you need to maintain the security of a camp for the internally displaced in northern DR Congo.

All four games are described, and can be played, via PAXsims:

http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/student-interactive-simulation-writing-in-political-science/

If you have any words of encouragement for the students concerned, feel free to post a comment on the blog

[jcustis]

I vaguely remember a similar discussion about student projects like this a couple years or more ago. If this was you Rex, good on ya for trying to work the practical into the theoretical. This recent venture is a rad idea as well. :D

[Rex Brynen]

GMT Games is bringing out a series of COIN-themed games. The first, Andean Abyss (2012), explores insurgency and counterinsurgency in Columbia. You'll find my review of it at PAXsims (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/review-andean-abyss/).

Two others—A Distant Plain (on contemporary Afghanistan) and Cuba Libre (on the Cuban revolution)—will be out later this year, and a game on the Vietnam War, A Fire in the Lake, is also in development. A Distant Plain is codesigned by sometimes SWC contributor Brian Train.

[BayonetBrant]

and see the links above for the interview with the guys about A Distant Plain :)

[Rex Brynen]

A brief AAR on the recent Connections 2013 interdisciplinary wargaming conference has been posted at PAXsims (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/connections-2013-aar/).

[davidbfpo]

A rather unusual angle, more nostalgia IMHO from the BBC magazine:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22777029

[Rex Brynen]

An interesting piece by Lisa Lynch (Concordia University) on using a conflict simulation to teach international journalism students:

Foreign correspondents in a simulated civil war (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/foreign-correspondents-in-a-simulated-civil-war/)

Full disclosure: it is my simulated civil war at McGill University that she uses.

[BayonetBrant]

GrogHeads.com is looking for papers that folks might have written for varying research projects on games/gaming. I'm sure some of our FA57s in the audience have something floating around somewhere :)

Anyway, we're starting a new monthly series on these sorts of academic-focused articles and would love to have y'all submit anything you've got floating around out there that's not necessarily fit for SWJ or other traditional outlets.

announcement text here: http://grogheads.com/?p=2160

[AdamG]

For any fans of Yeats poems and Dystopian Futures, how about a War of the League of Cambrai, 21st Century style scenario?
http://www.thelocal.fr/20130930/swiss-army-trains-for-invasion-by-bankrupt-french

[AdamG]

China Adopts Board-Game Strategy to Blunt U.S. Pivot to Asia

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-09/china-adopts-board-game-strategy-to-blunt-u-s-rebalance-in-asia.html

[Rex Brynen]

Some of the following might be of interest:


Review of commercial wargame BCT Command Kandahar (http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/review-bct-command-kandahar/) (via PAXsims)

Interview with me on conflict simulation, education, and policy at the Serious Games in the Office (http://www.seriousgamesatwork.org/2014/02/05/serious-games-at-work-podcast-episode-5-rex-brynen/) blog

Profile of wargame designer (and CIA analyst/trainer) Volko Ruhnke in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/in-the-world-of-role-playing-war-games-volko-ruhnke-has-become-a-hero/2014/01/10/a56ac8d6-48be-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html).

[BayonetBrant]

Also a review of the commercial wargame A Distant Plain from GMT covering Afghanistan (from the aforementioned Volko Ruhnke) over here
http://grogheads.com/?p=3815

[BayonetBrant]

If anyone is heading to Columbus OH for Origins, here's the info about the Wargaming program we're putting on there

http://grogheads.com/?p=4208

[Brian Train]

CONNECTIONS 2014 Conference: August 4-7, Quantico VA

The CONNECTIONS conference on professional wargaming will be held at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, August 4-7, 2014.

What it is

Connections is the only national event dedicated specifically to professional wargaming. Since 1993, the annual Connections conference has worked to advance the art, science and application of wargaming by bringing together all elements of the field (military, commercial and academic) so participants can exchange information on achievements, best practices and needs.

The theme for 2014 is “Understanding National Wargame Cultures”: a rare occasion to hear about the history and progress of professional wargaming in countries outside the United States.

Who is coming

THE Professor Thomas Schelling will be the lead keynote speaker! Thomas Schelling’s most influential works that touch on negotiation behaviours and game theory as applied to the military are The Strategy of Conflict (1960) and Arms and Influence (1966). His 2005 Nobel Prize in economics was for his work in understanding conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis. If you have spent any time studying negotiation or game theory, you will have heard of Schelling – don’t miss this chance to hear him speak!

Other featured speakers include: Dr. Peter Perla, author of The Art of Wargaming, speaking on analytical wargaming; Dr. Joe Saur and Chris Weuve on wargame design, its basics and its pitfalls; and Matt Caffrey's comprehensive briefing on the history of military wargaming.

Can I come too?

Connections is open to all contributors to the field of wargaming: military, government, defense contractor, academic, and recreational. While not open to those who purely enjoy wargames, Connections does define “contributor” broadly. Connections welcomes everyone from the most senior wargame director to the newly assigned lieutenant, from the wargame publisher to the play tester. This is an unclassified event, so you do not require a security clearance.

Parts of the conference will also be made available virtually.

How do I sign up?

Details on registration (and if you can't make it in person, how to participate virtually) are still coming. If you needed something else to help make up your mind, there will be ZERO registration fee for the conference. While there will be options to buy lunch, if you bring your own lunch and live within driving distance of Quantico this conference can literally be free!

Contacts

Consult the Connections website for agendas, content of former conferences, and registration instructions: http://connections-wargaming.com/

If you have any questions, please contact me (brian.train@gmail.com) or Matt Caffrey at MatthewBCaffreyJr@gmail.com .

Hope to see you there!

Brian Train

[Rex Brynen]

CONNECTIONS 2014 Conference: August 4-7, Quantico VA

The CONNECTIONS conference on professional wargaming will be held at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, August 4-7, 2014.

...

Hope to see you there!

Brian Train

I'll be there!

[Rex Brynen]

Anyone else attending the MORS (Military Operations Research Society) 82nd annual symposium (http://www.mors.org/events/82nd-symposium.aspx) in (Alexandria, 16-19 June 2014)? There's quite a bit of wargaming (and related analytical goodness) this year, and most of the sessions are no longer classified and NOFORNed.

http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/not-quite-live-from-mors-82/

[BayonetBrant]

I'll be there!

sigh... I'm waiting for the day when I'm in a position to come to Connections again.

[Rex Brynen]

sigh... I'm waiting for the day when I'm in a position to come to Connections again.

Can we get an inflatable Brant Guillory to bring to the conferences? I remember the splash you made in 2012!
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lt4Vtl4veo)


* * *

With the recently-announced launch of a Connections conference in Australia, this year will see no fewer than three Connections interdisciplinary wargaming conferences being convened in different parts of the world:

CONNECTIONS 2014 (the original!), Quantico Marine Corps Base (VA), 4-7 August 2014. Details at: http://connections-wargaming.com

CONNECTIONS UK 2014, King's College London, 2-4 September 2014. Details at: http://www.professionalwargaming.co.uk

CONNECTIONS AUSTRALIA 2014, University of Melbourne, 8-9 December 2014. Details at: http://www.kriegspiel.com.au/connections.html

The Connections conference is primarily for professional wargamers in the military, intelligence, foreign policy and aid communities, as well as business wargamers and others. It also includes game designers, academics, and wargame hobbyists. You'll find information on previous conferences at PAXsims:

http://paxsims.wordpress.com/?s=connections

[BayonetBrant]

another list
http://grognews.blogspot.com/p/coin-wargaming.html

and more to be found over at PaxSims

[davidbfpo]

I have merged seven threads today, which all refer to wargaming and small wars. A couple of threads refer to major wars: South China Sea and Iraq - so have been left alone.

[Rex Brynen]

One of my undergraduate students, Alex Langer, is currently designing a wargame of the Syrian civil war as a class project--you'll find a link to the instalments in his "designer diary" below. I'm sure he would welcome comments, although he is only likely to see them if they are made on the original blog posts at PAXsims: http://paxsims.wordpress.com/tag/gaming-the-syrian-civil-war/

[Rex Brynen]

https://paxsims.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/we-can-do-it.jpg?w=630

One of the issues that has been casually discussed at recent professional conferences (MORS, Connections, etc.) is the small number of women within the ranks of professional national security gamers. PAXsims therefore put together a virtual panel discussion on the topic, featuring women who work in the field. You’ll find the results here:

http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/women-and-professional-wargaming/ (One of the issues that has been casually discussed at recent professional conferences (MORS, Connections, etc.) is the small number of women within the ranks of professional wargamers in the national security community. PAXsims therefore put together a virtual panel discussion on the topic, featuring women who work in the field. You’ll find the results here:

http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/women-and-professional-wargaming/)

[AdamG]

1000 Days of Syria is a hypertext-based historical fiction game centered on the first 1000 days of the Syrian Civil War. Created in 2014 by Mitch Swenson, it is considered to be one of the first examples of an electronic literature newsgame.[1][2][3][4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1000_Days_of_Syria
http://1000daysofsyria.com/

[Rex Brynen]

Last week a group of us assembled at the University of Ottawa to matrix-game the current conflict concerning the self-styled “Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria. For practical reasons and to limit the number of players/teams, the game largely focused on Iraq. The purpose, as with an earlier game held at the UK Defence Academy, was to explore the value and limits of matrix games as an analytical method.

You'll find a full report at PAXsims: https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/revisiting-the-isis-crisis/

[Rex Brynen]

It hasn't had any discussion here (yet), but back in February US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work emphasized the need to "reinvigorate, institutionalize, and systematize wargaming across the Department."

If you haven't seen the memo, there's a copy on PAXsims (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/wargaming-and-innovation/).

[Rex Brynen]

AFTERSHOCK: A Humanitarian Crisis Game explores the interagency cooperation needed to address a complex humanitarian crisis. Although designed for four players, it can be played with fewer (even solitaire), or more (with players grouped into four teams).

The game is set in the fictional country of Carana, but is loosely modeled on disasters such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake:


Carana has suffered years of sometimes violent turmoil, and has only recently taken the first tentative steps to national reconciliation and reconstruction. Poverty is widespread, government capacity is weak, and political tensions remain high. Nongovernmental organizations and United Nations specialized agencies are active in the country, including a moderately-sized UN civilian police (CIVPOL) contingent.

At dawn today, a powerful earthquake struck Carana’s capital city of Galasi, causing widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure. Tens of thousands of people are in need of urgent aid and medical attention. At the request of the Government of Carana, military forces from several friendly countries—operating as the multinational Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Task Force, or HADR-TF—are en route to assist, as are additional contingents of UN and NGO personnel, together with much-needed relief supplies.

We've been using it at McGill University for a couple of years now, and recently ran several simultaneous games for the Canadian Disaster and Humanitarian Response Training Program. You'll find an AAR at PAXsims (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/aftershocking-the-canadian-disaster-and-humanitarian-response-training-program/).

If anyone is interested in using it for (academic or professional) educational purposes, feel free to email me (mailto:rex.brynen@mcgill.ca).

[Rex Brynen]

Another AFTERSHOCK AAR, this time from the Chilean Joint Peacekeeping Operations Center (which has adopted the game for HADR training):

AFTERSHOCK at the Chilean Joint Peacekeeping Operations Center (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/aftershock-at-the-chilean-joint-peacekeeping-operations-center/)

[Rex Brynen]

The Military Operations Research Society recently held a multi-day workshop on professional wargaming. You'll find an informal summary of the event at PAXsims:

workshop: https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/mors-special-meeting-on-professional-gaming-aar/
(https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/mors-special-meeting-on-professional-gaming-aar/)

course: https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/mors-workshop-on-professional-gaming-the-course/

[SWJ Blog]

Six Rules for Wargaming: The Lessons of Millennium Challenge ’02 (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/six-rules-for-wargaming-the-lessons-of-millennium-challenge-%E2%80%9902)

Entry Excerpt:



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Read the full post (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/six-rules-for-wargaming-the-lessons-of-millennium-challenge-%E2%80%9902) and make any comments at the SWJ Blog (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog).
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

[SWJ Blog]

Six Rules for Wargaming: The Lessons of Millennium Challenge ’02 (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/six-rules-for-wargaming-the-lessons-of-millennium-challenge-%E2%80%9902)

Read the full post (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/six-rules-for-wargaming-the-lessons-of-millennium-challenge-%E2%80%9902) and make any comments at the SWJ Blog (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog).

[SWJ Blog]

Work: Wargaming Critical in Dynamic Security Environment (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/work-wargaming-critical-in-dynamic-security-environment)

Entry Excerpt:



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Read the full post (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/work-wargaming-critical-in-dynamic-security-environment) and make any comments at the SWJ Blog (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog).
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

[Rex Brynen]

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst has recently reintroduced manual wargaming into the curriculum—part of a slow renaissance of manual wargaming methods at a few professional military education institutions in the UK, US, and elsewhere.

You'll find a description of their simple platoon-level game and how it is used at PAXsims: https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2016/01/03/sandhurst-kreigsspiel/

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to WoTR for this article by:
Dr. James Lacey is the Professor of Strategic Studies at the Marine Corps War College.

The focus is on the use of wargaming in the classroom for strategic studies, but somehow I think it is worth adding here:http://warontherocks.com/2016/04/wargaming-in-the-classroom-an-odyssey/

[AmericanPride]

There is a series of board games by GMT games starting with Cuba Libra and ending most recently with Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt against Caesar simulating, to some extent, the complexities of COIN conflicts. I'm curious if anyone else is familiar with them and would like to know your thoughts.

Also - I recently introduced into my Reserve unit a variety of the Matrix Games exercise and it met with great applause from the participants (junior and mid-career analysts and officers). War-gaming isn't just about mapping out courses of actions but can also be useful in juicing the creativity and analytical focus necessary for tackling complex problems. In this context, 'realism' is not always welcome or even helpful.

[Brian Train]

There is a series of board games by GMT games starting with Cuba Libra and ending most recently with Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt against Caesar simulating, to some extent, the complexities of COIN conflicts. I'm curious if anyone else is familiar with them and would like to know your thoughts.

Also - I recently introduced into my Reserve unit a variety of the Matrix Games exercise and it met with great applause from the participants (junior and mid-career analysts and officers). War-gaming isn't just about mapping out courses of actions but can also be useful in juicing the creativity and analytical focus necessary for tackling complex problems. In this context, 'realism' is not always welcome or even helpful.

I co-designed A Distant Plain (Afghanistan 2003-13) with Volko Ruhnke, and I am finishing up Colonial Twilight (Algeria 1954-62) right now.
Another game I designed in 2000 on the Algerian War inspired some parts of Volko's COIN system.
The first COIN system game was Andean Abyss, on Colombia in the 1990s: Cuba Libre was the second.
Obviously I am "pro" these games!

Matrix gaming can be a wonderful tool as well.
Good for you for using it.

Brian

[AmericanPride]

I co-designed A Distant Plain (Afghanistan 2003-13) with Volko Ruhnke, and I am finishing up Colonial Twilight (Algeria 1954-62) right now.
Another game I designed in 2000 on the Algerian War inspired some parts of Volko's COIN system.
The first COIN system game was Andean Abyss, on Colombia in the 1990s: Cuba Libre was the second.
Obviously I am "pro" these games!

Matrix gaming can be a wonderful tool as well.
Good for you for using it.

Brian

Thanks Brian. I have the most recent reprinting of A Distant Plain on order - so Fire in the Lake and Liberty or Death are keeping me busy in the interim. When you have time, could you elaborate on some of the concepts you thought important to include in the game design and how you arrived at deciding what to include and what to exclude?

[Brian Train]

Thanks Brian. I have the most recent reprinting of A Distant Plain on order - so Fire in the Lake and Liberty or Death are keeping me busy in the interim. When you have time, could you elaborate on some of the concepts you thought important to include in the game design and how you arrived at deciding what to include and what to exclude?

Thanks for your pre-order! I understand that copies will be heading out Real Soon Now.

I think the best answer to your question is in our Designer's Notes to A Distant Plain, which you can read in the Playbook available here: http://www.gmtgames.com/adistantplain/ADP-PLAYBOOK-FINAL.pdf

I go into some detail about the differences between the four factions in the game, why they are the way they are, and what is represented in the game by the map, pieces and game mechanics.

I think Volko and I would be pretty confident in letting these remarks stand for themselves.

In designing the original volume of the COIN system, Andean Abyss, Volko was partly inspired by another counterinsurgency game I had designed in 2000, "Algeria" (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11293/algeria-war-independence-1954-1962).
This game is part of a family of games using variations on a common system I had devised for COIN: in order of design they were Tupamaro (Uruguay 1968-72), Shining Path (Peru 1980s-90s), Algeria (1954-62), Andartes (Greece 1947-49), Kandahar (2009 ca.) and EOKA (Cyprus 1955-59).
These games feature area movement, asymmetrical force structures and menus of missions for each side, and particular rules to reflect the nature of each conflict (Peru's internal war, organizational morale and friction, external sanctuaries, etc.).
The latter two games have more moving parts than the others and incorporate further features such as criminal gangs and non-state militias.
You can look up all of these on Boardgamegeek.com for a look at their components (except EOKA, I am about to publish that one shortly).

Meanwhile, in things COINy I am working through Colonial Twilight, the first GMT COIN system game to be designed for 2 factions, not 4. Quite a change but still has the essence of the system.

Brian

[Rex Brynen]

In an effort to explore the benefits of bringing wargaming into the classroom, the US Army War College's Strategic Simulations Department is conducting a discussion panel and game play event on 27 August, 2016, at the US Army Heritage and Education Center, in Carlisle, PA. The panel will open with discussion from academia and military institutions. Game play will follow the panel and drive home the theories covered by the panelists. The event is open to anyone, educator, gamer, and hobbyist. The event will run from 10:00 A.M until 4:00 P.M.

Further details at PAXsims (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2016/08/15/us-awc-wargaming-in-the-classroom-panel-discussion-and-demo-games/).

[Rex Brynen]

I've written up a brief report on the recent "wargaming in the classroom" event at the US Army War College, and posted it at PAXsims:

https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2016/08/28/clashing-in-the-classroom/

[Rex Brynen]

A report on the recent Connections UK professional wargaming conference at King's College London:


main conference report (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2016/09/08/connections-uk-2016-aar/) (via PAXsims)
Civil War in Binni (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2016/09/06/connections-uk-2016-civil-war-in-binni/) (pre-conference not-so-serious megagame)
Connections UK wargaming website (http://www.professionalwargaming.co.uk/2016.html) (includes slides and video from conference)


While I'm at it, I might as well also point out my recent crisis simulation report for the Atlantic Council:


Exploring US engagement in the Middle East: A crisis simulation (http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/issue-briefs/exploring-us-engagement-in-the-middle-east) (Atlantic Council)
More on the game (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2016/09/07/exploring-us-engagement-in-the-middle-east-a-crisis-simulation/) (via PAXsims)
More on the game methodology (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/crisis-gaming-at-the-atlantic-council-some-methodological-reflections/) (via PAXsims)

[SWJ Blog]

Marines Begin Wargaming, Refining ‘Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment’ Concept (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/marines-begin-wargaming-refining-%E2%80%98littoral-operations-in-a-contested-environment%E2%80%99-concept)

Entry Excerpt:



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Read the full post (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/marines-begin-wargaming-refining-%E2%80%98littoral-operations-in-a-contested-environment%E2%80%99-concept) and make any comments at the SWJ Blog (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog).
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

[davidbfpo]

The Forum's Rex Brynen is co-hosting this wargame @ Kings College London and the BBC has a short report. Citing Rex:
Prof Brynen says in recent years there's been a major resurgence of war gaming as a serious analytical and training tool in both the US and UKLink:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-41172485

This thread is about a nearby regional problem, with 44.3k views:Wargaming the South China Sea (http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/Wargaming the South China Sea)

A short commentary on gaming an attack on Estonia via KIngs Wars Studies blog:http://www.strifeblog.org/2017/05/30/dice-hexes-history-can-wargaming-save-estonia/

[Rex Brynen]

My report on the recent Connections UK professional wargaming conference can be found here:

Connections UK 2017 Report (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2017/09/08/connections-uk-2017-report/)

Tom Mouat's report on the earlier Connections US conference is here:

Connections US AAR (https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2017/08/07/connections-2017-aar/)

[BayonetBrant]

Some musings on uses for wargaming

http://grogheads.com/featured-posts/9720


The professionals talk about wargaming in very different terms than the casual hobbyists do. Don’t get me wrong, the professionals know the difference between a hobby or game and their jobs. Most of them also wargame for fun, and have a huge knowledge of the hobby. But for casual wargamers the professional uses of wargames mainly seem like two cases, and an occasional third.

(way more at the link)

[Rex Brynen]

Some recent wargaming posts at PAXsims that may be of interest:


Developing a wargame of the 2017 liberation of West Mosul: https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/we-are-coming-nineveh/
Trip report from a week of wargaming discussions at the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory: https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/distilling-wargaming-wisdom-at-dstl/

[AdamG]

Good article, albeit two years old.

INTERWAR-PERIOD GAMING TODAY FOR CONFLICTS TOMORROW: PRESS ‘START’ TO PLAY, PT. 1
http://cimsec.org/interwar-period-gaming-today-conflicts-tomorrow-press-start-play-pt-1/31144?fbclid=IwAR3VsEbzkDtKaMlSsat0lHYOhTVDdZJVq3p bmglVDFKPZz_PCp4sYOUZW-c


“As the interwar period suggests, wargaming is one of the most effective means available to offer senior leaders a glimpse of future conflict, however incomplete. Wargames offer opportunities to test new ideas and explore the art of the possible. They help us imagine alternative ways of operating and envision new capabilities that might make a difference on future battlefields.”1

– Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work and General Paul Selva, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, December 8, 2015

Shoutout here -


Red “cells” and red “teams” are frequently confused for each other. A red cell is an entity typically led by a staff intelligence officer tasked with representing enemy doctrine and its likely courses of action. A red team is tasked with challenging perceived norms and assumptions made by a commander and his staff in order to improve the validity and quality of a plan.