Not sure what scope you're looking at, but have you checked out TACOPS?
I have a lot of theoretical knowledge of game theory (well a bit), but I have zero idea how to create a military war game.
I want to create a table top exercise to examine a set of problems or issues regarding techniques/tactics.
I want to format the tool so that anybody in the military or associated with the military would be familiar with the idea.
I have visited the great global google goodness and came away knowing a lot about dungeons and dragons and not a whole lot about how to create a war game. I'm not interested in entertaining anybody but examining thinking processes.
Likely this is another situation where I don't know what I don't know so I can't use key words I'm unaware of to accomplish the search. Any help would be truly appreciated.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
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The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
Not sure what scope you're looking at, but have you checked out TACOPS?
The problem is that is a simulation and I'm looking for a table top type game.
I want to run a war game/exercise with evaluation points to gather evidence/information on how people would do something (purposely vague). DHS runs these kinds of games, but I've never figured out how they set them up.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
Maybe something like ASL?
Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
Senior Research Fellow,
The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
Carleton University
http://marctyrrell.com/
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
The ones with military credibility for Land Warfare, are
Steel beasts
TACOPS4 - Was OK, but it now pretty dated.
Combat Missions (CMAK and CMBB)
Combat Missions Shock Force
Also look up VBS and VBS2, which mixes "game play" with person in the loop simulation. The ADF has actually used this as an Ops Analysis tool.
Played head-to-head, all offer a great deal of utility for professional education. The Australians use all the above. For examing tactical doctrine, these games are useful , but have limits. Once you are aware of those, they are excellent.
Dungeons and dragons has some very solid grounding in tactical doctrine!I have visited the great global google goodness and came away knowing a lot about dungeons and dragons and not a whole lot about how to create a war game. I'm not interested in entertaining anybody but examining thinking processes.
My interest is in them as a training, education and development tool. There are huge tensions between a commercially viable game, and a good military tool, but they are no irreconcilable given a bit of third party development.
Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"
- The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
- If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition
It sounds like you want to focus on thinking processes, not the impact of doctrine or capability. If so, you may want to look at Kriegspeil. The board games that came from Avalon Hill and SPI are good, but also rule intensive.
If you want to do something computer based, check out VR Forces from MAK.
John Wolfsberger, Jr.
An unruffled person with some useful skills.
Sam:
Our very own BayonetBrant is a commercial wargame designer (Bayonet Games), so you might want to drop him a PM.
You might also try to get hold of:
Peter Perla, The Art of Wargaming: A Guide for Professionals and Hobbyists.
James Dunnigan, Wargames Handbook, Third Edition: How to Play and Design Commercial and Professional Wargames. An earlier version of this is online here.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
I've done some work on games (both board and RPG) over the years as well. I'd be happy to help.
And don't ignore the role-playing game just because it looks flip. Some of those systems have very good tactical models built in, and they tend to be easier to tweak on the fly than a more rigid board-based system.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
Sam,
Strategy Page is run by old school wargamers. I'm pretty sure they wrote a 'how-to' book. I think the guys' names are James Dunnigan and Austin Bay.
Dunnigan's book : Wargames Handbook, Third Edition: How to Play and Design Commercial and Professional Wargames.
Contact away! (Sorry, but I'm not around much on weekends. SWJ is 'required' reading at work, but I'm trying to keep the computer in the bag on the weekends these days and spend more time with family).
One thing I've noticed is that although you specified a 'table top' game, there were a lot of computer game suggestions.
Other books to recommend:
Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun For Game Design
and anything by Salen & Zimmerman
Also, Dunnigan's book is available online, for free: http://www.hyw.com/Books/WargamesHandbook/Contents.htm
PM me, or email me, and I'll see what I can do to help out. This is kinda my schtick
Brant
Wargaming and Strategy Gaming at Armchair Dragoons
Military news and views at GrogNews
“their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of ‘rights’… and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure.” Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers 1959
Play more wargames!
I got Dunnigans book so I'm working my way through that. I have a couple other authors that I'm reading too. The subject is a LOT deeper than I was thinking originally (of course). I'm expanding what I was thinking with the several on (off) line suggestions for how-to and readings.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
There are quite a variety of tabletop formats for wargaming, so you'll have to be a bit more specific.
There are "seminar-style games" and the best most recent resource for that is the book WARGAMING FOR LEADERS: STRATEGIC DECISIONMAKING FROM THE BATTLEFIELD TO THE BOARDROOM by Mark Herman, Mark Frost, and Robert Kurz. This complements Perla's book very well and updates it with a great many examples, mostly dealing with business applications.
There are "staff wargames" dating back to the 19th century. One can find miniatures game rules from Fletcher Pratt, H.G. Wells, and others with a bit of hunting. Modern systems work well, but the investment in figurines/gear can be prohibitive to many. Perhaps there is no better entry venue than John Bobek's excellent book, THE GAMES OF WAR: A TREASURY OF RULES FOR BATTLES WITH TOY SOLDIERS, SHIPS, AND PLANES. Strongly recommended for neophytes and novices to start with in this genre.
There are commercial board wargames of a wide variety. Best portal to get into that is the CONSIMWORLD website at http://www.consimworld.com. These are readymade games that, for a minimum of investment, can get you into tabletop gaming quickly if you can manage the rules. You will need a bit of coaching/mentoring to make it a smooth entry, however. If you aren't careful, you can get in way over your head given the dense rules and arcane topics that are often out there.
One should also mention the Role Playing Games of the Dungeons and Dragons variety and there's plenty of those dealing with just about every subject under the sun. Again, having a coach/mentor is highly recommended to make entry into it as smooth as possible.
Much depends on your personal objectives. What might those be? What do you hope to get out of the experience? What kinds of things are you interested in learning?
Last edited by ericmwalters; 02-03-2009 at 02:14 AM.
I've been deep into Dunnigan and others this last two weeks.
My goals or objectives? Two fold. First, my dissertation involves a revolutionary method to wage cyber warfare. The use of a new tactical and strategic planning tool that gets a cyber adversary inside the OODA loop of a target. I need a tool that tests the cognitive capability of protagonists when considering the objectives and tools available. Second, the tool needs to be flexible enough to be used with large groups of people and robust enough to withstand a variety of thinking strategies. Inside and outside of the tool. When done the tool should be a good way for training cyber response plans across organizations.
Oh and it should be fun.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
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