The Craft of Wargaming

By Natalia Wojtowicz

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Wargaming can provide a decisive edge if used to elicit meaningful results by decision-makers. The time taken to play provides a return through the experiences of participants. Design and deconstruction of strategic choices by players and decision-makers leads to higher performance, which encourages more audiences to pick up wargaming.

Wargaming is a common practice but an uncommon craft. The benefit of having an intelligent enemy check your premises has been proven over time; repeated failure leads to better results. In wargaming, losing is learning, and learning is winning. Despite the increasing popularity of wargaming, academic and professional sources are still scarce. A new book on wargaming is published by the Naval Institute Press and features a robust description of wargaming as implemented by the United States Naval Postgraduate School. It explains the different purposes of wargaming with the main focus on analytic wargames.

A recent book by practitioners from the Naval Postgraduate School reveals details of a long-lasting tradition of wargaming alongside the processes, topics and templates that were used by the authors. The purpose of the book is to “support defense planners and analysts on their journey from wargaming apprentices to journeyman in the craft of wargaming. Our focus is on providing these individuals a window into wargaming, which is a part of their professional development.”[1]

ONE OF THE KEY SKILLS REQUIRED TO DESIGN EFFECTIVE WARGAMES IS THE ABILITY TO IDENTIFY RESEARCHABLE TOPICS AND BUILD AN ANALYTIC TOOLBOX TO ADDRESS THEM.

The authors of The Craft of Wargaming deliver exactly what the title promises—an insight into their craft. Wargaming is a growing discipline, but its versatility rarely encourages structured execution and public reviews of results. The wave of popularity provides a growing demand, and as a consequence, more professionals are interested in becoming a specialist in wargame design. One of the key skills required to design effective wargames is the ability to identify researchable topics and build an analytic toolbox to address them.

Before the authors lay down the foundations of analytic wargaming, they describe the craft of wargaming in general. The first question addressed by the authors is: Who needs wargaming? In the case of this book, the leading audience has been the United States Department of Defense. Due to reinvigorated efforts in wargaming, many new initiatives are taking shape, from investigations of novel scenarios to the development of a laboratory for military professionals. The authors focus on the analytic wargames developed by planners and analysts serving the Department of Defense.

Given this lens, readers should consider whether the laser-focus on the American vision of wargaming is in their interest. The doctrinal approach to wargaming focused on the U.S. is the biggest strength of the book—if that is what you are looking for—but it could also be seen as a limiting factor that depicts only part of the craft. For example, the authors present in detail the data collection management plan as a favored functional solution, but they do not relate their construct to other solutions such as the academic approach used by King’s College London or the methods of the Georgetown University seminar series.

The authors’ presentation of the process to lead wargames at the Naval Postgraduate School is complemented by many examples of successful implementation. Wargames have served multiple units in training, concept development, and analysis of a given scenario. The authors included a number of case studies, with diverse topics ranging from the South China Sea, through the Baltic Sea, and to the High North. Before sailing to deep waters, the authors offer introductory chapters on the characteristics, history, and communication cycles of wargaming. Those lead the way to seeing analytic wargaming as a process that can be undertaken by planners and analysts.

The second part of the book shows the wargaming process used by the authors: initiation, design, development, conduct, and analysis of results. These steps each are paired with a self-study exercise to illuminate the craft of wargaming. The authors’ examples of wargames used at the Naval Postgraduate School illustrate both the ideal state and the most common pitfalls. This discrepancy can be observed in the section on Measurement Space, which ideally would be restricted to measurable variables and validated mechanics. In reality, the changing requirements of wargame sponsors cause constant adjustment of designs and avoidance of a checklist mentality. Rather than sticking to one fixed structure, the authors advocate for measuring all elements towards the wargame objective. When the fundamentals of analytic wargaming are clear, the authors provide a deep-dive into the planning and managing of analytic wargames.

A SUCCESSFUL WARGAME IS ONE THAT MEETS THE OBJECTIVES OF THE SPONSOR.

Planning and managing a wargame requires the facilitator’s awareness of pragmatic considerations such as scheduling and preparation of location. It also requires advanced knowledge of existing formats of wargames: the course of action wargaming, seminar games, educational and experiential wargames. The diversity of formats must be understood to choose the best one for investigating a given problem. The leading goal of all wargames is to “immerse the players in the environment with the required level of realism to permit the investigation of the human decision-making process.”[2]

Regardless of the choice of format, facilitation and adjudication have to be planned in advance by the organizers for a successful wargame. A successful wargame is one that meets the objectives of the sponsor.

With the goal of immersion and decision-making analysis in mind, the authors share the institutional way of organizing wargames—from getting the agreement between the sponsor and the Naval Postgraduate School, through clarifying terminology, sharpening the leading questions, and collecting data required to reach a result. The last chapter showcases the best and worst practices, providing both encouragement and warning to new wargamers.

Many authors in the past tried codifying wargaming as an art, experience, innovation, conflict simulation, and a growing discipline.[3] This addition to the literature is well-positioned to aid educators, U.S. planners, and analysts. Those professionals will receive the most applicable advice thanks to the discussion of the wargaming process, examples of wargames, and practice informed by years of wargaming at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Within the growing discipline of wargaming, there is an expanding number of specializations: statistical analysis and academic research, history and conceptual development, training, facilitation and adjudication, futures and scenario planning, and commercial and defense applications. The Craft of Wargaming: A Detailed Planning Guide for Defense Planners and Analysts provides a primer for understanding the institutional traditions and practices that developed to support wargaming in analytical purposes. It complements previous handbooks and adds a focus on the institutional implementation of wargames.