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Recent Presentations
The US National Defense University’s Centre for Applied Strategic Learning (CASL) has recently initiated a series of lectures on Strategic Gaming. The first two in the series are particularly noteworthy and are essential listening for any wargame professional. It is not easy to find the links below directly from the CASL web site.
- Dr Peter Perla The Way of the Wargamer available at http://casl.dodlive.mil/lecture-on-strategic-gaming-dr-peter-perla-cna/ Peter is one of, if not the, foremost exponents of wargaming of our time. He continues to push professional wargaming boundaries and seek wargaming advances in the present and into the next generation. Any opportunity to hear him speak should be grasped.
- Professor Philip Sabin The Continuing Merits of Manual Wargaming. Phil’s slides can be found at http://wargamingcommunity.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/sabin-manual-wargaming.pdf and the accompanying audio file at http://casl.dodlive.mil/discussion-with-dr-phil-sabin/ Phil is the UK’s only ‘professor of wargaming’. The title of the talk is self-explanatory and is essential listening for any professional wargamer, irrespective of how wedded to technology they are.
Update: both of the above presentations are now co-located at http://casl.dodlive.mil/research-and-analysis/lectures-on-strategic-gaming/ and the third in the series is also announced there (Mr. Alec Barker on “Scenario Design”, 26 October 2012).
Forums and sites
Click on the forum/site title to be re-directed
Wargaming Connection deals primarily with serious wargaming and wider gaming in the defence (e.g. military science, operational research etc) and social science (e.g. anthropology, sociology etc) domains. The site hopes to ‘improve the ability of wargames to support the increasingly complex needs of customers exploring problems of strategy and policy formulation, technology development, education, military concept and doctrine development, and competition in general.’ It is now the official blog of the US Military Operations Research Society (MORS) Wargaming working group in addition to being the blog for Connections.
PAXsims ‘is devoted to the discussion of simulations and serious games that address issues of peace and conflict for educational, training, and policy purposes.’ It considers areas including: simulations; conflict, peace-building and development; and training and education. It therefore attracts a wider range of respondents than Wargaming Connection, but contributions remain serious-minded and well-considered.
The purpose of Simulating War is to ‘discuss the design and use of conflict simulation… The group is particularly focused on manual rather than computer simulations, and on the use of such simulation games as a vehicle for teaching and research within academia and the military.’ Hence Simulating War attracts more recreational wargamers and gamers than Wargaming Connections or PAXsims.
Milgames ‘is a private (not everyone can get in) email discussion list (listserv) for those interested in developing professional wargames. This means people in the military and those who develop wargames for the commercial market. It is an unofficial (no government support) and unclassified listserv. Milgames is a place where military game developers can ask others military and, most importantly, civilian game developers questions.’ The process used to join the list is at the link above.
Wargames Used in Support of Analysis
This page ‘forms only the beginning of an online wiki on the use of wargames by the military OR community. Long and very detailed books and book-length histories have been written on the history of “professional” wargaming. While this wiki will mention historical instances and examples of specific wargames being used to support analysis, it is not meant to replace these studies.’
Red Team Journal ‘was launched in 1997 to further the practice of red teaming and alternative analysis. The current iteration of the site is designed to help analysts and decision makers improve their ability to generate effective national security and business strategies.’
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