Get Toward A History-based Doctrine For Wargaming - IEM Final Project - Hershbine

Historical miniature wargaming is the recreation of historical battles (the Tactical level of war) through the use of a 3D terrain table over which are deployed model forests, roads, rivers and buildings as well as miniature soldiers and vehicles depicting the actual participants of the engagement.

An example is the “Chart Manoeuvres” practiced by the US Naval War College during the 1920s and 1930s, which most often simulated a hypothetical war in the Pacific against Japan. Another example is the Sigma wargames played in the 1960s the test proposed strategies for fighting the Vietnam War.

Wargaming may be described as a warfare model or simulation whose operation does not involve the operations of actual forces, and in which the flow of events shapes and is shaped by decisions made by a human player or players.

There are three wargaming techniques to choose from: avenue in depth, belt, and box. Each technique has advantages depending on the type of operation.

A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of potential conflicts.

A science of wargaming should be built on three principles: It should be “systematic, public and intended to produce worldly knowledge.” These principles can differentiate credible analytical wargaming from advocacy and art. The first step is to clearly identify a wargame's purpose.

“Wargaming is a disciplined process, with rules and steps that attempt to visualize the flow of the operation, given the force's strengths and dispositions, threats, capabilities, and possible COAs, impact and requirements of civilians in the area of operations (AO), and other aspects of the situation.”

A definition of wargaming The NATO definition of a wargame is: 'A simulation, by whatever means, of a military operation involving two or more opposing forces, using rules, data, and procedures designed to depict an actual or assumed real life situation.