Wargames for Learning

 “A scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.”

— Robert Baden-Powell

The video from People Make Games about “The Games Behind Your Government’s Next War” has caused quite a stir recently among professional and hobby wargamers. What initially started as a documentary about wargaming in the defense industry became an hour-long video essay presenting and exploring the “complete moral labyrinth” of using wargames to prepare for future conflicts. The video generated a lot of discussion, both in the video’s comments section and elsewhere; notably responses at the excellent PAXsims blog. I watched the video and was impressed with the thoughtful look at moral issues related to wargaming (despite its sometimes outraged delivery, which, I’ll admit, makes for an engaging presentation style). Frequent readers might recall I’ve occasionally reflected on the ethics of wargaming — especially with kids or hobby newcomers — usually asking questions about how we can have fun playing historical games about a real-world activity that resulted in death and destruction, how we might use them as learning tools, and how we could more thoughtfully approach this activity (once again, often with the younger set in mind). Part of me wanted to respond to various issues the video raised; which were many among the hairpin turns of the host Quinns’ at-times manic journey through the moral labyrinth. I will leave more informed reactions to the wargaming professionals (though I’ll admit I wouldn’t mind joining their ranks career-wise). Instead, after much reflection about what I might say, I felt I needed to elaborate on something the video didn’t really address. It focuses on the analysis role professional wargaming plays in military circles, creating models and simulations to explore emerging crises and evolving technology to formulate and test tactical solutions. But it doesn’t look at another major facet of professional military wargaming, and even hobby gaming: the educational role games play.

I focus more on using games, even wargames, to help people learn through the processes a game models, the topics games explore (often historical), interaction with other players, and thoughtful reflection or discussion. (This is an incomplete overview of various things games can teach; for further reading on the subject of what different people can learn from games I recommend Matthew Caffrey’s On Wargaming, specifically chapter 12, “Wargaming and Your Personal Objectives.”) These activities help us analyze issues within the game, not from the perspective of determining if particular operational approaches prove effective, but in the service of education to expand one’s knowledge and experience.

Governments use wargames for analysis and training. Wargames aren’t simply a means to test and establish new tactics for evolving crises. They’re tools for training military personnel to execute those tactics and pivot to implement different responses when those solutions, for whatever reason, inevitably go awry. The People Make Games video briefly mentions this in passing once, when Quinns outlines von Reisswitz’s development of kriegsspiel and its implementation as a Prussian army training tool. Reisswitz’s kriegsspiel grew from an effort to adapt elements of chess to more realistically simulate warfare; its use not only helped shape military doctrine but trained the officer corps to both implement that doctrine and adapt when other factors altered situations. Quinns alludes at its connection to victory in the Franco-Prussian War only by noting how, after that conflict, other world powers took interest in wargames as tools for analysis and training.

Earlier in the video Quinns mentions the WRNS of the Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU) in World War II, the agency tasked with tracking Allied convoys across the Atlantic...and in analyzing and developing tactics used against u-boats. He even refers to Simon Parkin’s engaging history of WATU, A Game of Birds and Wolves (well worth the read). But the video doesn’t mention the other side of the analysis/training coin. While the WRNS’ wargames helped formulate new strategies against u-boats, they also used it as a training tool to educate escort commanders in executing those new maneuvers. Officers in port waiting for crews to repair and resupply warships spent their off-week in the upper floors of Derby House playing out scenarios, estimating the situation on the floor before them, issuing orders to escorts, and later examining failures and successes during the after-action debriefing. Learning these tough lessons in a safe-to-fail game environment saved time, money, and resources rather than learning them the hard way in action protecting supply convoys in the open Atlantic.

I recently covered a modern instance of using wargames for training. This summer, when Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science revised its mandatory “Defense of Ukraine” program for high school students, teachers learned to use a commercially available wargame. Tom Jensen’s Ukraine 2022 game found its way into the curriculum (along with other practical lessons about drones, military technology, navigation, command and planning, marksmanship, and first aid) as a method of giving students simulated battlefield experience in deploying forces, assessing situations, and responding with available resources. I also explored the moral implications of using wargames to train kids for combat. While the People Make Games video focuses on professional military wargames in the US and UK — nations not currently engaged in hot ground wars (yet preparing for that possibility) — it doesn’t get lost in the moral labyrinth of using wargames to train kids whose nation is currently involved in a fight to repel an invading adversary.

It’s worth noting, as the video mentions, how the professional wargaming community also uses similar exercises to explore non-war issues like crisis management, disaster response, and corporate, political, and influence conflict. We might use the term “wargame,” but in many cases we play through “simulations” with game-like components and rules. The form proves useful modeling and learning from situations beyond the scope of warfare.

“The Games Behind Your Government’s Next War” is informative and thought-provoking; certainly worthwhile for anyone involved in wargaming in a professional or hobby capacity. Its focus on the analysis part of wargaming to the near-exclusion of its educational benefits reminds me how problematic wargames can prove as analytical tools. The professional sphere has long debated whether wargaming is an art or a science. Its efficacy depends on the accuracy of the models and methods used, elements abstracted from reality by the necessities of the game/simulation form. I firmly believe wargames do not definitively predict outcomes as professional military analysts would like to believe — though sometimes it seems like they can — but that wargames explore outcomes. In this regard such games function best as educational tools, not simply to train participants in safe-to-fail environments but to play through how the same scenario might unfold given numerous variables. In both the analytical and educational aspects of wargaming, after-action reflection and discussion remain essential for learning from such exercises.

Ultimately the video orients viewers — especially those outside hobby and professional wargaming — about the issues of governments using these games to explore warfare outcomes. The video tries very hard to elicit an outrage response, but also thoughtfully examines the multiple layers of issues and perspectives. Quinn admits it doesn’t really come to any hard-and-fast conclusions; but his exploration of these concerns provides the framework for discussion. Conversations about these issues remain necessary as we continue navigating the increasingly complex 21st century world. Nations devote huge amounts of their budgets for defense (especially America) hoping to maintain readiness to meet any challenge, even non-warfare crises. Wargames serve as affordable tools to prepare personnel and plans, make sure they can deploy effectively, and cultivate the skills necessary to adapt and pivot in response to constantly changing situations. They train personnel and analyze doctrine quickly and far more affordably than other military activities. Armed conflict remains an inevitable part of human existence. Preparing to prevent war and wage it is, and always has been, the price of living in a global society.

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of ensuring peace.”

— George Washington

Postscript

Writing this piece emphasized to me the difficulties of referencing non-print sources (and by “print” here I mean both physical books and words on a screen in a document or website). I’m not a podcast or video person. Sure, I listen to and watch them occasionally, but I find them incredibly tedious to use as references because I can’t easily search them other than by having to listen to or view them again, even skipping around. (And enduring various advertisements I cannot skip....) I wasted way more time than I wanted trying to find Quinns’ reference to von Reisswitz. In contrast, I found exactly what I was looking for in Caffrey’s book just scanning the table of contents and flipping to the relevant page. Another 21st century change to which I’ll no doubt (yet grudgingly) have to adapt.