I can never grasp what these simulations actually look like. Are they happening on a computer? Are they being played out with real equipment and real crews, and if so, what equipment stands in for the Americans? Is it an old-school tabletop war game?
I just don’t get it.
Depends.
At the highest levels of leadership its pretty much a board game. Sometimes there’s actual units doing training drills at the same time who are supposed to actually move around a battlefield carrying out the missions that are planned in the big tent.
It would be kinda fun to do a paintball based live action real time strategy game like life size chess but for war/starcraft
When I get on my computer later, I can find the name of the .pdf book that goes into how some of these are done. It largely depends on who you’re training and for what purpose. Sometimes it’s like LARPing and pretend. Sometimes it’s a tabletop type game. And other times, they’re actually shooting at stuff with live ammo.
Okay back here’s the authors and titles:
On Wargaming - How Wargames Have Shaped History and How They May Shape the Future by Matthew B. Caffrey Jr. (published by the US Naval War College), 2019
The Complete Wargames Handbook - How to Find, Design, and Play Them by Jim Dunnigan, 2005
Practical Advice on Matrix Games by Major Tom Mouat, 2023
I don’t know how to upload .PDFs to hexbear, but you should be able to find these by searching around the internet. All three are based on wargames ran by the US military, so while China may have different systems, the concepts will be the same. Practical Advice on Matrix Games is the one I’d emphasize the most on getting because it has information and examples applicable outside of wargames, like political campaigns and marketing.
Interesting, thanks!
