Connections Online 2021 Continued Discussions

[bayonetbrant]

A place for folks to continue their Connections Online 2021 discussions

[bayonetbrant]

Lots of great discussion on the first full panel for Wargaming in Education

some key quotes from the chat

Kris' point here is why I am often on a soapbox that as wargame professionals, we need to play a wide variety of games with a critical mindset, like film-makers watching a variety of films to be better at their craft.

As part of the education of the general military population we are doing a Wargaming 101 course for the complete Canadian Armed Forces - this will illustrate 'why, who, when, how and what wargames can be used for ' , this is designed to help solve thta problem

The competitive dimension, and the public 'streetcred' factor, help engage/invest the students.  It also helps stimulate intense concentration and focus on the learning objectives, mastery of which, in a well-designed course, is required to 'win' the sim.

And this sequence

&  I found that students are competitive and want to "win" the games.  They always ask me when we hit ENDEX who I think "won."  I  tell them they are all winners, of course.

%  That's problematic: somebody has to lose but you don't want to lose their interest. Maybe a more RPG style game would be useful?

#  don't play until somebody wins!

&  But then you leave everyone without a resolution?

#  In my experience, the post-game discussion is much better if nobody has won yet; winning is not necessarily part of the learning

[mcguire]

    &  I found that students are competitive and want to "win" the games.  They always ask me when we hit ENDEX who I think "won."  I  tell them they are all winners, of course.

    %  That's problematic: somebody has to lose but you don't want to lose their interest. Maybe a more RPG style game would be useful?

    #  don't play until somebody wins!

    &  But then you leave everyone without a resolution?

    #  In my experience, the post-game discussion is much better if nobody has won yet; winning is not necessarily part of the learning

That's something I hadn't considered. There was a general consensus, too. That was a very good discussion.

[bayonetbrant]

Some very interesting discussions about recent professional wargaming articles

[bayonetbrant]

hoping to see some of these questions/comments from the chat get addressed in the video

so much of our wargaming history is taken up by discussion of the Naval War College's games. Why do you think there is so little discussion of Army wargaming/simulations ahead of or during the Second World War?

Q: is wargame value inversely related to detail/rigor? The significant digits idea?

Detail is usually the enemy of simulation, but where I disagree with most is that games cannot be both playable and realistic. The latter are not mutually exclusive but so many assume they are.

I like to think of a wargame like a thesis. A focused point/objective/essential question makes for better arguments.

If we want learning metrics we need to understand the intuition that wargaming hones, the aptitude for pattern recognition & anomaly detection, and the rapid selction of optimal solutions.  This kind of expert practice is not susceptible to objective testing.

Pete Pellegrino has some excellent lectures and papers on how much it actually did, and why it has been misinterpreted - his key point is that wargaming was how the course was taught, it was not an add on, it was the main teaching method for staff officers at Naval Academy.

[bayonetbrant]

Some of the panels & presentations from the past 2 days

[mcguire]

A Completely Uncurated List of References from Connections Online 2021

These are a list of things mentioned in the Discord chat during the conference. I hope they're useful to someone, since I'll never have time to go through all of them. Heck, now I need to go watch the sessions that I missed. Right after I have a bit of a lie-down.

Connections USA 2021
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12D_KQ2f3qa2-GL6AhWEAVMbKBeoKIPoF-tIrhvIuMtU/edit#slide=id.gd08c676cc9_2_0

Brant

MIL-STD-2525D Department of Defense Interface Standard: Joint Military Symbology
https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/Other_Pubs/ms_2525d.pdf

Games

1985: Under an Iron Sky Playtest items.
https://trlgames.com/special-offers-2/

Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator
https://store.steampowered.com/app/247350/Artemis_Spaceship_Bridge_Simulator/

Combat Mission Black Sea is a military grade simulation depicting a fictional
series of escalations between Russian and Ukraine which results in open
conflict in the summer of 2017.
https://www.battlefront.com/black-sea/cmbs-base-game/

EmptyEpsilon Multiplayer Spaceship Bridge Simulator
https://daid.github.io/EmptyEpsilon/

Grey Wolves at Dusk. Sunray 42 Games.
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/244487/Grey-Wolves-at-Dusk?src=hottest_filtered

The Herero War. The book contains 13 historical scenarios, derived from
original German sources, on the Herero War of 1904. This 7-month long war was
fought in the colony of German South-West Africa (present-day Namibia).
https://www.hererowars.com/new-the-herero-war-book-is/

Horizons: A Euro-friendly, decision-driven, 4X-style game that lets 2-5 players
explore and control a new star cluster in about an hour.
https://www.dailymagicgames.com/horizons

Reacting Consortium Press
"Reacting to the Past is an award-winning series of immersive role-playing
games that actively engage students in their own learning. Students assume the
roles of historical characters to practice critical thinking, primary source
analysis, and both written and spoken argument."
https://reacting.barnard.edu/games
http://reactingconsortiumlibrary.org/

Japan, 1941. John E. Moser.
"Set in Japan during the early years of World War II, this Reacting to the
Past game helps students understand the political and strategic reasons behind
Japan’s decision to enter the war."

Europe on the Brink, 1914. John E. Moser.
"Europe on the Brink plunges students into the July Crisis as representatives
of the European powers. What choices will they make?"

Books / Papers

Armies of NATO's Central Front. David C. Isby, Charles Kamps, Jr.

The Armies of the Warsaw Pact Nations. Friedrich Wiener.

Captain Gilbert Roberts R.N.and the Anti-U-Boat School. Mark Williams.

A Compendium of Wargaming Terms. William L. Simpson, Jr.
https://dnnlgwick.blob.core.windows.net/portals/0/NWCDepartments/Wargaming%20Department/A%20Compendium%20of%20Wargaming%20Terms%2020%20Sept%202017.pdf?sr=b&si=DNNFileManagerPolicy&sig=BEh3XmMzUbqnHm2SIms6QAWn5YWCMWBWnU8Ira1Oud8%3D

Deadly Seas: The Duel Between The St.Croix And The U305 In The Battle Of The
Atlantic.  David Bercuson, Holger H. Herwig.

The Elusive Shift: How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity. Jon Peterson.

Blue Tapestry. Vera Laughton Mathews.

I Only Joined for the Hat...: Redoubtable Wrens at War . . . Their Trials,
Tribulations and Triumphs. Christian Lamb.

Japan, Fleet Politics, and the Prelude to the Pacific War.
Research_Paper_Maxwell_Mod_Japan_revised.pdf (attached)

Leaders at War: How Presidents Shape Military Interventions. Elizabeth
Saunders.

Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the U.S. Navy, 1898–1945.
Trent Hone.

Major General George H. Sharpe and The Creation of American Military
Intelligence in the Civil War. Peter G. Tsouras.

A Meta-Analysis of Use of Serious Games in Education over a Decade. Yu
Zhonggen.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijcgt/2019/4797032/

Military planning for European theatre conflict during the Cold War: an oral
history roundtable, Stockholm, 24-25 April 2006.  Jan Hoffenaar.
https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/bitstream/handle/20.500.11850/150190/eth-474-01.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Ministry of Defence Wargaming Handbook
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/641040/doctrine_uk_wargaming_handbook.pdf

NATO SAS-170 Distributed Wargaming for a COVID 19 World
Watch this space.
https://www.sto.nato.int/Lists/test1/activitydetails.aspx?ID=17031

Our Gallant Doctor: Enigma and Tragedy: Surgeon-Lieutenant George Hendry and
HMCS Ottawa, 1942. James Goodwin.

Playing War: Wargaming and U.S. Navy Preparations for World War II. John M.
Lillard

Proud Prophet - 83 After Action Report
https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/MDR_Releases/FY12/12-M-1487.pdf

The Second Nuclear Age: Strategy, Danger, and the New Power Politics. Paul
Bracken.
"Reveals significant details of a June 1983 war game, codenamed Proud Prophet
(pp. 81-89).* This war game differed from earlier exercises in that Secretary
of Defense Caspar Weinberger and JCS Chairman. General John W. Vessey Jr.
played themselves and our actual war-fighting plans were used. 'The result was
a catastrophe....'"
(https://nuclearrisk.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/war-games-and-nuclear-risk/)

Race to the Swift: Thoughts on twenty-first century warfare. Richard Simpkin.
See also Chris Bellamy, P.H. Vigor, and David Glantz.

Distributed gaming taxonomy. Pete Pellegrino.
https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2020/08/18/pellegrino-distributed-gaming-taxonomy/

Revitalize Mine Countermeasures: The Royal Navy’s experience responding to
mines in World War II offers lessons for today. Lieutenant John Miller.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2019/august/revitalize-mine-countermeasures

Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights. Gary Klein.

Review: Simulations and Student Learning.
https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2021/03/18/review-simulations-and-student-learning/

Soviet Airland Battle Tactics. William P. Baxter.

Soviet Strategy and Capablities for Multitheater War. National Intelligence
Estimate.
19850400_CIA_-_NIE_-_Soviet_Strategy... (attached)

SPI-era Strategy & Tactics Magazines with the Fifth Corps series of games have
some good articles that give you some insight in what people were thinking at
the time.

Tin Hats, Oilskins & Seaboots: A Naval Journey, 1938-1945. Latham B. Jenson.

To Train the Fleet for War: The U.S. Navy Fleet Problems, 1923-1940. Albert A.
Nofi.

Wargaming to Win, Robert Maxwell
Maxwell_MPSA_draft.pdf (attached)

Will They Fight?: US Intelligence Assessments and the Reliability of Non-Soviet
Warsaw Pact Armed Forces, 1946–89. James D. Marchio.
https://www.cia.gov/static/3d77e269796872cfbf8bfcc2c81d9c8e/US-Intel-Assessments-Reliability.pdf

Winning a Future War: War Gaming and Victory in the Pacific. Norman Friedman.

Links

BeckyBecky
Here is a list of all the megagames I have taken part in, as of 5th April
2021. What is a megagame? Find out here.
https://www.beckybeckyblogs.com/about-me/all-megagagames/

Central Intelligence Agency's Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading
Room.
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/

Cyber and Nuclear Stability in Wargaming.
https://soundcloud.com/warstudies/cyber-and-nuclear-stability-in-wargaming?in=warstudies/sets/kcl-wargaming-network

Coincidentally yesterday, Moe's game table on youtube had Compass Games NATO:
The Cold War Goes Hot.  48 minutes. (Was it really a coincidence?)

Dire Straits: The Megagame of Crisis in East Asia
https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2017/09/09/dissecting-dire-straits/

Gothenburg Megagames
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1783608278598399

Horizon Megagames is a london-based group hosting megagames across the capital.
https://www.horizonmegagames.com/

Incorporating Historical Data in Wargames. David Redpath.
http://www.kriegspiel.com.au/connections/2020/12%20redpath.mp4

Intentional Teaching with Games & Simulations in Schools, Libraries & Museums.
NASAGA One-Day Conference Series, Part 1.
https://nasaga.org/one-day-conference-april-2021/

Megagame After Action Report: Den Of Wolves
https://www.patrickrosemusic.co.uk/blog/megagame-after-action-report-den-of-wolves

Megagame Makers
https://megagamemakers.uk/

NSDMG has a YouTube Channel where we recommend viewing the 30yrs of
Mega-Gaming presentation.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgPzWI9FeZjbI7iLfe4XLCw

Peaky Games is a non-profit society whose mission is to write, run and publish
freeforms - oh, and also to organise freeform writing weekends (known
affectionately as Peaky).
http://peakygames.wikidot.com/

Refining Methodologies. David Redpath.
https://paxsims.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/redpath-connections-north-2020.pdf

Saxe N' Violets is edicated to humour in wargaming. To be added to the mailling
list send me a snail mail address to tracy@librem.one.
SV_v15_3e.pdf (attached)

South West Megagames: Where Else Can I Play Megagames?
https://www.swmegagames.co.uk/megagames-elsewhere

Stichting Megagames Nederland
https://www.megagame-makers.nl/wiki/doku.php

SU&SD Play… A Goddamn Megagame
https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/susd-play-megagame/
Podcast #17: The Megacast
While videos of Matt accidentally declaring war on outer space are all well
and good, we also promised a podcast where we’d discuss the design of the
thing.
https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/podcastle/podcast-17/

Those who don't know much about megagames, you might want to watch this video.
It was a commercial game representing two NHS hospital trusts and I worked
with my friend Ben, (game designer himself and also a qualified nurse). It's
only five minutes long.
https://vimeo.com/295407891

Wargaming Network, King's College London.
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/wargaming-network

UK Freeforms: A group for players and writers of freeform style live action
roleplaying games.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/363628217072715/

Tom Vasel presents his Top 10 games published by Treefrog (formerly know as Warfrog)!
https://www.dicetower.com/game-video/best-treefrogwarfrog

YouTube video playlists on Vassal module creation, courtesy of Joel Toppen on
the GMT Games channel.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHpFcqXE0n5SveF7Dl-W4CAiIvtD9hjHv
More advanced Vassal lessons by Joel.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHpFcqXE0n5TXBXLxxN9xRBgrcXqzHWR9

Wargame Pathologies. Christopher Weuve, Peter Perla, Michael Markowitz.
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a596774.pdf

Washington Conference Megagame
https://megagamemakers.uk/MemberPages/DaveBoundy/WashingtonConference/

"Your Boss, Players, and Sponsor: The Three Witches of War Gaming". Stephen
Downes-Martin.
https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol67/iss1/5/

[bayonetbrant]

  wow!  that's a Tolstoi-worthy list of references right there!

[mcguire]

Most important first. 

[bayonetbrant]

Archive page with all YouTube links & event details
http://www.armchairdragoons.com/co21/


AAR from the Armchair Dragoons
https://www.armchairdragoons.com/events/co21aar/

[rickbill]

none of the links work for me ... did they expire? 


but, I did find and subscribe to your youtube channel ... armchair dragoons - YouTube


and the playlist for OC21 ... Connections Online 2021 - YouTube

so .... good to go

thanks!!

Archive page with all YouTube links & event details
http://www.armchairdragoons.com/co21/


AAR from the Armchair Dragoons
https://www.armchairdragoons.com/events/co21aar/

[bayonetbrant]

Lemme go look in a bit