OS3606 Introduction to Wargaming Applications

Wargaming has been an essential tool for military planning and decision making for centuries. A properly designed wargame provides a structured environment that allows military professionals to gain insight into complex military problems. The first half of the Introduction to Wargaming course teaches the fundamentals of wargaming using a mix of lectures and practical exercises. The second half of the course focuses on case studies of wargaming applications in addressing DoD sponsor real-life requirements.

This course is designed for students in distance learning programs that utilize wargaming case study learning activities.

Lecture Hours

3

Lab Hours

2

Course Learning Outcomes

• Cite and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of wargaming as an analysis tool, assessed in weekly quizzes and the graded Wargaming Apprentice Certification Exam which tests the learning of wargaming fundamentals.
• Develop documents to show how DoD sponsors may utilize wargaming to address real-world requirements, assessed with graded Team Case Study exercises addressing wargame Sponsor Proposal Agreement, wargame constraints, limitations, and assumptions (CLAs) and wargame sponsor in-progress review (IPR).
• Apply fundamentals of wargaming to designing, developing, conducting, and analyzing a wargame, which is assessed with graded Wargaming Team Case Study activities including game design Data Collection and Management Plan (DCMP), wargame development, and wargaming week.
• Develop Wargaming Team Case Study out brief, executive summary, and final report which are evaluated for effectiveness in presenting wargaming analysis and results orally and in writing.