Wargaming at the US Naval War College

It was my privilege recently to visit the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. I was a guest of Professor Nicholas Murray. Nick uses wargames to teach officers from all services about such things as mission command, rapid decision-making, etc. He invited me so I could assist him with a class using my “Bloody Big Battles!” rules (BBB).  

 

America’s finest: 21^st-century soldiers grapple with 19^th-century problems.

The scenario he chose was Froeschwiller, the first of the 9 battles in the Franco-Prussian War campaign in the BBB rulebook. Nick likes this one because it illuminates beautifully the contrast between French and Prussian command styles and doctrines, as well as asymmetry of weapons and tactics, thus ideally suiting his educational purpose. We created a battlemat to simplify set-up and take-down.

The class is made up of a mix of all services. There were 11 students for the war game. Most of the students are the equivalent of army major (O-4). However, the ranks go from the equivalent of army captain to Lt. Colonel. The French were commanded by an army officer and the Germans by a navy officer. The students had plenty of military experience but barring a couple of exceptions had no experience of wargaming. The reason Nick has adopted BBB for his classes is that it strikes the right balance of being easy for such total novices to learn the rules, while retaining enough military-historical fidelity and nuance to teach the right lessons – especially its command and control mechanisms. At intervals Nick pauses the game, discusses the situation with the students, and draws out lessons for them.

As well as the players, some other senior people were also present. These were observers from other US military educational establishments who had heard good things about the class and are considering adopting / adapting it themselves, as part of a broader current move to reform and improve professional military education.

In the game, the Bavarians executed a successful diversionary attack against the French left flank. The French had opted for a forward defence which meant they learnt a hard lesson about the destructive power of Herr Krupp’s modern artillery. By the time they withdrew to a second line around Froeschwiller, there weren’t enough of them left to put up the necessary resistance. They had one chance to repel the first German assault on the town, which might still have bought them enough time to claim a draw, but the dice were unkind. The game ended in a crushing defeat for the French.

After the class I had the pleasure of dinner with Nick and the Marines (Rory and Tim), and the next day we also fought an operational-level game of Napoleon’s 1796 campaign in Italy, designed by Nick. The visit was full of stimulating conversations with high-calibre soldiers who are now excited about wargaming. I hope and expect that Nick and his allies in the services will build on his work and spread the use of wargaming for this level of professional military education; and that I can continue to be involved and support this effort in whatever way I can.

STOP PRESS: Dr Murray has just been awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award. This is the highest award that can be made by this body to someone who is not directly employed by them. (See p26 of this document.)