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).  

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.)

January gamefest gets better and better

Napoleon said “The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue”. I and my American wargaming buddies demonstrated the first virtue over the long holiday weekend at our annual January gamefest. We are getting better at this, as with age comes wisdom. Alcohol consumption was more moderate than in previous years. Some players were actually spotted eating salad and fruit. Conscientious objectors, perhaps?

Our game agenda had some echoes of last year’s as we again visited Waterloo and the Iran-Iraq air war. New events this time were my first taste of Team Yankee, and of Star Wars Armada, and some ACW action in The Wilderness.

 The French prepare to assault at Waterloo.

Hard to believe these fine fellows are only 15mm!
More photos of the fun and games can be found in Flickr.

Cold War gone hot: Fulda Gap, 1985

This is the war a lot of guys trained for but never had to fight, so seeing it played out on the wargames table has a particular appeal. Scott and Charlie created a scenario for a classic what-if, the Soviet invasion of West Germany through the Fulda Gap, and introduced us to the TeamYankee rules, which some found a bit dice-heavy (4 stages to the firing resolution!) but which worked OK for me. We US defenders had an infantry company, an M1 Abrams company, suitable supporting elements including some powerful air support, and the prospect of being reinforced by a German recon group. We were facing two Soviet tank battalions and a motor rifle battalion. At this period the M1 was slightly outgunned by the new T-72, so we had to be very careful with our deployment. We boldly posted our infantry forward in strength, with the tanks in depth on reverse slopes. The A-10 Warthogs did a mighty job of killing recon and artillery. Blinded and with reduced support, the Soviets got suckered into a close-in fight on a forested hill on one flank, when they should have been piling down the valley at top speed towards the autobahn. They managed to claim a minor victory by opting to keep two of their 9 companies off-table and out of the fight, but we on the NATO side were happy with our moral victory. Highlight of the game: my infantryman whose Redeye missiles shot down both Su-25 Frogfoots (Frogfeet?).

Iran-Iraq War (CY6 Jet Age) 

Playtesting of scenarios for CB’s Iran-Iraq War campaign book for “Check Your 6! Jet Age” continues. We had several bouts of this award-winning game. The technical capabilities of the aircraft and even more so of the missiles took me a couple of games to get the hang of, but by the end of the weekend I was fluent, and I don’t think I was shot down once until the last game – and then not before I’d successfully dropped my bombs on an Iraqi airbase and shot down a MiG. Playing a series of these games in the course of the weekend really gave us an appreciation of how the weapons and tactics evolved during the course of the war. This will be a terrific book when it's done. “Check Your Six, Purple Sparrow!”

Star Wars Armada

Rob had brought his Star Wars Armada collection so we played that as one of the late night games. I prefer historical, but I enjoy science fiction too, and SWA is a very slick game. This was the first time I’d tried it but the mechanisms were easy to pick up. It provides interesting tactical decisions and I’d happily play it again.

Waterloo

Mark layed on a gorgeous big Waterloo game, using his variant of the venerable Napoleon’s Battles  rules which are now in their 4^th edition. The Prince of Orange’s memoirs will claim the French were defeated by the indomitable spirit and fighting prowess of the Dutch-Belgian division around Papelotte, which shattered D’Erlon’s corps. Wellington will beg to differ and point out that the battle was won when Reille’s corps broke like a wave against the rock of British infantry between La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont. Others may just say that Eddie and Sean were both cursed by the dice gods. Who cares? We Allies had a good time!

The Wilderness

My contribution to the festivities was to run one of my favourite BBB scenarios, the Battle of the Wilderness. Charlie loves BBB, and all the guys being good American wargamers are into the ACW history on their doorstep. Scott had the advantage of having played this scenario once already at last year’s BBB Bash Day convention. A combination of his foreknowledge plus skilful Confederate play plus Union bad luck enabled the Rebs to take and hold the Wilderness Tavern. They resisted Union efforts to retake or outflank, and managed to jam up and interdict all Union attempts to move south from there, while Longstreet turned up and barred Hancock’s way. A clear win for the south. Low point for the Union: Stuart’s cavalry getting in rear and sacking the wagon trains in the traffic jam at Ely’s Ford.

This January get-together has become a fine tradition, with great games, magnificent victuals, and above all, outstanding company. I’m looking forward to January 2018 already!