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Wargaming

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Wargames are analytic games that simulate aspects of warfare at the tactical, operational, or strategic level. They are used to examine warfighting concepts, train and educate commanders and analysts, explore scenarios, and assess how force planning and posture choices affect campaign outcomes. RAND has developed and can execute various types of wargames, including scenario exercises, tabletop map exercises, “Day After…” games, and computer-supported exercises.

Report
How to Avoid Aggression or Escalation in a Crisis
Anticipating how an opponent may be reasoning, and then seeking ways to alter that thinking can inform an effective influence strategy. Deterring adversaries by threat of punishment alone is often ineffective. A better approach might involve a mix of several measures, such as being able to thwart aggression, reassurances to reduce the adversary's fears, and relationship-building.
Feb 16, 2021
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Commentary
Use Wargaming to Sharpen the Tactical Edge
As a growing consensus embraces the utility of educational wargaming, a more daunting question remains: Can the Joint Force integrate and sustain educational wargaming in the operating forces? The challenges are substantial, but they are not insurmountable. The answer depends on bold leadership, sufficient tools, and eager partners.
Mar 8, 2021

Explore Wargaming

Report
Simulating Chinese Gray Zone Coercion of Taiwan: Identifying Redlines and Escalation Pathways
This paper shares the results of an exercise hosted by the RAND Corporation to explore the risk of escalation from Chinese activities in the gray zone to conventional war. The results showed an overall low risk of Taiwanese escalation.
Jun 22, 2023
Report
Managing Military Personnel Costs: Operation Retrenchment Specter, A Workforce Futures Game
To weigh options in managing military personnel costs, the U.S. Air Force explores trade-offs in a workforce futures policy game that simulates the monetary and nonmonetary effects of workforce and personnel policies in real time.
Jun 13, 2023
Journal Article
Wargames Can't Tell Us How to Deter a Chinese Attack on Taiwan — But Different Games Might
Wargames that simulate combat between the United States and China near Taiwan can provide useful insight about potential military challenges.
May 5, 2023
Report
Network Logistics Games: Design and Implementation
This report details a logistics game design that is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of scenarios, objectives, and modifications.
Apr 19, 2023
Research Brief
Activities and Results from U.S. Coast Guard Project Evergreen V
This brief summarizes the findings of U.S. Coast Guard Project Evergreen V, part of a long-term strategic planning effort to identify emerging challenges and future trends that might alter demand for missions and the ability to perform them.
Nov 30, 2022
Report
USCG Project Evergreen V: Compilation of Activities and Summary of Results
This report summarizes the findings of Evergreen V, the most recent iteration of an ongoing U.S. Coast Guard initiative aimed at identifying emerging challenges and future trends so that senior leaders can plan for the long term.
Nov 30, 2022
Report
Adaptive Engagement for Undergoverned Spaces: Concepts, Challenges, and Prospects for New Approaches
This report is a compendium of expert insights regarding opportunities for investing in science and technology to increase U.S. ability to engage in long-term competition in undergoverned spaces.
Jul 13, 2022
Commentary
Developing a Winning Safety Strategy for Automated Vehicles
When policy problems involve many different groups with diverging interests along with significant uncertainty about the future, games can be a valuable way to explore the potential consequences of important policy decisions. What could gaming bring to the area of AV safety?
Feb 18, 2022
Journal Article
Artificial Intelligence for Wargaming and Modeling
We discuss how AI can be used in modeling, simulation, wargaming, and combinations thereof, focusing largely on the strategic political-military level.
Feb 15, 2022
Journal Article
An Analysis-Centric View of Wargaming, Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis
This paper discusses how wargaming can be used as part of an analysis campaign in a sequence of model-game-model activities, always with the intent to assist analysis.
Jan 20, 2022
Tool
The Information Warfighter Exercise Wargame: Rulebook
This document presents the full ruleset for the Information Warfighter Exercise Wargame, which is used by the Marine Corps to provide training for aspects of operations in the information environment.
Aug 24, 2021
Report
Acquiring a Mosaic Force: Issues, Options, and Trade-Offs
Mosaic Warfare envisions more fractionated, heterogeneous forces, dynamically composed on tactical timelines. In this report, the authors present insights from a policy game to assess alternative governance models for acquiring a Mosaic force.
Aug 9, 2021
Commentary
Military Must Better Understand Sexual Assaults to Combat Them
Sexual minorities in the U.S. military represent about 12 percent of the active-duty population. But they account for an estimated 43 percent of those who are sexually assaulted. This raises critical questions for the Pentagon as it tries to reduce the 20,000 sexual assaults in the ranks each year.
Jun 22, 2021
Commentary
Wargames as an Educational Tool
The benefits of games for military education are well documented. But harnessing the potential of games to foster innovation may require a commitment to sustain gaming over the years needed to explore a problem space and develop and stress-test new ideas.
Feb 8, 2021
Report
Findings on Mosaic Warfare from a Colonel Blotto Game
Is Mosaic warfare more cost-effective and robust than more-monolithic approaches to conflict? Game theory can be a useful tool for studying the relative utility of these strategies.
Jan 5, 2021
Report
Modeling Rapidly Composable, Heterogeneous, and Fractionated Forces: Findings on Mosaic Warfare from an Agent-Based Model
Mosaic warfare is named for the idea of creating a complex image from small pieces. This report studies Mosaic warfare and explores complexity of platforms, complexity of targets, and relative density of platforms and targets.
Jan 5, 2021
Report
Distributed Kill Chains: Drawing Insights for Mosaic Warfare from the Immune System and from the Navy
In Mosaic warfare, individual warfighting platforms are assembled like ceramic tiles to make a larger "mosaic," or force package. The authors apply lessons from the human immune system and a U.S. Navy project to mosaic warfare.
Jan 5, 2021
Report
An Experiment in Tactical Wargaming with Platforms Enabled by Artificial Intelligence
RAND researchers explored the capabilities and limitations of future artificial intelligence and machine learning weapon systems in two wargame experiments that brought together operators and engineers.
Dec 29, 2020

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RAND Topic:
Wargaming

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