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Wargaming Skill Set Mapping�Phil Pournelle, SPA Fellow for Digital Wargaming � With thanks to�Zack Rothschild, SPA Senior Wargame Analyst

Connection Wargaming Conference,

Naval Postgraduate School,

Monterey, California

June 2026

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What is this brief?

Objective: Design a roadmap for the development of future wargame designers.

  • Identify skill sets
  • Identify required competencies for various levels
  • Identify training programs and opportunities for wargame designer development

This is an initial draft to initiate discussion.

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Continuum of Structured Analytic Events, Wargaming, and M&S

Creativity

Original Thought

Rigor

Analytic Precision

Red teaming is a � systematic way of making critical and contrarian thinking part of the strategic planning process of any organization.

Agency & Understanding

Modeling and � Simulation (M&S) � is the use of models (e.g., physical, mathematical, behavioral, or logical representation of a system, entity, phenomenon, or process) as a basis for simulations to develop data utilized for managerial or technical decision making.

Large Language Models

Constrained Artificial Intelligence

Rigid � Kriegspiel is a disciplined, rule-bound wargame usually consisting of detailed rules and procedures.

Free Kriegspiel is a � double‑blind, professionally umpired wargame where players command imaginary armies on a map, but it omits many of the �detailed rules and procedures found in the original or military codified versions

A workshop is a structured � and interactive session designed to create an environment for meaningful work and to guide a group through a process that will lead to identified output outcomes.

Digital Wargaming is the use of computers to assist in visualization, recordation, and adjudication for human participants

Live, Virtual & � Constructive Environment is a simulation involving real people operating real or simulated systems in a computer-generated environment. LVC may be a federation of tools.

A Rehearsal of Concept � drill is a dry walk- through of a plan between a commander and their subordinates ensuring a shared understanding of the plan.

Matrix Wargaming � blends role-playing with structured debate, where players propose actions, state their desired effects, and present arguments for why those actions would succeed or fail.

COA wargaming is a � structured military planning technique used to develop, analyze, and refine operational plans by simulating actions, reactions, and counteractions of both friendly and enemy forces.

A Table Top Exercise is an informal, discussion-based session in which a team discusses their roles and responses during an emergency, walking through one or more example scenarios.

A seminar wargame is a specialized form of wargaming that blends elements of seminar-style education with strategic simulation to achieve specific learning, planning, or analytical objectives

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The 7 Core Elements of a Wargame (Peter Perla)

  • Objectives: The core purpose or question the wargame is designed to address. Objectives determine what the sponsor wants to learn, driving every subsequent design choice and ensuring the game provides useful insight rather than just entertainment.
  • Scenario: The structural narrative framework of the game. It details the "road to war," sets the geopolitical or tactical environment, and dictates how friendly, enemy, and neutral forces are initially positioned and oriented.
  • Database: The raw information, data parameters, and historical or technical records feeding into the game. This includes things like exact weapon specs, force readiness states, logistical capacities, geography, and weather constraints.
  • Models: The mathematical, logical, or physics-based systems used to translate player decisions into concrete outcomes. Models govern how structural processes function within the game—such as combat attrition calculations or supply line consumption rates.
  • Rules and Procedures: The framework governing what players are allowed to do and how the game flows. Rules dictate the sequence of play (turns), movement limitations, and the specific mechanics players must use to execute actions or communicate.
    • Adjudication Techniques
  • Players (Participants): The active human agents representing opposing commands (typically Blue Team and Red Team), along with neutral actors or specific command cells. Their primary function is competitive, contextualized decision-making under intense pressure and finite parameters.
  • Analysis: The system for capturing data, recording decisions, and evaluating the game's outcomes. Perla emphasized that a wargame is ultimately a tool for learning; robust analysis tracks why players made certain decisions and feeds those insights into a broader cycle of research.

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Practical Framework

In addition to the overarching seven architectural elements, Perla frequently utilized a practical memory aid called TREADS to help game designers mechanically organize the physical and systemic components of a new game project:

  • Time: How time moves within the game (e.g., rigid phases, open seminar discussions, or continuous real-time execution).
  • Resources: The finite physical assets available to the players (e.g., fuel, troops, funding, ammunition, or political capital).
  • Entities: The specific elements being simulated and moved on the board (e.g., independent brigades, cyber warfare teams, or individual naval ships).
  • Actions: The predefined moves or operations an entity can actually execute during a turn.
  • Dynamics: How those actions interact, creating friction, chance, and unintended cascading consequences across the board.
  • Space: The physical environment where the conflict occurs (e.g., a digital map, a hex-grid board, or abstract conceptual domains).

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Major Skills (Rough Draft)

  • Sponsor Engagement
  • Game Design
    • Domains
    • TREADS
  • Game Development
    • Rules/Procedures
    • Materials
    • Presentation/Visualization
    • Database
  • Automated Support
    • Audio & Visualization support
    • Adjudication support
  • Facilitation
    • Player preparation
    • Player inputs/moves
    • Game State Update
    • Hotwash and/or Structured Analytic Technique
    • Personality conflicts

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  • Adjudication
    • Models of War/Conflict
    • Other elements of national power (DIME)
    • Types & Styles
  • Analysis
    • Rapporteur
    • Data Capture
    • Participant Survey
    • Synthesis
    • Reporting & Dissemination
  • Event Planning/Logistics
    • Recruiting and placement of participants
    • Venue
    • Dining, berthing, and biology
    • On site Systems
    • Security
    • Transportation

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Wargamer Levels

  • Neophyte: Someone who beginning to learn about wargaming. Often a player.
  • Novice: Someone who understands the fundamentals of wargaming and able to assist the team in design and execution of a wargame. Often a player team leader.
  • Journeyman: Someone who has demonstrated a grasp of the fundamentals of a wargame and able to successfully execute elements of a wargame with little to no supervision.
  • Master: Someone who can design and execute a wargame in a select domain. Usually the leader of a wargaming team.
  • Gand Master: A recognized leader in the design and execution of wargames in more than one domain.

This is a very old draft which needs improvement

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Thoughts, Comments, Questions?

“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”�― Albert Einstein

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