p.11 The professional wargamer... must remember that, though powerful, wargaming
is still only a tool. It is an imperfect mirror of reality.
p.12 What is it about hobby wargames that inspires such devotion and sacrifice by their players (not to
mention their families)?
p.16 Most writers on the subject seem to agree that modern chess evolved
from Chaturanga.
p.163 In its broadest application, the term wargame is used to
describe any type of warfare modeling, including simulation, campaign and system analysis, and military exercises.
p.164 First and foremost, wargaming is not analysis…It
is not a technique for producing a rigorous, quantitative or logical dissection of a problem or for defining precise measures
of effectiveness by which to compare alternative solutions.
Nor is wargaming real... A wargame
is not duplicable... a wargame is a warfare model... whose sequence of events... is... affected by the
decisions made by players representing the opposing sides. In the end, a wargame is an exercise in human interaction... wargaming
is not a panacea for learning about or solving the problems of warfare. Its forte is the exploration of the role and potential
effects of human decisions
p.164 A wargame is a warfare model or simulation whose operation does not
involve the activities of actual military forces, and whose sequence of events affects and is, in turn, affected by the decisions
made by players representing the opposing sides.
p.166 Models must be flexible enough to deal with unforeseen player decisions... Their
mechanisms should reflect accurately those factors most important to the decision-making levels represented by the players.
p.180 Wargaming is most productive when used as an organizing and exploratory tool or as
an explanatory device. It seems especially appropriate for exploring the dynamic nature of warfare.
p.181 As an exploratory tool, wargaming can give players, analysts, and other observers and participants
new insights, which can lead them to further investigation of the validity and the sources of their beliefs.
p.185 Ultimately, the goal of all war game design is communication.
p.187 As the tools of warfare continue to evolve at an ever-quickening pace, professional game designers
need to break out of the confines of past practice. They must develop dynamic new approaches to modeling the effects of those
tools on human decision making, and also the effects of human decision making on how those tools are used.
p.215 Wargames use models as representations of all the aspects of reality the game may be required to simulate.
p.215 No matter what the form or subject of wargame models, good ones share the following
key characteristics:
- They accurately reflect factors most prominent for player decision levels
- They are flexible enough to deal with unusual decisions
- They are adaptable to changes in the data base
- They are stochastic to the extent reality is stochastic
- They are documented to allow others to understand assumptions and algorithms
Chief among these characteristics is the need to reflect accurately the influence of those factors most prominent
in the decision processes of the game's player roles. Other factors, many of which may be important to the outcome of an actual
event, are aggregated rather than assumed away.
p.237 For some, the attempt to build mathematical models of warfare... is hopelessly doomed.
The modeler's "attempts at analytical rigor are not empirical science but a priori modeling. They rest on an analysts'
judgment as to what criteria are pertinent, which parameters are critical, how the parameters interact, and what values they
will take..."
p.256 Representing the processes of reality in great detail requires complex models; forcing
the players to deal with complex models requires that they learn... what works best in reality
p.274 Wargaming is an experiment in human interaction. Without human players there may be a model,
but there is no game.
