Successful Professional Wargames: A Practioner's Handbook

by Graham Longley Brown, John Curry (Editor), Peter P. Perla (Foreword)

You will benefit from this book if you are a practitioner of the art of serious wargaming. Done well, the simple act of putting players in an immersive environment, asking them to make decisions and then face the consequences of those in a dynamically evolving narrative generates astounding insights and internalises learning objectives. Yet, as Clausewitz said of war, everything in wargaming is simple, but doing the simplest thing is difficult. This book explains the seemingly simple. It is a detailed guide to designing and delivering successful wargames, whether you apply the technique to Defence, other government departments, business, the emergency services, academia or humanitarian operations. This is important because good wargames save money but, first and foremost, they save lives.

Peter Perla, author of The Art of Wargaming "In his book, Graham Longley-Brown draws on his first-hand experience and those of leading professionals around the world to tell the story of wargaming best practices. From delving into the nature and applicability of wargames (they’re not just for the military), to building the best teams for producing and managing them, to articulating the life cycle of a successful game, it is a story which will prove invaluable for professional practitioners of wargames for both security and business."

Professor Philip Sabin, author of Simulating War "This book offers a cornucopia of invaluable information and ideas based on Graham Longley-Brown's decades of hands-on experience in designing and running professional wargames. There are extensive contributions from other experts, making the book a gold mine of insights from across the global wargaming community. It is essential reading for anyone wishing to use this increasingly prominent analytical and educational technique."

General (Retired) Andrew Sharpe CBE "Soldiers take great pride in being physically fit. Sport plays a major part in Army culture. But fighting power comprises three components: physical; moral and conceptual. The physical component is important, but the conceptual component is the decisive and campaign-winning differentiator: in war, the winners are the thinkers, the rest are losers. Wargaming is not only a directed element of the military planning process, but it also provides a fitness training programme for the brain in which every thinking Army officer should engage. Anyone involved in military thinking, or indeed any form of tactical or strategic thinking, from government to business, will derive huge benefit from Graham Longley-Brown’s excellent exploration and explanation of the (often neglected) art of wargaming."

Genres: Military Fiction

534 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 17, 2019

Reviews

[Gary Bunker · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're in the industry, this is a great exploration of the state of professional wargaming.