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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

Opportunities for Including the Information Environment in U.S. Marine Corps Wargames

Jul 1, 2020

Wargaming is enjoying renewed prominence in the defense community, yet the information environment remains underdeveloped and underrepresented in wargames.
Tool

Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices

Sep 22, 2020

In this tabletop military strategy game, players represent the United States, its allies, and its key competitors. They must use “hedging” strategies and decide how to best manage their resources and forces.

Explore Wargaming

Report

Findings on Mosaic Warfare from a Colonel Blotto Game

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investigating a concept of war known as Mosaic warfare, after the analogy of creating a complex image from many small pieces. The authors study Mosaic warfare through the use of a Colonel Blotto game.

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

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

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
Blog

The Most Popular RAND Research of 2020

Here are the RAND research projects that resonated most in 2020, a year unlike any in living memory. Topics include remote learning, election disinformation, income inequality, and more.

Dec 21, 2020
Blog

Now You Can Play RAND Games at Home

RAND is famous for its Pentagon wargames. Now the public can play defense analyst, too. In RAND's new game, Hedgemony, players create a military strategy to allocate troops and resources and hedge against the unknown.

Nov 10, 2020
Commentary

Two Vignettes: How Might Combat Operations Be Different Under the Information Joint Function?

RAND researcher Christopher Paul employs storytelling to illustrate two distinct approaches to Joint Combat Operations. While both vignettes result in the expulsion of adversary forces and the restoration of territorial integrity, they take different approaches to kinetic and informational power.

Oct 8, 2020
Blog

How Russia Targets U.S. Elections, Black Workers and COVID-19, TikTok: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how Russia targets U.S. elections, Americans' increased alcohol consumption during the pandemic, Black workers and COVID-19, and more.

Oct 2, 2020
News Release

New Game, the First Offered by RAND to Public, Challenges Players to Design Defense Strategies for Uncertain World

The RAND Corporation has released a boxed version of Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices that researchers originally developed to help the Pentagon craft its capstone guidance document, the 2018 National Defense Strategy. It is the first wargame offered by RAND to the public and carries a $250 price tag.

Sep 22, 2020
Multimedia

Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices

Hedgemony is a tabletop game designed to challenge players to outline a strategy and then make tough choices as they try to develop, manage, posture, and employ their forces in alignment with their strategies.

Sep 22, 2020
Commentary

Why Militaries Should Play Games with Each Other

With rising rates of COVID-19 and vulnerable populations at risk, Hawaii's people are understandably nervous about the upcoming Rim of the Pacific exercise scheduled for August. But COVID-19 cannot be a blanket check on international engagement by the U.S. military. With the effects of COVID-19 expected to last for decades, the forward thinking found in games may be exactly what is needed.

Aug 14, 2020
Blog

Preparing for a COVID-19 Election, Hurricane Response, North Korea: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on preparing for a COVID-19 election, how the pandemic is affecting artists, North Korea's deadly artillery, and more.

Aug 7, 2020
Commentary

What Strategic Decisions on the Horizon for the Department of Defense Can Best Be Shaped Through Wargaming?

The U.S. Marine Corps is not alone in its avid use of wargaming to shape its decisions of the future. The other services are conducting similar efforts with equal rigor and zeal. And as the national deficit grows and budgetary constraints mount, the Department of Defense will most likely increasingly leverage all its analytical tools, including wargaming.

Aug 3, 2020
Commentary

Wargaming the Department of Defense for Strategic Advantage

Defense acquisition, personnel, and management systems have long been seen as areas in need of reform, as costs and man-hours continue to increase over the years. Gaming new policies that govern these areas can offer early insights into potential stumbling blocks and provide leaders valuable feedback on decisions before major costs are incurred.

Aug 3, 2020
Report

Joint All-Domain Command and Control for Modern Warfare: An Analytic Framework for Identifying and Developing Artificial Intelligence Applications

The authors examine and recommend opportunities for applying artificial intelligence and, more broadly, automation to deliberate planning for joint all-domain command and control for the U.S. Air Force.

Jul 1, 2020
Commentary

How Can Wargaming Improve Government Response to Catastrophic Events?

Wargames are abstracted models of national security challenges, where players' decisions and their consequences are adjudicated within a rules-based environment. Due to its inherent flexibility as a tool, wargaming can be applied to a wide range of issues. Yet, it is important to understand what wargaming can and cannot do.

May 29, 2020
Periodical

RAND Review: May-June 2020

Feature stories explore how military and local governments can work together to prepare their communities for climate change, and the unmet needs of civilians who return from war zones and other hot spots throughout the world.

May 22, 2020
Q&A

The Serious Side of Gaming: Q&A with Yuna Wong

Yuna Wong, codirector of RAND's Center for Gaming, didn't expect to make gaming a focus of her career. In this interview, she discusses what drew her to the field, what makes a good wargame, and her latest research on the dangers of putting too much trust in artificial intelligence.

May 8, 2020

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Wargaming