Wargaming: Constructing Simulations and Competitive Strategy Exercises

Overview

Wargaming: Constructing Simulations and Competitive Strategy Exercises is Washington’s innovative, new course for mid-to senior-level professionals responsible for designing, managing, and interpreting the results of wargames and other strategic simulations. Participants will work alongside CSIS scholars with decades of experience developing and running wargames, simulations, and strategic exercises for the defense and intelligence communities, and apply these lessons to their own organizations and industries. Through a combination of interactive seminars and exercises, they will learn how to design games that help leaders and executives better assess strategic choices and risks. At the conclusion of the course, each participant will be able to differentiate the types of simulations they could employ in their organization, design purpose-built games, and analyze and present the results.  

Curriculum

Course faculty introduce participants to different gaming techniques and methods for designing and analyzing strategic simulations including:

• Understanding the history of wargaming and strategic simulations
• Analyzing different game designs and their purposes
• Constructing games and analyzing results

Seminars

• The Evolution of Wargames as a Form of Strategic Analysis
• Table-Top Games: Generating Theories of Change in Uncertain Environments
• Matrix Games: Seeing Tradeoffs in Competition
• Wargame Experiments: Bridging Data Science and Creativity in Gaming

Exercise

• Design Workshop: How to Build Your Own Game

Eligibility

CSIS is seeking a diverse cohort of mid – to senior level professionals from across the government, private sector, nonprofit, military, and academic communities who are interested in learning how to organize and lead a team tasked with conducting an alternative assessment.