Little Wars. How generals plan combat operations by playing role-playing games

Forwarded From Dossier Center

Little Wars. How generals plan combat operations by playing role-playing games

Tensions between Russia and NATO have reached nearly their maximum level. How are the sides preparing for a likely war?

A large-scale investigation by Dossier Center sheds light on classified war games that army generals use to prepare for real conflicts. Officers split into teams and model scenarios of military action that could take place in the near or distant future, and they also plan combat operations for wars already under way. Politicians make decisions about war and peace based on the results of these games.

From the investigation, you will learn:

◾️What war games Russian generals play and by what rules. How their battles unfold on a virtual battlefield.

◾️By playing, generals are preparing for a likely war with NATO — Dossier Center found details of specific scenarios.

◾️Why the invasion of Ukraine did not go according to plan, and how the Russian General Staff tried to use games to fix its own mistakes at the beginning of the war.

◾️In what classified location Russian war games are held (the generals themselves call it “the basement”), and what cyber systems are used to simulate combat operations.

◾️Why the military still failed to get a game system for controlling a partisan unit through quest-style tasks.

◾️How NATO officers, for their part, are preparing for a hypothetical Russian invasion, having radically changed their approach to war games after 2022.

Decades ago, war games were already able to influence the fate of the world — back then they helped avert a global catastrophe. But today the reality is different. We looked into the danger the generals’ games pose for each of us.

Read our investigation:

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Games for Special Purposes

Little Wars - Dossier Center Report

How generals plan combat operations by playing role-playing games