Simulating War: Studying Conflict through Simulation Games

✍ Scribed by Philip Sabin

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2014
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 412
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Over the past 50 years, many thousands of conflict simulations have been published that bring the dynamics of past and possible future wars to life.
In this book, Philip Sabin explores the theory and practice of conflict simulation as a topic in its own right, based on his 30 years of experience in designing wargames and using them in teaching. Simulating War sets conflict simulation in its proper context alongside more academically familiar techniques such as game theory and operational analysis. It explains in detail the analytical and modelling techniques involved, and it teaches you how to design your own simulations of conflicts of your choice. The book provides eight simple illustrative simulations of specific historical conflicts, complete with rules, maps and counters.
Simulating War is essential reading for all recreational or professional simulation gamers, and for anyone who is interested in modelling war, from teachers and students to military officers.

✦ Table of Contents

List of plates
List of figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I
Theory
1
Modelling war
2
Accuracy vs simplicity
3
Educational utility
4
Simulation research
PART II
Mechanics
5
Designing the components
6
Modelling conflict dynamics
7
Modelling command dynamics
8
Integration and testing
PART III
Examples
9
Ancient warfare
10
World War Two
11
Tactical combat
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Assembling the components
Appendix 2: Finding published simulations
Appendix 3: Basic mathematics
Appendix 4: Using Cyberboard
Appendix 5: Kartenspiel
Notes
Bibliography
Index