Serious Gaming, Modelling and Simulation (M&S)
Serious Gaming, Modelling and Simulation (M&S) is a key capability of the Training & Education Branch (T&E).
Overall, M&S enable a dynamic and interactive approach to education that strengthens both the theoretical understanding, e.g. what is resilience? and practical skills of participants, e.g. how to liaise with a non-military actors? Fundamental skills and knowledge that are essential in preparing our students for the complexities and unpredictability of real-world CIMIC operations.
Given the constantly evolving challenges CIMIC personnel are confronted with, our M&S solutions are continuously improving. The CCOE is constantly developing M&S solutions to address the diverse challenges that arise in today’s complex Operating Environment (OE). This enables us to provide cutting-edge training and education opportunities to CIMIC personnel.
How the CCOE uses serious gaming, modelling and simulation
within its training and education activities
In educational environments, wargames and, more broadly, serious games offer a level of immersion that surpasses that of standard approaches to education and training. These games engage a person’s full range of faculties and cater to diverse learning styles, thereby enhancing the learning experience and knowledge retention.
Within all of the CCOE’s courses wargames and/or serious games are used to:
1. Understand the contemporary and future operating environment. Civil factors influence the conduct of military operations and mission success, CCOE serious games enable participants to gain a full understanding of their importance.
2. Train Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) competencies, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication. They are significantly enhanced when practiced & tested in dynamic setting.
3. Promote understanding and cooperation between military and non-military actors in complex operating environments.
4. Encourage experimentation and creative problem-solving.
The added value of serious gaming lies in its ability to:
1. Provide Lifelike, Immersive Training Environments: Serious games offer realistic, risk-free settings for training, allowing participants to make and learn from mistakes without facing real-world consequences.
2. Simulate Diverse Missions and Scenarios: These games can replicate various missions, environments, and scenarios pertinent to CIMIC operations, enabling the simulation of complex and unpredictable situations that military personnel might encounter in the field.
3. Offer Instant Feedback and Detailed Performance Analysis: Trainees receive immediate feedback and comprehensive performance assessments, which help them identify their strengths and areas needing improvement.
4. Ensure Risk-Free Learning: The environment created by serious games is entirely risk-free, ensuring that trainees can experiment and learn without any danger.
5. Customization for Specific Training Needs: Serious games can be tailored to meet particular training objectives and requirements, ensuring that the training is relevant and effective.
Some of our most notable games that we deliver are:
1. WISE-AEGIS: A strategic wargame on Resilience through Civil Preparedness in an Eastern European setting. It provides participants a concrete understanding of what resilience at the national level entails and how it relates to military activities in the region. Over the course of several rounds, participants take on roles and play in teams. Each team needs to overcome multiple shocks by developing and executing courses of action.
WISE-AEGIS is used in various CCOE courses, including the NATO CIMIC Higher Command Course (NCHCC) and the Resilience through Civil Preparedness Course (RtCP). The CCOE also delivers WISE-AEGIS at the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College (Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr).
2. Art 4 – 5 wargame: A wargame in which typical CIMIC topics are explored at the operational and tactical level using the factor, deduction and conclusion model in an article 4 and 5 setting.
In this competitive vignette-based game, participants play in teams. The teams are challenged to create quality knowledge products (briefings) over the course of several rounds.
Participants apply the factor, deduction and conclusion model on predeveloped scenario materials relating to the various phases of armed conflict on NATO territory in two distinct settings: A village and a Eastern European country. The outputs of the teams is judged by a team of experts.
The game is played in rounds. Each round presents unique information and challenges. After each round there is a time jump: from article 4 to an article 5 situation, from article 5 to a post-conflict situation.
3. Baltic Challenge: A tactical game that is used to practice various soft skills in a recognisable European setting. Participants play in unique roles, representing various actors, and engage in key leader engagement and liaison activities. Over the course of the game, the participants receive different challenges enabling them to think in a variety of perspectives (NATO, Civilian, Host Nation, Opposing Forces) as well as the use of a variety of means.
4. ANALYSIA: For the NATO CIMIC Analysis and Assessment Course (NCAAC), the CCOE developed ANALYSIA, a CIMIC wargame about Civil Factor Integration. Playing ANALYSIA enables participants to experience, explore and understand the complexity of the civil factors of the operating environment (OE) and its impact on military operations. ANALYSIA can be played with up to 20 participants and takes roughly four hours to play.
Participants play in teams. Each team represents one of the key actors in a major fictitious inter-state conflict. Having different teams enables players to experience the conflict from different perspectives, which stimulates divergent and creative thinking as well as group discussions.
The T&E branch is able to adept existing wargames to fit unique requests, e.g. tailoring an existing wargame’s scenario to fit the needs of a specific unit or headquarters.
CCOE’s efforts on serious gaming and M&S in support of the NATO Wargame Initiative (WIN)
The NATO Wargame Initiative (WIN) and NATO's broader efforts in serious gaming and M&S share a common goal of enhancing operational readiness and strategic planning. Both initiatives leverage advanced technology and innovative methodologies to create realistic and immersive training environments. By fostering collaboration, continuous learning, and adaptation, WIN and NATO’s broader efforts ensure that NATO forces are prepared to effectively respond to a wide range of operational scenarios.
CCOE’s desire to expand its capacity into the world of war gaming coincides the Wargaming Initiative for NATO (WIN) following the theme “Understanding Better and Deciding Faster, Harnessing the Power and Potential of Wargaming,” highlighting the importance of war gaming as part of warfare development and military decision-making.
As military operations are executed in an environment where the interplay between military objectives and the civil environment is paramount to be examined and understood, It is imperative to the design, development, and execution of any wargame to integrate the civil factors of the operating environment and CIMIC, as a joint function, to the extent possible.