Overview

Agenda

Instructors

Registration

Overview:

The MORS Certificate in Wargaming is a five-day course designed to enhance analyst capability and knowledge in multiple aspects of professional games, including research, design, development, execution, analysis, and reporting. Through a combination of lectures and exercises, participants will learn the theory behind wargames before diving into research design and execution. Building on Peter Perla’s theory of the “Architect, Artist, and Analyst” model for game designers, the course includes material that covers each style of wargame design. The course culminates in a practicum where participants will be divided into teams to develop and execute their own game for an assigned analytical problem.

MORS has partnered with Virginia Tech to offer this certificate. Participants will receive a number Continuing Education Units (CEUs) upon completion, in accordance with the number of contact hours determined by Virginia Tech.

Objectives:

Our expert instructors will guide participants through the key aspects of wargaming and aid them in creating their own game on the final day of the course. Along the way, participants will learn about the following:

  • Defining a wargame
  • A brief history of wargames
  • Building blocks of game design
  • Adjudication
  • Strategic gaming
  • Wargame graphics
  • Game analysis

For a suggested reading list click here.


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Agenda

Download - Agenda (PDF 132 KB)

Program
Day 1  The Architect: covering what is a wargame, how do wargames relate to Red Teaming, and how does the Architect design games

Day 2

 The Artist: wargames as a design activity

Day 3

 Special Topics: Strategic Gaming, Game Facilitation, and constructing game materials
Day 4 The Analyst: how does the analyst design games? How do we analyze games?
Day 5 Practicum


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Instructors

Mr. Scott Chambers

Mr. Scott Chambers has been wargaming professionally for over a decade, supporting a range of military, civilian federal, academic, and non-governmental organizations. His work has primarily been focused on strategic, pol-mil, and organizational gaming, with a strong interest on crisis management and strategy development. He has taught graduate level courses in wargaming and is involved in all elements of wargame design, development, and execution. Scott also helps coordinate the annual Connections U.S. Interdisciplinary Wargaming Conference.

Lt Col James "Pigeon" Fielder, USAF (ret.)

Retired Lieutenant Colonel and Associate Professor of Political Science at the U.S. Air Force Academy

James "Pigeon" Fielder joined CSU as an Instructor after retiring from the U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and Associate Professor of Political Science at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is also serving as a Marine Corps University Non-Resident Krulak Fellow for academic years 2021-2023, is the professional and educational gaming lead for Mobius Worlds Publishing, and consults on organizational wargaming, crisis response exercises, and scenario planning.

Dr. Fielder researches interpersonal trust and emergent political processes through cyber-based interaction and through tabletop and live-action gaming as natural experiments and has over two decades of experience designing, executing, and assessing training exercises and wargames. Pigeon is on the editorial board of Simulation & Gaming and The MORS Journal of Wargaming, was a TEDx speaker, and has been interviewed on game-related topics by Reuters, USA Today, and NBC News.

Mr. Michael Markowitz

Senior Research Scientist

Mr. Michael Markowitz has over forty years of experience in design, development, production and evaluation of war games. He is a published writer and reviewer in military history and a regular contributor to Defense Media Network, StrategyPage.com and other publications. He also designs complex maps, charts and diagrams for CNA publications. He has won awards for his wargame designs, including the 1991 Charles Roberts Award and a 1995 Special Achievement Award by the Game Manufacturers Association.

Prior to joining CNA, Markowitz was a training specialist in the DIVAD Division of Ford Aerospace, an engineering writer at Hughes Aircraft Company, a computing engineer at McDonnell Douglas, and an electronic publication specialist at Systems Integration and Research, Inc.

Markowitz holds an M.A. in Social Ecology from the University of California at Irvine and a B.A. in History from the University of Rochester.

Dr. Ed McGrady

Adjunct Senior Fellow, Center for New American Security Instructor and Course Coordinator on Gaming, Military Operations Research Society Principal, MonksHood Media LLC

Dr. McGrady writes, speaks, and teaches on the design of professional games. He is an adjunct senior fellow in gaming at CNAS, teaches and manages game design courses for MORS/Virginia Tech, and runs a business devoted to using games and game techniques to bring innovative experiences in new areas. His recent book, Roll to Save: Gaming Disease Response, describes designing games in support of public health professionals.

In the past Dr. McGrady built and directed a team of 10-20 analysts at CNA devoted to the design and execution of professional games. Dr. McGrady has written, taught, and presented on the topic of games and their use in organizational and individual learning. He has designed and run games for many different clients ranging from the White House to the Department of Agriculture to the automotive industry. Dr. McGrady has also built a team at CNA devoted to chemical and biological response operations, including domestic response operations. Dr. McGrady has deployed as an analyst with US Forces in Haiti during operation Uphold Democracy, onboard USS Nimitz for Desert Storm and with operational E-2C squadrons. Dr. McGrady holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He has published extensively in the Chemical Engineering, physics, and national security literature and is widely cited for his work on the mathematics of aggregation and fragmentation.

Mr. Phil Pournelle

After 26 Years in the Navy, and eight years conducting Net Assessments, Mr. Pournelle joined Group W. He constantly seeks to analyze national defense strategies and conduct Net Assessments employing multi-method approaches. Mr. Pournelle has extensive experience in analytic and managerial aspects of strategic studies within the national security apparatus. His national security experience includes expertise in contingency planning, wargaming, modeling, simulation, & analysis and assessment and he received his Master's degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Operations Research.

Mr. Paul Vebber

Specialties: Wargame Design, Execution, and Analysis; Operations Research; Concept Development & Experimentation; Philosophy and Application of Complexity Science

To employ over 30 years of military operations, operations research, and wargaming experience in support of the development of an effective undersea warfare force through the disciplined application of both analytic and synthetic methods within the "Cycle of Research" (Perla 1990) framework.

Promoting research and development into wargaming design, implementation and execution leveraging complimentary aspects of manual "hands on" kriegspiel-style wargaming with "virtual world" and other types of technology that can facilitate player communication and decision-making within the game while also communicating information about why those decisions were made to analysts.

 

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Registration

Register Payment OptionsRefund Policy

The "Invoice Me" option can only be used for the registration fee. This option won't appear if you have social tickets, CEU courses or tutorials in your cart. If you need assistance registering please contact Ms. Sarah Madonia, sarah.madonia@mors.org.

Employer

Member

Non-Member
MORS Government Sponsor* $2,700 $2,800
U.S. Federal Government $2,800 $2,900
National Research Partner  (IDA Employees Only) $2,755 $2,850
All Others $2,900 $3,000


*Government Sponsor organizations include: Center for Army Analysis, HQDA/DCS Program G-8; Marine Corps Combat Development and Integration; Naval Operations, N81; Secretariat of the Air Force, Studies and Analysis SAF/SA; OSD, A&S; and DHS S&T/OSE/ORA


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