CONNECTIONS 1999

Designers Assemble! Al Nofi, Jim Dunnigan, John Hill and Jack Radey at Connections 1999.

In February 1999 I attended the US Air Force's annual Connections conference on simulations and the military, held at Maxwell Air Force base, Alabama. Present were such wargaming luminaries as SPI founder Jim Dunnigan, former S&T FYI editor Al Nofi, gaming historian Peter Perla, and designers Charles Kamps, Frank Chadwick, John Hill and Jack Radey

This year's conference theme was human factors in warfare. Needless to say, there was no small interest in what we in board wargaming have done in this field. Lt. Colonel Walters (USMC) lectured on the advantages of commercial wargames over government simulations. For example, commercial designers present many independent viewpoints and therefore can provide a more objective evaluation of military challenges.

Peter Perla and Ed McGrady developed this theme, looking at how commercial games tend to provide more extreme results, results which are often difficult for military bureaucracies to assimilate but which can potentially be more realistic (as an example, the Japanese naval wargame conducted prior to the Battle of Midway, 1942, which resulted in the US player sinking the Japanese aircraft carriers; the Japanese commander refused to accept this result, "unsinking" his carriers. Needless to say, the Japanese could not refloat the four carriers they lost in the real battle!). Anyway, wargaming is needed to find the unexpected.

Lt. Colonel Lunsford (US Army) talked about how leadership, training and cohesion are critical to battlefield success. This is especially critical in today's high-tech battlefield, where small unit commanders can make critical battlefield decisions. The confidence of the individual soldier in the mission is a decisive factor‹if the troops do not understand and support unit objectives, the units are not going to go anywhere.

John Hill lectured on other human factors, such as why 20% of the fighter pilots in World War Two made 80% of the air-to-air kills. Pilot skill and aggressiveness are just as critical as aircraft characteristics. The key to victory, then, is in understanding these factors and implementing programs to keep troops at high levels of performance.

Jim Dunnigan brought up the importance of "engineering" games for the military. How do you simulate factors which are apparently irrational? Jim used as an example France's Plan XVII in 1914, which resulted in the French army making senseless attacks into Alsace-Lorraine while the Germans were sweeping through Belgian via their Schlieffen Plan. Part of the answer is in "idiocy factor" rules which give players victory points for attaining these irrational objectives. But the real problem is deeper, in simulating varying perceptions about politics and warfare. Americans today, Jim pointed out, lack much understanding of different cultures and consequently have a difficult time in simulating other nations' ways of warfare.

I talked about CYBERWAR XXI, a simulation of modern warfare I designed in conjunction with Hexagon Interactive. CYBERWAR XXI includes combat on the Information Warfare, Systems Warfare, and Battlespace planes, allowing players the opportunity to test new weapons technologies and strategies in the full spectrum of modern conflict.

Many thanks to Matt Caffrey and Major "Red" Urband for their efforts in putting together this conference. For information on year 2000's Connections, e-mail connections@Maxwell.af.mil or write Matt Caffrey, ACSC/DEC, 225 Chennault Circle, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, 36112-6426.