This year's Connections US Wargaming Conference was held at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (JHAPL) from July 28 to July 31, including some additional and unofficial events and activities (-August 2). With around 400 total registrations, it was the largest conference to date. The first-day attendance appeared to be slightly smaller, perhaps around 250 people, but this was still a record high.
The Theme
The conference theme this
year was "Digital Wargaming." Given the sponsor's involvement and the
wargaming community's increasing interest in and the impact of AI on the field,
the topic was very timely.
The Venue
The venue was truly
impressive, and the Johns Hopkins APL was a discovery for me. APL was
established in early 1942 to perfect and field one of America’s most closely
guarded secrets of World War II – the radio proximity fuze. The device was
judged by historians as one of the three most important developments of the
war, along with radar and the atomic bomb." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx8EYZJ-e3o)
Opening and Welcome
As usual, Matt Caffrey opened this year's conference with a brief welcome. The two Co-Chairs also provided effective administrative instructions.
Germany and Japan
One of my wargaming mentors organized one of the four opening session cells and deliberately paired Joseph Verbovsky from The German Wargaming Center and me as presenters. Joseph gave a briefing on "German Wargaming: Past, Present and Future." I was very interested to learn that after WWII, former West Germany restarted wargaming in the early 1960s under the name "Planspiel," instead of "Kriegsspiel." This is similar to the Japanese use of the term "policy simulation" instead of "wargaming" after the war, but it may not be just a political distinction. Something deeper and wider seems to exist behind the German concept. I hope he or his colleagues will write a paper or a book on the post-war history of German wargaming, much like I did with an article related to my presentation last year.
Regarding my presentation this time, I just want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who attended and asked questions.
Game Lab
There were 28 Game Lab
topics. I proposed and led a discussion on "what it takes to be an ideal
journal of wargaming." The focus was on the future development of The MORS Journal of Wargaming, but we also
discussed other existing wargaming and related journals, including The Iranian Journal of Wargaming.
Game Demo and Game Night
Just like last year, I participated in Tom Moua’s game. It was about evacuating an embassy in a highly unstable country. I played one of the embassy staff members, and we barely won. His game always reinforces the importance of intelligence. If you have the option to purchase intelligence capabilities—military or non-military—you should! We must also always be aware of the possibility of disinformation.
I was especially impressed by the game map, which was a high-resolution satellite photo of the game scene. Those photos are now publicly available and being utilized as game maps. There were related presentations and discussions.
I was also very happy to see a Japanese board game demonstrated this year and
enjoyed playing it. The demonstrator, however, was not the game designer, so I
hope the designer will be able to come and demonstrate it in person next year.
This Year’s Peter Perla
Wargaming Award Recipient
This year's recipient was Dr. William J. Lademan, the former technical director for the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory
I was
interested in his discussion on the philosophy of wargaming. I haven't heard
the term very often, but this was the second time I'd heard someone talk about
it.
Wargaming History Workshop
This was the final
conference program I participated in. I had been looking forward to it because
I was supposed to make a major contribution here. The workshop aimed for
participants to provide more examples of key wargames in history to Matt
Caffrey so he could efficiently update his book, On Wargaming. I am glad I was
able to be of some use.
Closing
This was quick. See you next year!
An Additional Activity
As an unofficial
post-conference activity, some UK participants kindly took me to a nearby game
shop. There was a lot of good stuff, but I was fortunate to find a game that I
had failed to buy last year in Japan: Burma, 1942-1945. As part of my
ongoing research into the Rangoon Heigi (Wargame), I hope playing the game will
provide some useful lessons. The Rangoon Heigi is actually the third example of
failed wargames discussed in my article (mentioned earlier). In addition to Burma,
1942-1945, I bought a submarine card game (strategic stealth duel), which I very much look forward
to studying.
The National Air and Space
Museum and The Collier Trophy
On my way to the airport, I stopped at The National Air and Space Museum. Unfortunately, the sections for the Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air, Flight and the Arts Center, and Modern Military Aviation were still under construction and are not set to open until 2026. However, I unexpectedly learned that the Johns Hopkins APL won The Collier Trophy last year while visiting the exhibition of the list of trophy winners since the early 1900s. The trophy is awarded annually "for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year."
I feel like my trip to the U.S. this time began and ended with APL. It was a very fruitful trip.
On My Way Back...
During my flight home, I played four video games. I also watched Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), which was unexpectedly available. The film's messages have been recieved as ambiguous, if not controversial, but where a human terminates HAL, the film provides a clear parallel: it is human decision-making that must determine the extent to which AI should be employed in wargaming.
