This was my rant over in the "modern wargaming" discussion over at BoardGameGeek
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{soapbox}
The problem with "modern" is that a lot of people use "modern" to refer to anything "after Vietnam".
While much of the "major" hardware has remained the same since the mid-80s (M1s, M2s, M109s) there's a lot that's been swapped out and only appeared in the Cold-War-goes-hot-Fulda-Gap conflicts at the very end of the divided Germany, or later (MLRS, AH64s, Strykers, up-gunned/-armored HMMWVs, armed OH-6s etc). Additionally, while the equipment might seem very similar, there's a lot of difference between an '84 M1 slick and the latest M1A2-SEP variants.
Most of all, though, the doctrine, not to mention the MTOEs, are completely different.
We used to have heavy brigades of 3 line battalions, each of 4 line companies, with the mech inf BNs also sporting a E CO with M901 ITVs. Each Brigade had enough line companies to field 2 fully task-Org'ed battalions and still have a sizable reserve.
Today, under the revamped BDE structure, we're down to 2 line BNs, plus a RSTA that's got nowhere near the firepower of a non-divisional CAV SQN. We've pushed the divisional assets down to the brigades - DIVARTY HQ and DISCOM HQ now gutted, MI and SIG COs at the MDE level - and with new assets like UAVs and satellite recon, our targeting has gotten crazy good.
So just because a game like Assault has M1s, and we're still using M1s does not mean that Assault = current ops. Or even close.
Here's another way to look at it. In 1985, looking back 30 years, you were looking at the end of the Korean War. Think about all the changes in doctrine, equipment, manning, etc (for those of you in the know, DOTMPLF) from the end of Korea to 1985.
Now roll forward another 30 years. Are we really trying to convince ourselves that just because there's still some tracked animal called an "M1" rolling around that we've made no advances in DOTMPLF since 1985 that would necessitate treating the wargames differently?
Are we really going to consider everything post-Vietnam (1975 - today) in the same "modern" bucket? From about 1600 onward, you're hard-pressed to find any 40-year period in which warfare is so static that you've got interchangeable forces from the start of that 40-year period to the end of it.
But we're trying to tell ourselves that everything from 1975 to today is essentially the same thing? Really?
Look, the Cold-War-goes-hot scenarios were a blast to play and a blessing that they never game to pass. I was in Germany from 83-88, so those games hit real close to home for me. But they're not contemporary. They're 'modern' only in relation to the grand scope of military history, but they're not 'modern' in the sense that Fire Team, or Team Yankee, or Red Star White Star, or Assault, or World At War, or MechWar '77 are in any way interchangeable with today's forces in today's conflict under today's DOTMPLF in today's warfighting environment.
{/soapbox}
