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Brant Guillory, 31 May 2013
COL(R) Matt Caffrey works at the Air Force Research Labs wargaming office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. He is also the organizer behind the Connections conference that brings together military wargaming practitioners, academics, and industry professionals to advance the art, science, and application of wargaming.
Some opening comments from Mr Caffrey:
Before I answer your specific questions I need to make two disclaimers:
First, the views expressed in these responses are those of the author (myself) and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
Second, I am not so pretentious to believe I know of all US defense Wargaming. Growing up in New York City I heard the expression, “only the dead know Brookline.” That is, that borough was (and is) so big and so diverse that no living individual could know all of it. No one living individual can know all of defense wargaming. The Joint Staff and each Service use wargaming for a host of applications. Though I a student of wargaming and have worked in defense wargaming as a primary or additional duty since 1983 I would be surprised if some wargame somewhere is an exception to my below generalizations. I do not know what I do not know.
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Just a reminder to our fans & friends, the Mayviation Shootout Shootdown first round is this weekend. If you want it, get in!
Information, and the sign-ups, can be found here in our forums. All voting will take also place in the forums.
Author: Commander Mike “Toonces” Loomis
Introduction
Rare would be the man who, as a child, saw a fighter jet fly overhead and didn’t think to himself, “I want to do that when I grow up!” Unfortunately, most of us don’t become fighter pilots. However, we have the opportunity through computer flight simulation to understand a bit of what goes on in that cockpit, flying 600 knots and pulling 6 Gs.
The enthusiast flies his first simulator, buys more and more hardware, controllers, accessories, and more computer power to run ever more complex software. At some point the inevitable question surfaces- how realistic are home flight simulators, anyway? This article seeks to address this question from an aviator’s perspective.
Developer: Strategic Studies Group (SSG)
Publisher: Matrix Games
Author: Sean Drummy
Carriers at War is a classic game, and I’m not even talking about the original from way back in the day, I’m referring to the remake by Matrix Games. Most wargames require a substantial investment of time to complete a scenario, let alone a campaign, but the brilliance of Carriers at War is how succinct and utterly merciless the gameplay is. Depending on how brilliantly (or stupidly) you perform a scenario the game could be played through in as little as five minutes before a decisive victor is declared. In many ways this is a very wise design decision. If I just spent an hour setting up my weapons loadouts and task groups only to find five minutes in my ships are spotted and then bombed into oblivion I may be a little disappointed (read: infuriated).
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