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Discover the world of irregular warfare with civilian game designers at the RAND Centre for Gaming. Featuring engaging insights into modern operational and strategic-level COIN games by industry experts. Explore unique designs and intriguing mechanics that challenge traditional gameplay conventions. Learn about Tupamaro design decisions and the evolving landscape of conflict simulation. Enhance your understanding of factors shaping the dynamics of asymmetry, information warfare, and strategic decision-making in conflict scenarios. Engage in stimulating discussions and delve into the complexities of nebulous conflicts with no clear endpoint. Uncover the art of crafting a compelling COIN game that balances transparency, flexibility, and asymmetry in gameplay.
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Irregular Civilian Wargames: Lost in the COIN Field RAND Centre for Gaming Washington, DC 24 February 2016
Civilian Game Designers and ModernOperational/Strategic-level IW/COIN Games • Rich Davis: Chad - The Toyota Wars • Karsten Engelmann: Colombia • Kim Kanger: Ici, C’est La France!, Tonkin • Ben Madison: Liberia – Descent Into Hell • Joseph Miranda: Angola, BCT Command Kandahar (with Brian Train), Battle for Baghdad (with Jon Compton), Crisis 2000, Decision: Iraq, Dien Bien Phu, Drive on Baghdad, Fallujah 2004, Holy War: Afghanistan, In Country, Indochina, Nicaragua, Operation Anaconda, Sealords, Somali Pirates, Winged Horse • Volko Ruhnke: A Distant Plain (with Brian Train), Andean Abyss, Cuba Libre (with Jeff Grossman), Fire in the Lake (with Mark Herman), Labyrinth • Brian Train: Algeria, Andartes, Battle of Seattle, Binh Dinh ‘69, EOKA, Greek Civil War, Green Beret,Kandahar, Operation Whirlwind, Red Guard, Shining Path, Somalia, 3rd Lebanon War, Tupamaro, Ukrainian Crisis, Virtualia
COIN games – the road not taken • Very few designs, even fewer at the campaign/operational level • Unpopular and unglamorous subject – “the indecency of recency” • Game variables difficult to quantify • Asymmetric, unfamiliar situation • Abstracted play of a nebulous conflict with no clear endpoint
A Good COIN Game Design: • Shows the relative importance of factors • Has asymmetry of means, methods, objectives and information • Has transparent assumptions and mechanisms • Is not meant to be strongly definitive or predictive • Is flexible • Stimulates discussion!
Tupamaro design decisions • No fixed period of time per turn • Non-representational map (Social Sector Areas) • Interactive Operations Phase in the sequence of play • Political Support Level the main contention and measure of success • Social fracture points were avenues of Tupamaro attack, worked into choice of missions for players: • political support (propaganda, Government reaction) • economic activity (robberies, riots and strikes) • organizational morale (intimidation, kidnapping, Crises, Internal War)
Thank you • Questions? • brian.train@gmail.com • http://brtrain.wordpress.com/coin-and-iw-game-links-and-resources/