Since the Prussians adopted Kriegsspiel in the 1800s, wargaming has long been acknowledged as a valuable military training tool. The popularity and use of analogue or manual wargaming for training has seen a significant rise in the last decade in many western militaries.

For the past three years the Australian Army Battle Lab has been undertaking initiatives to reinvigorate the use of analogue wargames for both training and professional education. One of these initiatives is the development and production of serious manual wargames which are being distributed to select training establishments and wider army units.

Australian Platoon Commander Box Art

One of these wargames is titled Australian Platoon Commander. The Australian Platoon Commander wargame is a set of professional wargame rules originally developed for use at the Royal Military College – Duntroon in 2023 to support specific learning outcomes of the Full Time and Part Time Officer Commissioning Program. However, it can also be used by other Army units to conduct educational wargames. This helps individuals develop mental models, a key requirement of pattern matching and recognition-primed decision making that underpins the Immediate Decision-Making Process (IDMP) explained in the latest joint planning doctrine ADF-I-5 Decision Making and Planning Processes. It is now being considered for use in various Land Combat College training establishments, including the School of Infantry and the Land Warfare Centre. The Army Battle Lab has produced 600 copies of this wargame for Army.

Officers at the School of Infantry participate in a wargame using Australian Platoon Commander during a PME session.

Officers at the School of Infantry participate in a wargame using Australian Platoon Commander during a PME session.

You can download a copy of the current rules for this wargame from http://drnet/Army/LSW/Documents/230804-Instr-RMC-D_Wargame-AUSPLCOMD_v0.8.pdf (accessible via DPN only).

Major Andrew Somerville, the designer and developer of Australian Platoon Commander recently discussed its development with Major Ed Farren (British Army) from the International Fight Club, a PME wargaming network that includes the UK, USA, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Canada, Czechia, and Germany. The International Fight Club has uploaded this discussion to Youtube for those that are interested in this wargame, its mechanics, and Major Somerville’s reasoning behind the design. The webinar link is: Designing Games for PME – with Major Andrew Somerville 

For further information on Army Wargaming and other associated resources visit the Army Wargaming intranet website: http://drnet/army/lsc/pages/army-wargaming.aspx (accessible via DPN only).