The Australian Army is actively engaged in the reinvigoration of wargaming as an element of Professional Military Education (PME). The Army Battle Lab has led this effort through the development of original Australian-based wargames such as Australian Platoon Commander and Australian Combined Arms, which support unit training and courses across the Land Combat College.

This resurgence is part of a global trend; military institutions worldwide are recognising wargaming’s unique capacity for experiential learning, allowing practitioners to explore and test complex ideas across diverse scenarios and environments. Consequently, a rich ecosystem of both commercial and military games has emerged to address varied operational challenges.

Commanders can leverage these easily accessible games to support professional development. This article explores one such game: Supply and Steel.

Set against the backdrop of the summer of 1944, Supply and Steel places players squarely in the immediate aftermath of the D-Day landings. The beaches of Normandy have been secured, but the true test of operational endurance is just beginning.

The game distils this campaign into an asymmetric duel of supply chains. As the Allied commander, you face the monumental task of funnelling a mountain of materiel through congested beachheads to sustain the momentum required for a breakout across France.

Conversely, the German commander must orchestrate a stubborn defence in the dense bocage country, husbanding scarce resources while enduring relentless Allied air interdiction targeting their rear echelons.

The game provides the opportunity to experience the same friction that plagued General Eisenhower and Field Marshal von Rundstedt, where the ambition to manoeuvre is strictly governed by the harsh arithmetic of logistics.

Historical context: From Stalemate to Breakout

Rather than a generic history lesson, Supply and Steel focuses on the critical operational pivot of the 1944 Normandy campaign. To understand the game’s friction, we must look at the two distinct phases of the breakout:

Game Mechanics: Simulating the Friction of Supply

At its core, Supply and Steel shifts the traditional wargaming focus away from tactical manoeuvres and places it firmly on the logistics 'tail'. The game’s mechanics are elegant but unforgiving, relying on a resource management system that forces players to grapple with the realities of sustainment, operational reach, and culmination.

As a micro wargame, there is a high degree of abstraction to allow the game to flow quickly while enabling an immersive simulation of corps/divisional-level logistics planning. Each of the Allied land units, infantry and armour, represents one corps while the German land units represent a series of divisions; these units include all their enablers such as indirect fire such that although they are not directly represented in the game, they are factored into each unit’s combat value.

In addition to the land units, the Allies have access to heavy bomber wings and two groups of fighters. The game employs a point-to-point map of the Normandy area of operations; a point-to-point wargame is one where units move between specific strategic locations (nodes) along a network of predefined paths (links).

Finally, combat within the game is resolved with a six-sided die (d6); the result of a d6 roll is compared to the unit’s combat value and any terrain modifiers to determine if an enemy unit has sustained damage.

Figure 1: The Supply and Steel game board.

Some of the specific features of Supply and Steel include:

• The Supply Economy: Rather than simply moving combat units to initiate engagements, players must actively manage a finite pool of logistical resources, represented in-game by supply points or cubes. These resources do not magically appear at the front; they must be physically moved from rear-area depots (such as the congested Normandy beachheads) along vulnerable lines of communication to the frontline fighting formations.

This mechanic simulates the 'tyranny of distance'. The further forward a unit advances, the more time and resource-intensive it becomes to sustain them, requiring players to build and protect a viable supply chain before they can confidently launch an offensive.

• The Combat vs. Sustainment Dilemma: In Supply and Steel, commanders are forced to prioritise their efforts, weighing the tactical benefit of pressing an attack against the risk of overextending their supply lines. Combat actions within the game are not free; every attack, movement, and defensive stand consumes logistics. Players quickly learn that a rapid, sweeping advance can leave their leading elements isolated, out of supply, and highly vulnerable to counterattack. Through this mechanic, Supply and Steel replicates the very dilemmas that plagued commanders during the historical post-D-Day breakout.
• Asymmetric Operational Challenges: The game also excels in demonstrating the differing logistical hurdles faced by opposing forces. The Allied player is burdened with the friction of pushing massive amounts of materiel through narrow bottlenecks to maintain offensive momentum. Conversely, the German player is forced to master the art of husbanding scarce resources while conducting a stubborn, delaying defence. This forces players to not only plan their own sustainment but to actively target and exploit the logistic vulnerabilities of their adversary.

Implementing Supply and Steel into Unit PME

Supply and Steel is available as a print-and-play game from Decisive Edge via ADELE (O:S) on the DPN (download link via Decisive Edge); alternatively, members of Fight Club International can access it via the Fight Club website.

The true value of any wargame lies in its application. As a micro wargame, Supply and Steel features a small physical footprint, an accessible ruleset, and a relatively short playing time. This reduces the barrier to entry, making it an ideal candidate for integration into a unit’s regular training battle rhythm without requiring days of dedicated time.

Focusing the After-Action Review (AAR)

As with all experiential learning, the game itself is merely the vehicle; the true PME value is extracted during the AAR. Facilitators should guide the post-game discussion away from mere 'dice rolls' and toward doctrinal concepts.

Questions should focus on operational reach:

• “At what point did your attack culminate?”
• “How did the friction of moving supplies dictate your offensive tempo?”
• “How would these constraints apply to our current operating environment?”

By tying the game’s historical lessons to contemporary Australian Army doctrine, Supply and Steel transitions from a recreational activity into a rigorous intellectual exercise. The following table provides a ready tool to assist AAR discussions.

Tactical Considerations: Allies vs. Germans

Figure 2: A game of Supply and Steel in action.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Supply and Steel is much more than a historical simulation of the 1944 Normandy campaign; it is a highly effective, accessible platform for developing the intellectual edge of our combat leaders and logisticians alike.

By deliberately shifting the focus from tactical manoeuvre to the relentless friction of sustainment, the game forces players to confront a reality that is as true today as it was eighty years ago: operational ambition is strictly tethered to logistical capacity.

For an Australian Army reorienting towards littoral manoeuvre and operations across the Indo-Pacific, mastering logistics constraints is more critical than ever. As Army continues to expand its wargaming ecosystem, print-and-play games like this offer commanders a practical, engaging way to embed continuous PME into their unit’s battle rhythm.

By taking these lessons from the tabletop to the training environment, we can better prepare our people for the complexities of modern conflict, proving once again that while amateurs study tactics, professionals master logistics.

Game Summary

Supply and Steel: A two- to three-player micro wargame that explores the issues of logistics in Normandy during the 1944 breakout. Players must move supplies forward to their frontline units to continue the advance or shore up their defences without creating opportunities for their opponent.

• Complexity: Low
• Number of players: 2-3 (Allies can be played as a single player or split between two players)
• Time to play: 60-90 minutes
• Learning Value: Logistics planning
• Potential training audience: Corporal – Major

Publisher: Fight Club International: https://www.fightclubinternational.org/supply-and-steel

Still Interested?

Why not also read: Introduction to Wargaming by Andrew Somerville.

Cove+ also has short learning courses on similar topics, including Modern Warfare.