An aspect of War Studies literature which has hitherto received little academic attention is the corpus of several thousand conflict simulation games published in recent decades. Further details of these simulation games may be found at www.grognard.com and at www.consimworld.com. In September 2003, Professor Philip Sabin began teaching a radical new option course on Conflict Simulation within the Kings College London, War Studies Department's MA programmes. Students discuss the utility and ethics of conflict simulation, and attend classes on topics including understanding historical campaigns, modelling conflict and command dynamics, and writing simulation rules. Each student must complete an individual project (analogous to a course dissertation) by designing their own complete mini-simulation of a historical battle or campaign of their choice. This involves researching the history, geography and orders of battle in the engagement concerned, studying existing simulations of the same or related engagements, and choosing simulation mechanisms which come together to create a realistic but playable representation of the actual events. What makes this project so challenging and educational is that the students must develop a deep analytical understanding of the dynamics underlying the real battle or campaign. They must address issues such as logistics, force-to-space ratios and intelligence, and must make judgements as to how close-run the actual battle was, how different tactical or strategic choices might have affected the actual outcome, and what pressures led the actual commanders to make the decisions which they did. The project requires a unique blend of painstaking analysis, legalistic precision, and intellectual and artistic creativity. The students must then reflect on the choices they have made within extensive designer's notes. Just as published conflict simulations go through extensive development and playtesting, so the student projects are played and commented on in draft form by other class members and by Professor Sabin himself. Another unique feature of this course is that they are also made available below for public download, so that enthusiasts and experts around the world may contribute their own thoughts to help in the development process. Back to OSG News March 2004 Table of Contents Back to OSG News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Operational Studies Group This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com