This is an early example of an early professional counter insurgency game written for the Pentagon to explore gaming an uprising in an urban area.
The game is a multi-player megagame representing a growing urban crisis. The government have their police and the general support of the population. The key is to position the guards at the threatened critical urban infrastructure to increase the chance of detecting bomb threats. They also have their secret police to attempt to discover who the insurgents are.
The players representing the public have roles from factory owners to middle class shop keepers.
They have to maintain their income, in the face the growing insurgent threat. At the end of the game, they decide the winner by pledging their support either to the government or the insurgents.
Included are detailed briefings for the government, the public and the insurgents. The book also contains after action reviews from the games, along with an analysis of 20 key uprisings.
This book is published by the History of Wargaming Project as part of its ongoing efforts to document professional wargaming.
John, is this game "URB-INS", contained in the “Report on Urban Insurgency Studies”, done in 1966 by Simulmatics Corporation?
ReplyDeleteI remember examining a copy of this in the US Army War College briefly; I found it by chance, but I wasn't going to pass up a look at such an early example of a manual game on counterinsurgency in a generic city. I recall it was pretty sophisticated for its day – double-blind play with an umpire using a third board; time lag on intelligence and movements; uncertain information on sympathizers for either side; interrogation and arrest; etc..
Anyway, ordering a copy now....