Strategic Studies

For STRA535: Designing Strategy—Wargaming and Analytic Tradecraft, students worked in groups to produce a playable wargame.

A STRA535 Matrix Wargame

About the game:

A matrix wargame is constructed around a hypothetical, yet plausible, future scenario and inciting incident that forces teams into making strategic decisions. A ‘turn’ consists of each player making a single ‘move’, which should be as close to real-world accuracy relative to an actor’s capabilities and strategic outlook. Remaining players will vote on whether the move is plausible or not, and if it passes a majority vote then the move is approved by facilitators and the next player makes their move. The players’ objective is not to win, per se, but to replicate their actor’s behaviour as accurately as possible, so that useful lessons can be drawn from the scenario. Periodically, facilitators will introduce ‘wild cards’ into gameplay. These are designed to be unpredictable events that complicate the strategic environment and force the players to re-think their position. At the conclusion of the matrix game, facilitators will compile an after-action report that summarises gameplay and strategic findings.

For STRA535: Designing Strategy - Wargaming and Analytic Tradecraft, a major component of the course was for students to work in groups to produce a playable wargame. The parameters given were to have an Asia-Pacific setting with the purpose of stress-testing New Zealand's strategic options during a time of crisis. Having developed a working understanding of a strategist’s toolkit, our task was to develop a matrix game that incorporated critical uncertainties of the near future. We chose to focus on the cyber domain as a catalyst for rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific and interactions with conventional power politics in a US-China competitive context.

The matrix game is set in the year 2028, in an Asia-Pacific where states are experiencing a rising number of debilitative cyber-attacks, unattributable in nature but largely believed to originate in the People’s Republic of China. This updated version incorporates the recent AUKUS agreement into the scenario, with Australia-US submarine cooperation being a flashpoint for rising tensions. The players are New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and China, and New Zealand’s strategic position will be put to the test cyber and conventional distinctions blur and we are forced to balance our economic and security priorities…