“This was my first experience playing Littoral Commander – Baltic, and I didn’t know what to expect. The game was very dynamic, demonstrating to the players that every decision made had its benefits or costly consequences. I learned plenty and would like to play it again in the future.”
– IWP student Daniel DelVitto
Nine IWP students met on a recent Saturday and played out near-future combat between the Russian navy and army and the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Army, learning valuable lessons about the lethality and evolving nature of high-tech modern warfare.
This opportunity came courtesy of Professor Sebastian Bae, an adjunct professor at Georgetown and a professional wargame designer with the Center for Naval Analyses. Students played a copy of his commercial wargame, Littoral Commander-Baltic, which looks at multi-domain warfare in northern Europe in the near future at the tactical and operational levels.
Prof. Bae makes an important teaching point to the U.S. team (left) and Russian team (right).Professor Aaron Danis, who is a long-time wargamer and uses simulations in some of his courses, invited Bae to do a “teach-and-play” session. Prof. Bae’s scenario postulated that war between Russia and NATO had broken out, and the U.S. was defending key straits in the eastern Baltic Sea to prevent a Russian breakout.
“This scenario postulates expected real-world forces and actions should a conflict break out,” said Danis. Although this scenario was more tactical/operational in nature (vice strategic), it is important for IWP students who may work with the U.S. military to understand how warfare is rapidly evolving. “There is a lot of cyber warfare and missile and drone use, and tactical systems can have a strategic impact if used properly,” stated Danis. “This is NOT World War II in Europe.”
Team USA ponders what Joint Capabilities Cards they want to play in the next round.The students were divided into a Russia Team and a U.S. Team, and they were further divided into ground and naval task forces that had to work together in unison. Players could leverage not only their immediate resources on the ground and in the sea, but could use cyber tools, drones, and new weapons under development for near future conflict. Players discovered that coordinating task forces is not easy even in the best of circumstances.
The battle, which simulated only eight hours of real combat, came down to the last turn. The U.S. and Russia quickly expended all their long-range attack missiles and air-defense munitions, similar to what is seen in the Russo-Ukraine War today. Logistics is not glossed over in this wargame, and units need to be resupplied in combat.
Team Russia talks strategy.IWP students enjoyed the interactive nature of the wargame and learned several lessons. Alec Bulloch, who was on the Russia team, stated, “One of the most valuable takeaways I got was the importance of coordination and unified strategy: it didn’t do me any good to correctly identify our highest priority targets if our other commanders couldn’t see it as well. If we had been more unified in our target selection and approach, we could have really changed the game.”
Russia teammate Junfei Ge added, “The game immerses you in a realistic combat environment, emphasizing decision-making at a command level rather than individual skirmishes. This makes it a highly valuable experience for those in the defense industry, offering insights into coordination, planning, and the complexity of modern warfare.”
“[This was a] great session of Littoral Commander: Baltic at The Institute of World Politics! It was a pleasure to teach graduate students about the game and how it aims to educate players on modern multidomain operations,” said Professor Bae. More add-on modules are planned for the game series.