[ELI5]How do war games work? How do you get points or win?
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A war game is challenging your forces with something as realistic as possible.
For example, fleet A has to defeat fleet B. Instead of shooting, they decide beforehand that the first to spot the other has won the fight. Or the first to find the range for a shot. So ship from teamA spots a ship of team B, finds the range, then make a radio call to HQ reporting it. HQ is the referee. It will say to ship A “yes you sunk something”, and say to ship B “you are sunk go home.
Each team has to try fool the other. The goal is not to have a winner but to learn what actually works and what not in a real scenario.
Sometime the simulation is of a very broad spectrum, and may include actual intelligence, spies, real ships and entire armies, and even include a full on travel around the planet with all the cost and logistic nightmares included.
For example, in the 30s, during a naval game, fleet A was on the east coast and has to react to fleet B simulating an attach on the west coast. So part of the usa fleet was actually crossing Panama for real to get to the “fight”. At some point a battleship was declared sunk and the canal closed. What happened? The opposing team sent a properly dressed real navy officer to the canal, the guy waited in a hotel watching the canal. He saw a battleship, waited for it to pass close. Then he went to the dock, then onto the ship, walked down to the main magazine, then told another sailor “hey you know? I’m from team B and I just detonated your ship!”.
Tell me if this is not a good example on how to score a point!
Games like this are what really makes an army/navy actually strong. After the exercise I described, the navy reviewed all the procedures and checks to let people on board. If that had been a real war they would have lost 1000+ lives and a capital ship and got the canal blocked by its wreck, all this by leaving a door unattended.
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