From the Dust Jacket: The Fundamentals of War Gaming, by Francis J. McHugh, provides an in-depth introduction to the basics of military gaming, and offers historical insights into the development of war gaming methodologies. It covers the evolution of gaming tools such as ancient adaptations of chess and the development of Kriegspiel to teach military tactics to Prussian officers. The employment of gaming by various military powers, before and during the World Wars, is explored and culminates with the introduction of computer support and simulations in the U.S. Navy. The book also presents a comprehensive treatment of the various forms of war gaming, from manual games to computer-assisted games; from one-sided to multi-sided games; and from free-play games to rigid style games, Mr. McHugh addresses every aspect of gaming imaginable, including data requirements, design, execution, and analysis. Even the use of probabilistic tables to emulate stochastic processing, and the use of flow diagrams for decisions are provided. The author was a member of the Naval War College staff when that institution became the forerunner of all U.S. military services for applying gaming technology to educate officers and to evaluate tactical situations, operations, and strategy. Mr. McHugh traces the history of gaming at the College from LT William McCarty Little in the late 1800"s to the employment of the NEWS (Naval Electronic Warfare Simulator) in the late 1950's to the mid 1960's. At the time of initial publication in 1960, the author was internationally known for his expertise and The Fundamental of War Gaming was regarded as a seminal treatise on the subject. In his book, the Art of War Gaming, Peter Perla said of Mr. McHugh: "(his) influence on War College gaming and the War Gaming Department (at the College) was probably second only to that legendary figure (McCarty Little)." Mr. McHugh's work continues to be a valuable source of information, insight and education for commercial, as well as, professional military war gamers.

Originally published: March 1966.

Chapter 1: Introduction To War Games: -- Simulation -- Conflict situation -- War games -- Models -- War game models -- Other elements -- War game director or controller -- Control group -- Players -- Spectators -- Purpose -- Specific purpose or purposes -- Types -- General purpose -- Scope and level -- Number of sides -- Amount of intelligence -- Methods of evaluation -- Basic simulation techniques -- Mixed simulation methods -- Other methods of classification -- Value of war games -- Limitations -- Game theory -- Chapter 2: History Of War Games: -- Chess -- Military or war chess -- Vogue of military mathematics -- Introduction of additional features -- Early war games -- New methods of evaluation -- German war games, 1880 to World War II -- Japanese use of war games -- Allies, World War II -- War games in the United States -- Gaming at the Naval War College -- Chapter 3: Rules, Procedures, And Data: -- Conflict situation -- Conduct of the game -- Kinds of rules -- Amount of detail -- Models -- Basic game cycle -- Moves -- Function of the rules -- Evolution of the rules -- Data -- Umpires -- Probability -- Expected-value models -- Stochastic models -- Choice of models -- Chapter 4: Manual Games: -- Advantages -- Limitations -- Simulation requirements -- Duel game -- Naval War College board games -- Submarine tactical game -- Hexagonal grid systems -- Naval War College chart games -- Command and staff department manual game -- School of naval warfare strategic game -- Naval command course manual game -- JCS politico-military desk games -- Landing Force War Game (LFWG) -- TACSPIEL and THEATERSPIEL -- Monopologs -- Other manual games. Chapter 5: News And News Gaming: -- History of the NEWS -- War gaming department -- General description of the NEWS -- Area of operations -- Forces -- Command centers -- Command headquarters -- Umpire area -- Communications, control, and equipment rooms -- NEWS damage computer -- System capabilities -- Equipment limitations -- Scaling factors and other gimmicks -- Manual techniques -- Types of NEWS games -- Curriculum games -- Fleet games -- Game design and rules -- Rules -- Programming -- Participants -- Briefings and rehearsals -- Critiques and post game reports -- Demonstrations -- Chapter 6: Computers And Computer Games: -- Rigid umpiring -- Rigid-play games -- Development of computing devices and systems -- Binary representation -- Digital computers -- Stored programs -- Developing a program -- Programming languages -- Computer processing -- Computer-assisted games -- Computer gaming -- Time-step and event-store games -- Some advantages and disadvantages of computer gaming -- Navy War Games Program computer games -- Strike Warfare Model Mark II -- Anti-Air Warfare Systems Interaction Model -- Sea Warfare Intermediate Model (SWIM) -- SSBM Detection Model -- Embarkation Planning Support Model -- Supporting Arms Model -- Ship-to-Shore Model -- Sealift I -- Barrier Submarine computer game -- Appendix A: Chance devices -- Appendix B: Probability distributions -- Appendix C: Glossary of war gaming terms -- Appendix D: References.