Wargame: Red Dragon and Doctrine (part one)

Wargame: Red Dragon is a difficult and confusing game on first inspection. For me the game really came together once I started paying attention to real world doctrine. Wargame’s complexity and impenetrability comes partly from its mechanical adaptations of real-world weapon and command systems. The rest of its complexity comes from the employment of these systems effectively, the realm of doctrine.

Once a player has a grasp of the unit types, their roles, and the means to command them the player then has to learn how to use their units to win. This means understanding their objectives, creating a force capable of the necessary maneuvers, and executing that plan. In other words, players need a doctrine to play effectively.

Diagram of Deep Battle in Action

It is a testament to Wargame’s simulation that many players stumble on similar doctrines  to those used by the real cold war powers they are digitally emulating. The most common of these is the Soviet “deep battle” concept. In essence deep battle is a doctrine that focuses less on the primary engagement between two forces but is fundamentally about the employment of reserves as a means to exploit breakthroughs or create them should the first echelon fail. Using echelons of forces in this manner depends on seizing the initiative and either breaking the enemy's front for further fresh echelons to follow through to the enemy's rear areas, or leaving the enemy’s front so ragged that they can not effectively resist the second/third echelon. In either case the goal of such an attack is not to destroy the enemy’s frontline forces outright but to envelop them and disrupt the enemy’s reinforcements. Once the enemy reserves are checked, destruction of the enemy’s frontline forces can be done in detail or bypassed as circumstances dictate. Artillery and airpower is typically used proactively in deep battle, being the first thing to strike the enemy’s front in preparation for the assault and as a means of checking reserves and degrading the fighting ability of encircled enemies.

The economic system in Wargame is perfect for the employment of deep battle with its ticking income. As the player’s first echelon’s attack is winding down they will have accumulated a decent amount of points to put towards their second or third echelon. This leads to many players practicing a kind of deep battle simply by necessity of the game’s mechanics. As it is rare that one’s opponent leaves their flanks exposed, this doctrine depends on striking at weaker points in the line. Where the doctrine really picks up in Wargame is when you have multiple players conducting either their own deep battle operations across the map or coordinating a single attack on a thin frontage. Even if other players only assist via artillery and airpower, the effect can be stunning. This is usually necessary if the enemy is presenting a strong line throughout their width where a set piece battle to achieve such a breakthrough is necessary.