WARGAMING
IN MOUNTAIN
WARFARE
Test decisions. Explore capabilities. Learn before it matters.
Four tactical-level wargames. One demanding environment. Multiple ways to explore the future battlefield.
At the 7th Mountain Warfare Congress, the NATO Mountain Warfare Centre of Excellence invites participants to experience wargaming as a practical tool for military education, tactical experimentation and operational learning.
More Than a Game
A practical opportunity to develop tactical judgement, challenge assumptions and explore the consequences of military decisions.
Military operations are shaped by uncertainty, limited information, complex terrain and an adaptive adversary. Wargaming provides a structured environment in which concepts, decisions, tactics and emerging capabilities can be explored before they are tested in reality.
It allows participants to examine not only what a force or capability is expected to do, but how it might perform when confronted with operational constraints and opposing action.
Train
Develop tactical decision-making under pressure, uncertainty and limited information.
Experiment
Explore concepts, tactics, technologies and alternative ways of employing capabilities.
Learn
Reveal strengths, weaknesses, unexpected outcomes and second-order effects.
Adapt
Turn observations into better training, tactical concepts and capability development.
The Mountain Is Part of the Game
In mountain warfare, terrain is not simply the setting. It is part of the decision.
Elevation, weather, restricted mobility, communications, observation and dispersed forces all influence what can be achieved and how quickly a tactical situation can change.
Wargaming offers a practical opportunity to explore these interactions and examine how the mountain environment can become both an operational constraint and a tactical advantage.
From Technology to Tactics
What happens when a promising new capability meets the battlefield?
The operational value of an emerging technology depends on more than its technical specifications. Terrain, tactical employment, adversary reactions and operational constraints determine whether a capability can deliver a meaningful advantage.
Wargaming allows these relationships to be explored and helps identify questions for further experimentation, training and capability development.
Technology
Employment
Response
Outcome
Learned
Four Games. Four Perspectives.
One Mountain Battlefield.
The 7th Mountain Warfare Congress will feature four tactical-level wargames, each providing a different perspective on operational problems, decision-making and experimentation in mountainous environments.
Explore how human judgement, terrain, emerging technologies and opposing actions interact to shape tactical outcomes.
GAME 01
Battle for Begunjščica
Explore the employment of unmanned aerial systems in a mountainous tactical environment.
The game examines how UAS capabilities influence observation, information gathering and tactical decision-making, while considering the restrictions imposed by terrain and an adaptive adversary.
GAME 02
Battle for Brașov
Enter a demanding tactical environment where terrain, competing decisions and opposing forces interact to shape the outcome.
The game demonstrates how wargaming can challenge assumptions, explore alternative courses of action and reveal the consequences of tactical decisions in a complex environment.
GAME 03
Carpathian Elixir
Experience a different perspective on tactical decision-making in mountainous terrain.
Through the interaction of players, terrain and competing objectives, the game exposes uncertainty, unexpected situations and the need to think beyond the immediate tactical problem.
GAME 04
Taroketto
A structured environment for exploring tactical decisions and their consequences.
Taroketto highlights the importance of judgement, adaptation and understanding the interaction between friendly and adversary actions.
Explore the Taroketto Game Rules ↗
A Structured Way
to Explore Decisions
Effective wargaming combines a defined scenario, clear rules, competing objectives and the freedom to make decisions within the game environment.
This structure allows participants to explore alternative approaches, observe the consequences of their actions and discuss what those outcomes may mean for training and operational practice.
The objective is not simply to win a game. It is to understand why particular decisions produce particular results.
Decisions Create Consequences
Every tactical decision can create an advantage, expose a weakness or generate an unexpected problem.
Wargaming encourages participants to examine different perspectives, challenge assumptions and consider the second- and third-order effects of their choices.
By exploring adversary actions and alternative decisions, participants can generate insights that are difficult to obtain through discussion alone.
If you can ask the question, you can wargame it.
Experience Wargaming
at the Congress
Don't just hear about the battlefield. Explore it.
Wargaming activities will take place during selected Congress breaks and industry engagement periods.
Participants will have the opportunity to discover different games, explore tactical problems and exchange perspectives on the practical value of wargaming.
Day One
Day Two
These are the planned wargaming activity windows. Availability of individual games may vary during each period.
Explore. Discuss. Learn.
Wargaming brings people together around a shared tactical problem. It encourages discussion, competing perspectives and learning through decisions.
See the Games.
Challenge the Assumptions.
Make the Decisions.
Whether you are a commander, staff officer, instructor, capability developer, researcher or industry representative, the Congress wargaming activities offer a valuable opportunity to explore the interaction between terrain, technology and tactical judgement.
Discover how wargaming can support military education, training, experimentation and the development of future mountain warfare capabilities.
Join us in Zakopane and experience wargaming in mountain warfare.