Top Tactics 25 Invitational Wargaming Tournament
Announcing Marine Corps University's (MCU) TOP TACTICS 25 (TT25) wargaming tournament! This is an online, individual competition hosted in MCU's Wargaming Cloud. Game play is asynchronous and turn based, enabling participants to complete turns independently. The tournament is open to all the USMC, Joint Forces, and Allied organizations, but the overall number of participants is capped at 2000. This is a tactical, company level tournament focused on a modern, contemporary fight. In a series of 3 rounds, players compete at the company level. This tournament will utilize the prototype version of the Company Commander wargame. While multiple representatives from the same unit or organization can participate, this is an INDIVIDUAL tournament.
Road to the Cup: The TT25 tournament is conducted through MCU's FIGHT CLUB, an extracurricular activity designed to provide participants with an opportunity to practice tactical and operational decision-making in a wargame environment that hones their individual cognitive warfighting skills. The scenario for TT25 is focused on rifle company tactics and warfighting concepts and capabilities. The TT25 tournament serves as the first of two qualifier events for the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) Cup. The CMC Cup is an annual, in-person wargaming tournament held at Modern Day Marine, where the top wargamers from across the USMC, Joint Force, and Allied military members compete in a team-based, three-day, multi-wargame competition. The second CMC qualifier event will utilize the Flashpoint Campaigns Professional Edition wargame. Additional details on the second qualifier event will be released at a later date. While both qualifier events are invitational wargaming tournaments open to all servicemembers, civilians, and contractors associated with Department of Defense (DoD) entities, only uniformed military servicemembers from the DoD or allied/partner countries who participate in both events on the Road to the Cup are eligible for a CMC Cup invitation. Team scores will be determined by aggregating the individual scores from both qualifier events for players from the same military unit, with two-man teams representing each unit. The two-man teams representing each unit will not be identified until after the qualifier events. The teams with the highest combined scores will be invited to compete in the CMC Cup.
Tournament Details: The TT25 tournament is set in a Western Pacific scenario between Red and Blue forces. TT25 includes 3 rounds in which participants fight a paired match against an opponent. In a paired match, players compete in two parallel games playing red in one and blue in the other, with the scores from each game combined into a total score for the match. The time requirement to play a paired match in this scenario is approximately 3 hours of playing time total. This is spread across 10 to 20 turns. Players have approximately four weeks to complete their paired match in each round. Players must complete their turns within 96 hours of notification, or they will automatically forfeit the match. Players are encouraged to complete their turns within 24 hours of receiving email notification.
Round 1 - Begins 12 Sep and concludes 7 Oct.
Round 2 - Begins 8 Oct and concludes 3 Nov.
Round 3 - Begins 6 Nov and concludes 8 Dec.
Eligibility: The TT25 tournament is open to the first 2000 players to register. While the primary target audience is Marine Corps personnel, the tournament is open to participation from across the joint force and allies/partners. MCU reserves the right to limit participants from individual units to ensure an equitable distribution across the force. Generally, the max number of participants from an individual battalion is limited to 20 but may be exceeded on a case by case basis. Participants from PME organizations will be given priority for access. All participants will be granted access to MCU's Wargaming Cloud capability for the duration of the tournament. Participants will access the Wargaming Cloud from outside the Marine Corps Enterprise Network (MCEN) using personal computers and an internet connection. In addition to a MCU Wargaming Cloud account, participants will need a Slitherine account. Slitherine accounts can be created for free at https://www.slitherine.com/login. Participants should choose their username knowing that the name will be posted on public leaderboards. Furthermore, participants should pick their username for the long term since it is very difficult to change once set. We recommend use of a gamer name rather than the participant's real name. If a participant already has a Slitherine account, the existing account may be used. Participants must have a Slitherine account before completing the registration form.
Warplan WW2 Operations Invitational Wargaming Tournament
This is a TEAM tournament with 4 players per team. Players will compete in 1v1 paired matches and individual scores will be added together to calculate team scores. Within the tournament there are two divisions: the Professional Military Education (PME) Division and the Forces Division. The PME Division is restricted to students and faculty from PME schools and the Forces Division is everyone else. The tournament takes place in the MCU Wargaming Cloud and is limited to US and Allied military-government personnel (uniformed, government civilian, and direct support contractors).
Round 1 - Breakout: 15 Sep - 15 Oct
Round 2 - Operation Avalanche: 22 Oct - 2 Dec
Round 3 - Barbarossa: 8 Jan - 23 Apr
Wargaming cloud
The Marine Corps University's Wargaming Cloud capability provides tactical, operational, and strategic digital wargames across a wide range of historical and modern scenarios. The Cloud environment allows users to access these wargames from their personal devices on any network outside of MCEN. Below is the list of digital wargames currently available on the Wargaming Cloud. All wargame descriptions below are provided by the wargame's respective vendor.
This page only provides resources for the digital wargames in the Wargaming Cloud and does NOT provide access to the Wargaming Cloud itself.
Command Professional Edition
Manual
Command: Professional Edition is the next generation in cross-domain modern wargaming. It enables you to simulate every military engagement from post World War II to the present day and beyond. The scale is primarily tactical/operational, although strategic scale operations are also possible.
Flashpoint Campaigns Professional Edition
Manual | Game Operations | Professional Features | Transport Operations
Flashpoint Campaigns: Professional Edition is the preeminent Land Domain wargaming tool for training, education, and analysis of tactical combat at Brigade level and below. Challenge users to synchronize their combat power to achieve effects in an environment clouded with electronic warfare and unmanned systems.
Strategic Command World War I
Manual
Strategic Command: World War I is a new chapter in the Strategic Command Franchise. Relive this momentous conflict from the opening shots of 1914 to the final offensives. Strategic Command: World War I covers all the main aspects and theatres of the war.
WarPlan
Manual
WarPlan is an incredibly accurate World War II simulation engine. It is a balance of realism and playability incorporating the best from 50 years of World War II board wargaming. Play a recreated World War II in every detail, thanks to the engine flexibility and database
HexWar / Code Wizards Game Suite
Tournament Enrollment
The HexWar / Code Wizards Game Suite offers a variety of digital wargames at the tactical, operational, and strategic level. Below is a list of just a few of the wargames in the Suite. Information on the other HexWar's games in the Wargaming Cloud can be found here.
Company Commander
Manual | In-Game Help
Master tactical warfare from Red vs. Blue doctrines to cutting-edge force design! Command armies from WWII to modern day, including German, U.S., U.K., and Chinese forces, across diverse battlefields. Build your ultimate army with the ‘Force Builder,’ tailoring units for epic, customizable missions.
Modern warfare brings thrilling challenges: drones, smart weapons, and tight resource management—no endless stockpiles here! Connect to HexWar’s AAR feature for insights from over 100,000 data points per scenario or use the BAR feature for a deep dive into strategy and performance. The battlefield awaits!
Littoral Commander
In-Game Help
Multi-domain warfare in the modern age. A digital version of the excellent board game of the same name by Sebastian Bae.
Coming Spring 2025: This is the digital version of the outstanding wargame of 2023 by Sebatian Bae. A ‘grand tactical’ wargame which explores the future of warfare. The game is designed to be accessible to all levels of players, whether civilian or military, and with no experience with games necessary to play (though it is helpful!). Utilizing a dynamic card-oriented game system, Littoral Commander offers fast-paced, accessible, and flexible gameplay with plenty of player interaction.
NATO Division Commander
In-Game Help
Face the challenges of high level decision making in the modern age.
A ‘battalion level simulation of conflict in contemporary Europe’, Division Commander gradually introduces players to the most complex version of mechanics of modern warfare. The initial game scenario is for War College-level education on the conduct of World War III operations at Division/Brigade level between NATO and Russian Federation forces, in the Baltic Region.
DIGICAT
The Digital Course of Action Tool (DIGICAT) being developed by Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific is a digitized version of the Operational Wargame System. The Alpha version is available to play in the HexWar / Code Wizards Game Suite.
Wargaming Library
In addition to the Wargaming Cloud, the Krulak Center also offers a library of tabletop wargames available to be checked out at the Gray Research Center. The list of the tabletop wargames available for checkout is in the works!
Looking to learn more about the art and science of wargaming? Check out the Krulak Center's curated Recommended Wargaming Reading List
Faculty
Director: Mr. Tim Barrick
Mr. Barrick served in the Marine Corps for 29 years, retiring as a Colonel in spring 2021. He served in a wide range of billets including command of 1st Tank Battalion and the Marine Corps Tactics & Operations Group. He also served in key planning positions on the staffs of Marine Forces Japan, Marine Forces Europe & Africa, and deployed on three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He served as a brigade advisor team lead working with Afghan security forces in 2011-12. In his last tour on active duty, he was the Wargaming Director for the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, focused on analyzing future warfighting and the Marine Corps’ force design. He is also the lead designer for the Operational Wargame System and its Assassin’s Mace and Zapad game modules, which examine great power conflict at the tactical and operational levels of war. He is also a leading innovator for commercial wargaming tools in professional military education. He is a distinguished graduate of the Marine Corps War College and the Naval War College, and an honor graduate of the Amphibious Warfare School. He also served as the Director of Leaders & Ethics at the Marine Corps War College. In addition to his masters degrees from these PME schools, he also earned a master’s degree in Military Studies in Land Warfare from American Military University and is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy with a degree in Political Science.
Deputy Director: Mrs. Calleen Bottenberg
Mrs. Bottengberg's biography is in the works!
Modeling & Simulation Officer: Captain Nathan Tidwell, USMC
Capt Tidwell began his Marine Corps career serving as a platoon commander at 3d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. After his second deployment to the Pacific, Capt Tidwell received orders to Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) to pursue an MS in Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulations (MOVES). Capt Tidwell's research at NPS focused on artificial intelligence for wargaming, specifically leveraging reinforcement learning and multi-model approaches to develop combat simulation agents. In addition to his MS in MOVES, Capt Tidwell holds a BS in Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy.
If you would like to contact the Krulak Center, please email MCUWargamingDirectorate@USMCU.edu.
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