The Italian Ministry of Defense, through the Italian Center for Higher Defense Studies (CASD), the university institute of the Ministry of Defense, has launched an original “hybrid matrix-game” involving 50 students from various military institutions. Set in the Arctic, the simulation challenged 11 national teams to compete for geopolitical influence over a simulated 12-year period. The initiative aimed at educating future military leaders on the strategic importance of the High North and the complexities of international diplomacy, deterrence, and territorial control.
The wargaming activity, which began on October 27th with the distribution of materials to participants, involved about fifty students from three military academies, four non-commissioned officer schools, and four military high schools.
“The game was developed from scratch in two months,” commented Andrea Bernardi, coordinator of the Defense Wargaming Laboratory. “It is an original game created specifically for this exercise. Initially, we thought about adapting existing mechanics to the Arctic, focusing on Mediterranean countries and the impact of Arctic events on maritime traffic, but then we decided to develop a completely new game based on the topic provided by the Undersecretary.”
To know more about this experiment, see: https://www.osservatorioartico.it/
To know more about CASD, see https://www.difesa.it/smd/casd/index.html
