Jon Chang

_Near_Present

Added 2025-09-28 20:30:24 +0000 UTC

Feedback from one of the officers who developed the USMC Company/Battalion level wargame.

I can absolutely see the value of your upcoming project in small unit tactics. My goal has been one echelon up, but I've definitely seen how fast guys can get spun up on something tangible compared to a computer-based system with it. There's just something different about being able to see the geometries of fire, and it hits a little harder to have to give up something physical than to see an icon vanish from the screen.

The rules seem great for the "feel" of what you seem to be going for. My read on this is that the game sort of straddles the line between a traditional skirmish wargame and an RPG in its level of depth...but this seems like the sort of thing that would fit great in an afternoon and yet let people come up with a scenario without needing to plot things out extensively.

I immediately see an interesting push-pull dynamic here with opposing forces trying to shape the fight such that the autonomous capability of the CCTs isn't able to handle it, and thus expose their enemies to more EW risk by assuming control of the units directly. For an engagement on an offshore platforms, I could see optical communications or a fiber tether being one countermeasure here, but it sets up an interesting arms race that could play out at the tactical level.

The world-building you've got going on really elevates it from a board game to a framework for stories, honestly. I've done some published storytelling myself in different genres before, and while I've steered away from anything in the military sci-fi lane I can appreciate good work where I see it.

Shared with the officers permission. Note this feedback, is not "Official USMC guidance".