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In other literature, you will be able to find comparisons of wargames and computer‐based combat simulations with lists of attributes and an assessment of which of the two tools is “better” vis‐à‐vis a particular attribute. This is a false dichotomy. Wargames and combat simulations are two different tools that are designed to produce two very different types of outputs. Wargames are used to investigate the human decision‐making process and are not the primary tool to be used for making quantitative assessments or comparisons. Combat simulations are used to quantify the differences in forces, often using the scientific method process, but have little utility to investigate the human decision‐making processes. Professional analytic agencies have recognized the utility of both tools and have often used a combination of tools to produce a more thorough and complete study of the phenomena of combat. This process can be described as “campaign analysis.” The process of designing a campaign analysis is described by Kline, Hughes, and Otte:

The campaign’s objectives come from direction provided by political and military leadership at the national level. Derivation of a concept of operations to achieve those objectives, and metrics to measure their achievement, is done in collaboration with the commander and his staff. Assumptions are agreed to and provide a bound on the analytical study.³⁷

Once the goals of the campaign are thoroughly understood by all through a series of interactions between the stakeholders and the analysts, then the design process begins. A campaign analysis can be as simple as a wargame conducted to develop a CONOPS that is then instantiated in a closed‐loop simulation for quantitative analysis, or it can be far more complex. The analysis done for the US Army’s Future Combat Systems used over 50 different wargames and simulations.³⁸ As Kline et al. describe: “We concurrently select a model or series of models to represent the campaign environment. Broadly speaking, models bound the campaign in either a series of engagements (pulses of power) or a continuous operation where many small engagements create a larger effect (cumulative warfare).”³⁹ “Model categories range from closed‐form probabilistic equations, computer simulations, optimization, and wargames to field experiments and operational rehearsals.”⁴⁰ “For example, a wargame may help to develop concepts of operation and employment for the opposing sides. The wargame’s interactions may be adjudicated by tactical simulations, equations, historic engagements or professional judgment. Once an employment concept or course of action is generated, it may be programmed in a larger campaign simulation to conduct analysis on many model variations.”⁴¹

The realization that a campaign is a series of engagements or many small engagements that create a larger effect reinforces the realization that Lanchester made studying the battle of Trafalgar, and the conclusion that the CARMONETTE mathematical modelers came to about half a century after Lanchester: applying a closed‐form computer simulation to combat should only be done for small, short engagements, because the human decision‐making is such an important element of combat that to ignore it and presume that algorithms alone could accurately model the complexity of a campaign of modern combat’s decision processes is pure folly.