Emergency Operations Center Board Game: Wildfire Mayhem Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Content
• Preface
• Game Overview
  • Community Profile
  • Game Scenario
• Game Set-up
  • Spawn Points
• Wildfire Set-up
  • Wildfire Starting Placement
  • Wildfire Growth
  • Wildfire Behavior Dice
• Players & Units
• Crisis Tokens
  • Level 1 - Crisis
  • Level 2 - Crisis
  • Level 3 - Major Incident & Critical Infrastructure (Mini-boss)
• Dice Mechanics, Support & Task Forcing
  • Dice Mechanics
  • Support Units & Task Forcing
• Emergency Management Role
  • Support, Resource Ordering & Round Tracking
  • Unit Point Costs Reference (Lower 2/3s)
• Blue Team Gameplay
  • Orient - Decide - Act
  • Gameplay Steps to take each Round
  • Victory Conditions (Blue Team)
  • Lose Conditions (Blue Team)
  • Chance Cards
• Blue Team Victory Conditions
  • Containing the Main Incident - Wildfire
  • Caught in the Wildfire's Path
  • Incident Round & Requisition Point Tracker
  • Resource Order Queue
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Unit Trading / Reassignment
• Professional Wargaming Rulebook
• Professional Wargaming Gamemodes
  • Professional Wargame Set-up
  • ICS Training - Command & General Staff Simulation
  • ICS Training - Tactical Drill
  • ESF Role Familiarity Drill
• Wargame TTx ICS-EOC Interface Simulation
• Wargame TTx Simulation - Plans & Policy
• Wargame TTx Simulation - EOC & ESF Management

Game Content

Base Game:

• Gamebox
• Game Map
• 143 Chance Cards
• 5 eight-sided dice
• 1 eight-sided red chaos die
• 1 twelve-sided wildfire behavior die
• 50 orange wildfire gems
• 40 grey debris gems
• 210 crisis tokens

Player Packs (420 Units):

• Emergency Management
• Fire
• Police
• Sheriff
• Fire Marshal
• HazMat
• Search & Rescue
• Transportation
• Public Works & Energy
• Public Health & Medical
• Mass Care
• Agriculture
• National Guard
• Federal Support

Deluxe Edition:

• Sheriff's Office Player Pack
• Fire Marshal Player Pack

Complete Edition:

• HazMat Player Pack
• Agriculture & Natural Resources Player Pack
• Search & Rescue Player Pack

Ultimate Edition:

• Critical Infrastructure Expansion Pack
• Level 2 Crises
• Level 3 Major Incidents & Critical Infrastructure Failures
• Elected Official Card Game Expansion Pack

Preface

This game is based on real-life emergency management and disaster response systems used in the United States. I created this game to help prepare and educate communities, First Responders, Emergency Managers, and Disaster Workers can use this as an opportunity for more immersive and engaging training and education. I hope to challenge you to critically think, strategize, communicate, cooperate, and better plan for disasters through this tabletop wargame exercise. Wargames simulate aspects of an environment at the tactical, operational, or strategic level, often for analytical or educational purposes. By nature, wargames are tools to explore human-decision making and the factors that influence those decisions through a series of actions and reactions. Wargames artificially simplify the complex and dynamic nature of a simulated environment to allow players to better understand one or more aspects of it.

Wargaming has been used famously by the military and defense community since the early 19th century as a way to prepare for and understand the impacts and consequences of war. Wargaming can also be applied to homeland security, emergency & disaster management to understand decision-making, policy, crisis and consequence management, and challenges with humanitarian response. Wargaming allows for deep immersion into problems far beyond traditional Tabletop exercises. The wargaming term for "traditional" tabletop exercise most commonly used in emergency management is -BOGSTAT, "Bunch of Guys Sitting Around a Table." (AKA HSEEP Tabletop Exercise). These are seminars and discussion-based events with little adjudication. This disaster wargame(c) is a Board/Map/Hex wargame where the physical representation of terrain and the movement of representative forces is along a hexagonal grid. Players interact with the board/map through units.

Emergency Management is first and foremost primarily the responsibility of state and local governments in the United States. The Federal government, federal agencies such as DHS and FEMA play supporting roles following the National Response Framework (NRF). The NRF governs emergency & disaster response in the United States.

In this wargame players serve as emergency support functions and organizations that have key roles in providing and managing disaster response. Symbolically, half the team represents first responders and "Incident Command or Unified Command" who are responsible for managing life-saving emergency operations and tactical decision-making. This is managed through the Incident Command System. The other half of the team represents Emergency & Disaster Management. Every community has a disaster management agency, often called an Office of Emergency Management that is responsible for leading and coordinating the whole of government and community response to manage the crisis and consequences of the disaster. This is typically managed in an Emergency Operations Center (EOC). EOC's also support First Responders and Incident Command. These are separate functions that are intertwined. These roles ultimately are accountable and report to the Chief Elected Official. Most often a Mayor, Board of County Commissioners, or the State Governor who as the elected official, is ultimately responsible for emergency & disaster management in your community. The United States uses a "bottom-up" support concept described in the NRF. Which means when your community's resources are overwhelmed or more are needed they go up the chain from the local city to the county, county to the state, state to the federal government (DHS/FEMA), up to POTUS as the crises escalate in size, scale, and complexity. This game simplifies those concepts and challenges you to navigate tactical emergency operations and both operational and strategic community disaster management issues such as resource allocation, logistics, incident prioritization, mass care, and other elements of disaster response and management.

Game Overview

Emergency Operations Center - Wildfire Mayhem is a novel disaster wargame based on the historic 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The major disaster incident in this game is a major wildfire that exhibits extreme fire behavior and rapid spreads to become a Type I incident, a national disaster.

Disaster Wargaming is based on military style professional wargaming. Disaster Wargaming is an adaptation using our proprietary Chaos System and Disaster Wargaming Framework. In disaster wargaming, the disaster and game is self-perpetuating. Driven by dice rolls and chance cards. In disaster wargaming the disaster behavior and modeling is built into the game to provide a realistic, immersive, and authentic experience. In this game the wildfire moves in flanks just like a real wildfire does at variable speeds and distances.

The "Blue Team" plays cooperatively as first responders and emergency management, representing incident management and emergency management (crisis and consequence management respectively). The team is charged with managing the ensuing crisis and its consequences.

Community Profile

Colorado Springs is a home rule city that is the county seat and the most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous city and most extensive city in the state of Colorado, and the 40th-most-populous city in the United States. It is the principal city of the Colorado Springs metropolitan area, which had 755,105 residents in 2020, and the second-most prominent city of the Front Range Urban Corridor. It is located in east-central Colorado on Fountain Creek, 70 miles (113 km) south of Denver.

At 6,035 feet (1,839 m), the city stands over 1 mile (1.6 km) above sea level. It is near the base of Pikes Peak, which rises 14,115 feet (4,302.31 m) above sea level on the eastern edge of the Southern Rocky Mountains. The city is the largest city north of Mexico above 6,000 feet (1,800 m) in elevation.

Game Scenario

On a hot sunny day in late June, high winds are are expected with gusts of up to 65mph. Red flag warnings are in effect. Winds are out of the west with shifts expected due to incoming storms in the afternoon. A typical Colorado summer...

Game Set-up

The game can be played single player or cooperative. In single player you control all the emergency support functions. In cooperative play each player chooses one or more emergency support functions to command. Expansion packs are available that can increase the number of roles and players. Each game map has a specific disaster scenario it's tailored to and has a lead emergency agency for the disaster type (i.e. fire is the fire department).

1. Have each player pick an emergency support function/agency: i.e Fire, Police, Emergency Management, Mass Care, Transportation, Utilities, etc.
2. Sort each player's units into a pile. They are all color coded to match.
3. Each player starts with varying number of units placed on the game map at the corresponding icon. Note – some players start with more units initially.
4. Gather all the crisis tokens in a single pile or cup and pick 8 random crisis tokens (at least 1 for each player) and place 1 crisis token face up on a random red hexagon on the map. These starting crisis tokens represent everyday emergencies that also occur. Disasters can happen at any time and even be cascading causing other emergencies and disasters! See the picture example below of game set-up.

Unit starting locations are indicated on the map with player symbols. Place a matching unit on each symbol on the map.

All players start with random units drawn from their unit pile.

For a greater challenge each player can opt to start with units that have the lowest base unit strength value of 2 and 3 only. More units can be aquired as the game progresses.

Place 1 random crisis token face up on each red hexagon.

Crisis tokens are the Triangle color coded tokens you will work to resolve on the map. They represent various types of emergencies.

Spawn Points

At the start of the game as a team you'll need to decide where to place the Incident Command Post, Staging, and Mass Care Shelter Tokens. They can only be moved once during each phase of the game (every 3 rounds). They serve as spawning points for player units & resources. All newly arrived resources start at the Command Post or Staging Area. Players can pick which one. When rescuing or transporting evacuees (crisis tokens showing families/people), move your unit to the nearest mass care shelter when it is successfully resolved.

Wildfire Set-up

The initial wildfire will be a cone-like shape. There are 3 black hexagons on the map recommended for you to use as starting points. You have the option to place the wildfire on any of the west-most hexagons on the map which provides for a lot of variability for game-play and replayability.

The black hexagon represents the end of the wildfire where it started. Note: The wildfire always starts on the west side of the map.

Wildfire Starting Placement

The wildfire is comprised of flanks that grow as the fire expands. The flanks are North, Northeast, East, Southeast, and South. These are placed in a cone shape as seen on the image left.

Wildfire Growth

The wildfire is the main disaster in this game scenario. It is not static. Be warned the fire can grow and rapidly expand at the end of a round, and by drawing chance cards. As the fire grows it will either shift and expand by a single flank, or if a blow-up occurs, the wildfire will expand all flanks at the same time. Use the orange gems to track and expand the wildfire on the map. Each flank remains connected via the wildfire flaming front crisis tokens.

Wildfire Behavior Dice

At the end of every round. Pick a player to roll the wildfire behavior dice. This will determine the direction and how many spaces the wildfire grows. Each side of the dice has a direction and number on it. Beware! if you roll the flaming skull the wildfire blows-up and rapidly expands 3 spaces in all directions!

Wildfire Behavior Directional Dice Legend

• N = North
• E = East
• S = South
• W = West
• NE = Northeast
• SE = Southeast
• SW = Southwest
• NW = Northwest

Roll a second numbered dice to determine the wildfire spread distance/wind speed.

• 1 – 4 (1 space)
• 5 – 8 (2 spaces)
• Skull 3 Spaces All Directions

Players & Units

Player Resources/Units: Each player has color coded resources that represent units of the emergency support function that are used to resolve crisis tokens on the gameboard. Each Unit has different base values for unit strength / defense / and movement.

Important: Each unit can only be used once per turn and has a single action point*

Unit Strength Value (Black icon on the left) is the base attack value of the unit. For each unit action you roll a single white die. The number rolled on the dice is added to the unit strength value. The unit strength value and the dice role is combined to equal the total strength value. The Total Strength Value must be higher than the crisis strength number on the Crisis Token to successfully resolve it. Important! Any time a rescue or transport is successful the player unit is removed from the current location in the game and relocated to the nearest mass care shelter.

Multiple Units: If multiple units are used to resolve a crisis, the player can roll 1 dice for each unit and the total value of all units and dice are added up for the combined total strength value for that task force. Example: if you had three Fire Engine Units, they each have a unit strength value of (2). 2 x 3 Fire Engines = 6 (unit strength value for the task force). For each unit you get to roll an additional dice. So, if the player rolled the dice and got 4, 7, and 3, they would add those numbers from the dice rolls to the unit strength value of 6 (2 per fire engine) to equal a combined Total Strength Value of 20 for all units and dice part of that task force. Note: Task Forces of 4 to a max of 7 units requires a leader unit.

Defense (Grey Shield) is the value of defense each unit has. For every action you take, you also roll the red dice part of your action roll alongside your white dice. If the red dice number is higher than the defense value of your unit than that unit is out of action for 1 turn. For multiple units in a task force, the defense value is based on the highest defense value in the group.

Movement (Green Circle) is the number of spaces a resource/unit can move each turn. A unit can only move once per turn.

Crisis Tokens

Crisis tokens represent the various types of emergencies you can encounter during a disaster. The lead emergency support function responsible for resolving the crisis is indicated by the color of the token. Other ESF's/Players can still provide support. However, they are penalized with half effective unit strength when doing so.

Level 1 - Crisis

Level 1 - Crisis: are smaller incidents or emergencies that can typically be handled by a single agency or emergency support function.

The Level 1 tokens are printed with the following labels and crisis strength values:

Token Label	Crisis Strength
T	10
PW&E	8
PS	11
FD	14
HazMat	9
SAR	13
Road Closed (no label printed)	9
MC	16
PH&M	13
A&NR	12

Level 2 - Crisis

Level 2 - Crises are more complex incidents that require at least two emergency support functions to resolve.

The Level 2 tokens are printed with the following labels and crisis strength values:

Token Label	Crisis Strength
FD & PD	17
MC & PS	18
AN & FD	17
MC & T	21
PD & T	18
MC & PW	18
PD & PH	18

The second row of Level 2 tokens is illustrated with icons only (police, fire, sheriff, shelter, transportation, utilities, medical and agriculture symbols in various combinations). No crisis strength number is legible on those tokens in the manual.

Level 3 - Major Incident & Critical Infrastructure (Mini-boss)

Lastly, when playing with the CI pack, at the start of every 3 rounds pick a player to draw a CI Card in red below. Each card will add a specific Level 3 crisis to the board. Each one is considered a "Major Incident" or Critical Infrastructure loss or failure. They add unique impacts and modifiers to the game. When they are resolved as a reward, players get to draw 1 CI reward card in blue. Players must best all three crisis strengths to resolve the level 3 crisis!

The example Level 3 cards printed in the manual read:

• Critical Infrastructure & Transportation Disruption – "Major Incident - Transportation Disruption." Place the matching CI Token on the closest major interstate hexagon space on the map: ex. 177 / 206 / or 231.
• Interstate Debris Removal (crisis strengths 18, 21 and 19): 4 ESF's Required (Must have ESF1). +1 Political Turmoil Each Round until Resolved. All resources delayed +2 rounds until resolved.
• Major Incident Resolved (reward card): "Someone wake up the Chief. This is the big one! Deploy a Tier 10 Unit next Round."

Dice Mechanics, Support & Task Forcing

Dice Mechanics

There are 2 types of dice used by players for actions in the game. 1 dice which represents your units, and 1 red die which represents chance & chaos. Each unit has a base strength value, this number is added to the number rolled with each white dice equaling total attack value. The objective is to roll a number higher than the number on the crisis token (crisis value) to resolve it successfully, after which it is removed from the game board unless otherwise noted. For each attacking unit, 1 dice can be rolled. Example: If you have 5 units attacking a crisis, 5 dice can be rolled. One per unit.

Chaos Dice (Chance): During each action roll, a single dice (preferably a red dice) is included and is also rolled by the player. This dice represents chaos and the chance something could go wrong (maybe there was a flat tire, maybe someone got stuck in traffic, maybe the crisis is complex and is going to take more time…). If the number rolled is higher than the unit(s) defense number listed on the shield then the resource is out of action for 1 turn before it can be used again. This role effects all units used for an attack.

Snake Eye: If by chance you are unlucky and roll a 1 with any dice, it has the same affect as the red dice as if you rolled higher than your defense value. Rolling 1 with the dice means your unit is out of action for 1 turn before it can be used again.

Support Units & Task Forcing

Support Units - Leaders Units & Emergency Management ESF5

Leader Units & Emergency Management units are purely support units and are not able to engage and resolve crisis tokens independently. These units provide powerful boosts to defense and unit strength to the units they are attached to. This is called "Task Forcing". Task Forcing allows you to group and stack units to tackle the strongest crises.

Task Forces: (Requires 1 Leader Unit + a max 7 units in a task force)

Task forces can be comprised of multiple units either from the same ESF player or others. When a player provides a unit to support another player's unit, they become a "Task Force" and control of that unit is given to the leader's player unless the unit is recalled by the sharing player. Supporting units are effective at half strength when engaging non-primary crises. I.E. Police are less effective supporting fire crises and Fire Departments are less effective supporting Public Safety concentric crises. Note: Task Forces should not exceed more than 7 units including the leader unit. All units in a task force move together at the leaders mobility/speed. All units roll for defense in adverse events.

Emergency Management Role

Support, Resource Ordering & Round Tracking

The Emergency Management Player is the game banker and facilitator (unless playing with a Game Master). In professional game modes the game facilitator/ game master is recommended to be a separate person who can facilitate and guide players through the campaign serving as the independent referee/Simulation Cell.

Each round is tracked on the Round Tracker. The number below the round indicates how many points the Emergency Management Director has available to buy additional units that turn. The Emergency Management player as the banker is responsible for prioritizing and buying units for everyone using the limited points they have available. The amount of points each unit costs varies and is indicated on them by a (P) number. Units are not available instantly and start at the end of the tracker 3 rounds out (logistics take time!). Every 3 rounds the game advances a phase and units then start in the Resource Order System queue sooner. Finally, after 6 rounds during the final phase of the game resources come quickly thanks to federal disaster support and are only 1 round out. Points can be banked (use paper & pen to track) or used to expedite units in the queue 1 pt per unit, per place.

Unit Point Costs Reference (Lower 2/3s)

Player	3 Points	4 Points	5 Points	6 Points	7 Points
ESF1 Transportation	AFN/Disability Transport	City Bus	School Bus	Highway Safety Patrol	Traffic Management Unit
ESF4 Fire	Fire Engine	Wildland Crew	Heavy Rescue	Ladder Truck	Technical Rescue
ESF5 Emergency Management	CERT Team	Amateur Radio Emergency Service	EOC Liaison Team	Mobile Command	Incident Management Team
ESF6 Mass Care	Mass Feeding Unit	Disaster Behavioral Health Team	Human Services Team

Deluxe Police & Fire Expansion Pack

Player	3 Points	4 Points	5 Points	6 Points	7 Points
ESF4 Fire Marshal	Fire Engine Type 6	Fire Investigators	Type 3 Fire Engine	Hotshot Crew	Smokejumpers
ESF13 Sheriff	Reserve Deputy Unit	Motorcycle Unit	Deputy Sheriff Unit	Hostage Negotiator	Detectives

ESF Expansion Pack

Player	3 Points	4 Points	5 Points	6 Points	7 Points
ESF 9 Search & Rescue	SAR Truck	FAST Search Team	SAR K-9 Team	SAR Team	Drone Team
ESF 10 HazMat	Environmental Clean-up Crew	Decontamination Trailer	HazMat Team	Air Monitoring Team	Decontamination Tent
ESF 11 Agriculture & Natural Resources	Animal Transport	Extension Agent	Fairgrounds Staff	Community Animal Response Team	Field Operations Team & Case Worker

Blue Team Gameplay

Orient - Decide - Act

Players must orient and analyze the situation, develop a plan of action and decide what to do with their units and resources, and then implement that plan and act. Each round players take turns using their units to respond and react to the situation. Each unit the player has gets 1 movement and 1 action per unit, per turn. Action points are used to attempt to resolve crises on the board with player units by rolling the dice to overcome the crisis strength value. This is called "SCRUD" Simple Combat Resolution Using Dice.

Gameplay Steps to take each Round

1. Start the timer for the round (recommend 15 minutes).
2. Orient to the situation, develop a plan of action.
3. Decide what your going to do. Move your units. Each unit can move once per turn and has one action.
4. Act - Execute your plan by using your unit action points to attempt to resolve crises. Each unit has 1 action and 1 movement it can take each round.
5. Reorient: If you successfully resolve a crisis token remove it from the game. Draw 1 chance card.
6. End the round and draw 4-6 chance cards. Update the game board based on the card drawn.

Victory Conditions (Blue Team)

Blue team must complete the following objectives:

1. The incident has been completely resolved and contained which means you have successfully resolved all the wildfire flaming front crisis tokens.
2. Political Turmoil Doesn't exceed 19.

Lose Conditions (Blue Team)

The game can be lost if any of the following occur:

1. All responding units are lost.
2. A Mass Care Shelter or the EOC is lost.
3. Political Turmoil Reaches 20.

(Every round political turmoil rises by 1 and if you lose a unit by 3!) Resolving Crisis reduces by -1.

Chance Cards

At the end of each players turn a chance card is drawn by the player. Chance cards advance the game and can support players or expand the crisis and chaos caused by the ongoing incident.

Blue Team Victory Conditions

Containing the Main Incident - Wildfire

The main disaster incident on the map is the Level 4 Crisis - Wildfire. It will require nearly all Blue Team working together to resolve. Once a wildfire flank is resolved, no more crisis or wildfire growth will occur in that direction nullifying any negative chance cards on that front. The Wildfire is made up of several flanks called wildfire flaming fronts that must be contained.

Each flank has its own crisis token (North, Northeast, East, Southeast, and South) and has a specific crisis strength. As the fire grows and expands each flank of the wildfire is governed by the specific wildfire flaming front crisis token. When the ESF4 Fire Department and Fire Marshal player gathers enough units and support to take on a flank of the wildfire they will need to move all the units within one space of the flaming front to engage it with a dice roll. If the player is successful the entire section of the wildfire (North, Northeast, East, Southeast, and South) is contained or extinguished and is no longer a threat to growing in that direction. The ESF4 Fire Fighting Player(s) must contain all wildfire sections.

Caught in the Wildfire's Path

As the wildfire grows your units or crisis tokens might be caught in its path. Any crisis tokens caught in the path are removed from the board and replaced by a grey debris acrylic cube to mark the loss and political turmoil rises by 3.

For player units, player units not out of service will have a chance to retreat. Players must roll the red dice (chaos) for each unit caught in the wildfire's path. If the red dice roll is higher than the defense value of the unit then the unit is removed from the game and replaced by a grey acrylic cube to note the loss and political turmoil rises by 3 for each unit lost. If the roll is lower than the defense value of the unit, it successfully retreats back 2 spaces on the map. Downed units that are out of service are automatically lost to the wildfire. Equal rolls come down to a final coin toss.

Incident Round & Requisition Point Tracker

Tracks the game round and how many requisition points players have to request additional units. Each unit has a P# on it to note how much it costs. All units ordered start in the Resource Order Queue and are delayed a few rounds before arriving on scene for assignment and can be used.

The tracker is laid out in three phases:

• Phase 1 – Initial: Round 1 (+10 RP), Round 2 (+11 RP), Round 3 (+12 RP)
• Phase 2 – Expanding: Round 4 (+13 RP), Round 5 (+14 RP), Round 6 (+15 RP)
• Phase 3 – Extended: Round 7 (+16 RP), Round 8 (+17 RP), Round 9 (+18 RP)

Resource Order Queue

• Rounds 1 - 3 resources start 3 rounds out.
• Rounds 5 - 8 resources start 2 rounds out.
• Rounds 9+ resources start 1 round out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I draw another chance card if the card says resolve a crisis token? Yes! You draw a chance card every time you resolve a crisis token. Each chance card is a situation update and game inject that progresses it forward for better or worse.

Can political turmoil go negative? Yes! Talk about being in the good graces of the community! Lucky you :)

What happens if a unit is double-downed? (I.E. I've rolled the red chaos dice my unit was taken out of service. Now at the end of my turn I've drawn a card that says the unit is out of action. What do I do?) This is called a "double-down". The unit is now out of action and removed from the game and is replaced with a debris cube. Political turmoil rises as well +3. Basically that unit got wrecked...

If I order a unit in round 1, how many points does it take to expedite it to the next round? Points can be used to expedite units ordered in the resource queue. It costs 1 point per unit, per place in the que. So if your unit is 3 rounds (places) out in the queue it will cost 2 points to expedite it to be available to deploy the next round. If the unit is 2 rounds out in the queue, it will cost 1 point to expedite it to be available to deploy the next round.

National Guard Units: NG Units are super units and do not incur the half-strength penalty when used as support or in task forces. They are limited and more rare for balance.

Timed Rounds: To keep games moving use a timer set for 15 minutes! Every 15 minutes stop gameplay. Roll the chlorine plume behavior dice and update the game. This keeps the scenario moving and gameplay faster paced.

Editor's note: the Timed Rounds answer refers to a "chlorine plume behavior dice". The components list in this manual includes only the wildfire behavior die and no chlorine plume die is listed; the text is reproduced as printed.

Unit Trading / Reassignment

Players can trade in units and return them for a refund of their points by moving the unit to the Incident Command Post. Players will need to track and keep count of their point pools that they accumulate so they can use them towards additional units. This is a tactic for obtaining higher level units such as elite units and leadership. Units swapped and ordered through trading and reassignment still have to go through the resource queue!

Professional Wargaming Rulebook

Exercise! Exercise! Exercise!

This is a simulation.

Professional Wargaming Gamemodes

Professional Wargame Set-up

Professional wargame Set-up requires a game facilitator to design a campaign/scenario for the team. The game facilitator/ "Game Master" does not play as a member of the team and is instead an SME controlling the simulation "SimCell" or "redteam" for the game. They have control of the simulation. They are responsible for keeping the game on track and managing the flow of gameplay. Facilitators may modify and use various game modes independently or concurrently, apply standard or modified mechanics, and scenarios at their discretion when developing their campaign simulation. When players make decisions the facilitators role is to ensure that they are reflected on the gameboard. For example, if a player says they would evacuate an area, the facilitator would then place crisis tokens, cards, units, etc. to represent that decision. Typically a range of crisis tokens that represent the consequences of the decision made. Wargaming at its heart is about decision-making and understanding the consequences and impacts of those decisions. The game board allows you to visualize the impacts. Once you have a facilitator you'll need to develop a scenario / simulation to run. Wargames can be used to explore decision-making, plans, policies, strategies, logistics, and other problem sets across strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Lastly, facilitators also serve as evaluators for the game and are responsible for developing an evaluation criteria to measure and adjudicate player activities. The list below are some example wargame simulations you can run with this game set.

ICS Training - Command & General Staff Simulation

Note: ICS can be applied to all game modes. At the start of this wargame pick players to be Command & General Staff. You can play using a single Incident Commander, Unified Command, or with multiple gamesets Area Command. Every 2 rounds represents an operational period. For each operational period conduct a short Planning P cycle and develop a mini IAP (ICS 201 at a minimum). Log your major activities on an ICS 214 each round to track player actions. Player activities should be measured in their effectiveness each operational period against the IC's objectives.

ICS Training - Tactical Drill

This drill is used to simulate small - medium scale tactical operations. For this wargame simulation set-up a scenario HazMat incident, major structure fire, MCI, etc... (Do not set-up the wildfire). Select a predetermined number of resources and units. Based on the scenario develop injects to provide situation updates. Have players respond following existing policies and training, etc. Develop an evaluation scoring sheet to judge player actions. For example turn training and response guidelines into evaluator checklists.

ESF Role Familiarity Drill

This simulation is used to familiarize new stakeholders, trainees, and the community to the various emergency support functions, agencies, organizations, and roles during a large scale incident. Players from different ESFs/Orgs do not play their own role during this game mode. Instead they play a role they are not familiar with. When they take their turn, the ESF/Org representatives provide guidance on recommended actions to take. This way players get to experience and become familiar with different roles, priorities, and strategies employed by different ESF's / organizations.

Wargame TTx ICS-EOC Interface Simulation

The standard game-mode "Wildfire Mayhem" is well suited for exploring the ICS-EOC interface. In this game mode Its recommended that players organize into two groups 1. Incident Command on one side of the table, and 2. Emergency Management on the other. All first response orgs/ESF players should be on the Incident Command side, while the Emergency Management and other ESF's sit opposite. Each group should pick a leader to be the (Incident Commander/Unified Command) and the Emergency Management Director/Chief to lead each group. Each round is timed 15 minutes with the Incident Command group going first. The purpose of this game mode is to examine the relationships between Incident Command and the EOC, and understand the dynamics between emergency response, crisis and consequence management. The game play goes back and forth between the groups. They each respond to the situation and react to the decisions and impacts made by each group. A sort of tug-o-war game dynamic. The leader of each group starts each round setting 3-5 objectives. They then work to develop a plan with their team to best accomplish those objectives. After 10 mins, the leader then briefs out the plan and then the team executes it on the gameboard. After Incident Command group completes their turn, the EOC group then orients and reacts to the new reality and situation and repeats the process. 15 min turn, after 10 mins the EM Leader briefs out and then the EOC team executes the plan. Players are evaluated based on completing objectives and the ability to mitigate negative impacts and consequences to the opposite group from their actions.

Wargame TTx Simulation - Plans & Policy

This game-mode builds on the previous "Wildfire Mayhem" ICS-EOC interface game mode. However, the game is modified and focuses on operational coordination, emergency functions, and evaluating plans and policies, less on tactical operations. Instead of developing a tactical plan of action within ICS & EOC groups, each team implements pre-exsisiting plans and policies against the scenario for evaluation. Gameplay: Timed rounds with brief outs recommended.

Wargame TTx Simulation - EOC & ESF Management

This game-mode focuses on EOC & ESF Management. Players react to the simulation and situation and explains how they would implement EOC plans and policies to react. EOC operations are executed on paper and the gameboard. Incident Command is simulated by the game facilitator. The game facilitator builds a campaign or uses the Wildfire Mayhem scenario to provide situation and status updates to players. The purpose of this exercise is to evaluate how EOC functional plans, policies, and organizational structures would be implemented and how effective they are against the simulated scenario.