Marine Corps to Break Ground on Wargaming Center

One of the benefits of this lovely quarantine has been discovering the Georgetown University Wargaming Society's online presentations.  The topics focus primarily on the history of wargames, the theory of wargame design,  and the application of wargames in practical elements.  It's definitely not your usual "The Horses of Napoleon's Women" offered as seminars at regional conventions.  

With that prefaced, I understood all that would be involved with the United States Marine Corps breaking ground on a state-of-art wargaming center near their headquarters this year, but the giddy gamer in me giggled with the concept of a "100,000-square-foot facility is expected to house more than a dozen wargames each year, including two large-scale, 250-person exercises."

This is not rows and rows of Marine leadership playing Catan 40k, or cracking open a stack of old Avalon Hill games (although it could, and  the picture in article, reproduced below does show Memoir '44?).  Rather, an impressive mixture of traditional wargaming styles, specially-designed training exercises,, as well as digital/virtual immersion. 

(Cpl. Timothy Hernandez/Marine Corps)

Once the facility is completed, if they would ever let non-instructor civilians an opportunity to visit, tour, or possibly observe operations, I would jump in my car in a minute to drive down to Quantico, Virginia.