Rehearsing For Your Worst Day With Sebastian Bae

<p>Wargaming has gone from a niche practice to something turning up in think tank headlines, service mandates, and hobby shops. This week's guest, Sebastian Bae, has been at the centre of that surge. Sebastian is a senior game designer and research scientist at CNA, a former US Marine Corps infantry sergeant, and the designer of the Littoral Commander wargame series, which is now now used across the joint force, by partner militaries throughout the region, and, as it turns out, aboard at least one PLA Navy ship.</p><p><br /></p><p>During this episode we get into what's actually driving the boom, and all the ways a wargame can go wrong, whether its rigged designs, general officers putting a thumb on the scale, or the Japanese games played before Midway. Sebastian explains why the Indo-Pacific breaks the World War II paradigm most players bring to the table, what it means when your adversary picks up your game, and why "empty map syndrome" makes unilateral games a poor guide to how a crisis would really unfold.</p>