Defence Wargaming Design Course

The Defence Wargaming Design (DWD) Course is designed to train UK military, government, and civilian personnel in wargame design. The course is separated into three parts; a five-day workshop where you will learn the principles of game design and begin the design of a wargame with the support of instructors. This will be followed by a period of no less than 4 weeks, where you will refine your design at your place of work, and a final 2-day workshop, where you will present your design to instructors and your peers for assessment. Note that, in extremis, you can arrange a separate date to present your wargame with agreement from the Officer Commanding Defence Wargaming Modelling and Simulation School.

DWD is the third in a series of defence wargaming courses preceded by the Foundation and Practitioner courses.

Dates:
Workshop – 02-05 February 2026
Assessment – 23-24 March 2026 

When you have been successfully allocated a place on the workshop you will automatically be allocated a place for the Assessment. Please make sure you can attend both dates.

What you will learn

On this course you will learn:
•    game scoping: to develop the skills to fully understand the purpose and objectives of a wargame
•    game design fundamentals: incorporating the building blocks of game design including scenario development, adjudication and game mechanics
•    practical delivery of a game designed to a purpose
•    advanced wargame facilitation

How this course will help your career

Wargaming is a key skill which will enable you to support an organisation’s need to enhance education, training, decision making and planning. Completing the Defence Wargaming Design Course will give you the accreditation to design and deliver professional wargames across the defence space.

Who can attend this course

• Industry
• Internationals
• Military
• MOD civil servants
• Partners across government (PAG)

UK and Partner Nations only.

Before you attend

Before attending this course, you should have passed the Defence Wargaming Practitioner's Course. If you have not completed the Defence Wargaming Practitioner’s Course please contact us via the ‘Ask about this course’ referencing ‘Defence Wargaming Designer’ with either a letter from your officer commanding explaining why you are required to attend this course for your role or evidence that you have relevant wargaming experience in a defence context. Evidence should refer to participation and assistance in several different games designed for a specific purpose (education, training or analysis). These will be considered by the staff and a decision on your qualification made no later than 2 months prior to the start of the course.

How the course will be taught

• Face-to-face

How you will be assessed

Individual summative assessment. Students will return to the Defence Academy to present their game design to course staff and their peers for assessment.