The utility of narrative matrix games: a Baltic example

Wargaming has long been an integral part of military training, operational analysis and military planning. This trend continues today with the military of some Western NATO countries currently adapting innovations from the hobby wargaming market into tools to improve their gaming. Narrative gaming techniques, first developed in the hobby space, have become established in professional wargaming as a means of modelling political conflict and non-kinetic aspects of conflict. This article describes the use of the Matrix Games narrative methodology using a case study of a present-day confrontation short of war in the strategically important Baltic Sea. It then discusses some issues around the use of Matrix Games, such as the challenge of keeping games on narrative track and letting the narrative emerge organically. It concludes that Matrix Games can serve an important role in gaming current and potential crises as they can rapidly be used to create a space where key stakeholders can develop their understanding by exploring specific situations.