Matrix Games

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, or [dstl] - released their annual report last month. In it they specifically highlighted Matrix's contributions to the digital wargaming sphere. We asked Matrix Pro Sim's CEO Iain McNeil to share his thoughts on the report, and what Matrix Pro Sims is aiming for with future releases. 

Why was Matrix Pro Sim's work with [dstl] in the previous year significant?

Iain - This is really a culmination of 4 years effort and we’ve worked closely with [dstl] over that time to expand on the original commercial games to add features that make them full analytical tools including data inputs, logging for analysis, and a host of advanced simulation features. It’s been a really symbiotic relationship and [dstl] have been great to work with. We’re delighted its enabled [dstl] to halve the time and cost it takes to do their analysis. As of March 2024 we’re also supporting the new UK wargames hub at Southwick park, and the only 3 digital simulations being used there are the same ones mentioned in the [dstl] report. We have other big news coming soon but we cant say too much about that yet!

Why does Digital Wargaming matter?

Iain - Digital wargames are vital when the analysts need data and metrics to support their research and they have a clearly identified question. You can capture vast amounts of data from a digital simulation, which can be very hard to do in a manual wargame as manual wargames tend to have simpler systems as a human is calculating them. It's hard to record the results of engagements. Manual wargames are better at answering ill defined problems that are difficult to simulate as the facilitator helps you to deal with uncertainties and human factors that can be hard to turn into a model. They can also great for education due to the discussions they promote. Having people in the same place talking about a map can be very rewarding, but it can also be very expensive.

The other thing digital gives you is the ability to do things remotely without needing people in the same place or using the software at the same time. It also lets you model hidden movement, line of sight and detection, which is notoriously difficult to do in a manual wargame. Digital wargames let you run a simulated plan ten, hundreds, or thousands of times to capture data which gives you a bell curve of results. This then allows you to work out things like the most likely outcomes and most dangerous. Manual simulations usually only generate one result and you don’t know where on your bell curve that is – was this the one in a million chance, or the most likely result.

Digital wargames are vital for a number of reasons, but they are very much complementary to manual simulations, not a replacement. It's always important to make sure you’re using the right tool for the job. I love both and have been playing manual wargames since I was six and digital ones since twelve!

What more can we look forward to from Matrix Pro Sims?

Iain - There are 3 simulations we’re working with [dstl] on as part of this agreement and they’re all at different stages. Command was the first to release and is currently in use with over 150 defence organisations across 23 countries, so it has a large group of users. At the moment we’re in the final stages of planning for the annual training event, which will be held in cooperation with the USMC in Quantico this year. Command is steadily adding features with the current focus on real time multiplayer support and then on to an enhanced ground simulation.

Flashpoint Campaigns is approaching its first official release later this year and the team are busy fixing bugs and preparing the training materials for that to launch. Currently it is only used by our development partners at [dstl] and the USMC, and we’re looking forwards to rolling it out to a wider audience.

Combat Mission has been available the commercial audience for some time but we are still developing the professional version. While it has been used by [dstl] for analysis, we’re planning a significant number of UI and performance improvements before we open that up to a wider professional audience so that’s very much a work in progress right now.

We’re also developing new simulations which we expect to find a defence audience and the most advanced of those is Modern Naval Warfare. MNW is an insanely high fidelity submarine and ship simulator which is being developed initially as a commercial game, but with the plan to bring it to defence once we’ve properly refined it with the commercial players. So in summary there is a lot going on and its very different for each project!