We are pleased to be able to announce that the Connections North 2026 professional (war)gaming conference will be held at the National Capital Region Officers’ Mess at 149 Somerset St West in Ottawa on Saturday 14th March 2026. A more complete announcement with theme, costs, and booking instructions will follow soon. We look forward to seeing you there! Information on previous Connections North conferences can be found here.

INVESTIGATING ATROCITY: Military Observers in Carana is a new online (browser) serious game, launched today. Walter Dorn (Royal Military College and Canadian Defence College) writes: I am delighted to announce that, after five years of effort, a new R&D product is being published today. It is not another paper or book, but a digital simulation (www.peacekeepingsim.net), akin to a video game.

Federal immigration agents were confronted in Oak Park on Saturday morning by residents blowing whistles as local Girl Scouts collect food for local pantries, rattling some girls and their parents.

Registration is now open for the Military Operations Research Society’s 94th Symposium: Sharpening Our Analytical Edge, taking place 8–11 June 2026 in Colorado Springs.

The latest issue of Simulation & Gaming 56, 6 (December 2025) is now available. Editorial Leveraging Gamification to Foster Diversity and Inclusion in Healthcare Marlies P. Schijven and Toshiko Kikkawa Research Articles An Innovative Approach to Addressing Compassion Fatigue: A Feasibility Study of a Serious Game Barbara H. Esbjørn, Freja Moltke-Aaen, Kerry A. Schwanz and Melissa Paiva-SalisburyBehavioral and Physiological Stress Reactions During Exposure to a Tsunami in Virtual Reality …

From Rebecca Sutton (University of Glasgow): Please join us for a launch event that is taking place at 2 pm GMT on Friday 7 November 2025, both online and in-person at the University of Glasgow. We will be launching the CEASEFIRE! peace game, which is a 2D video game that teaches international law and emotions in the context of a 'Back to School' ceasefire negotiation with a non-state armed group.  

The following article was written for PAXsims by Louis “Cornell” Fuka. He is the lead wargame designer and analyst at SURVICE Engineering, specializing in developing educational and digital wargames. Previously, he served as an artillery officer in the U.S. Army. The views expressed here are his own and not those of SURVICE Engineering or any of its clients. The Coming Wave…

On October 14–15, 2025, the Polish Military University of Land Forces organized a conference on "Wargaming as an Analytical and Training Tool in Military and Civilian Environments," bringing together experts from Poland, Europe, and the United States. The YouTube channel Wargames24 has posted a series of videos on conference.

SOURCE: Watling, Emergent Approaches to Combined Arms Manoeuvre in Ukraine (RUSI, 2023). As we noted back in December 2023, many Ukrainian officers have not found wargaming to be especially useful for operational planning—and in some cases, have even regarded it as counter-productive. This critique gained momentum after the failure of Ukraine’s 2023 offensive, which some Ukrainians attributed to NATO advisors’ reliance on outdated combat models and their failure to fully appreciate how modern warfare had evolved.

On his YouTube channel, Australian military commentator Perun describes a recent NATO ACT wargame in which he took part. He includes some excellent comments on the strength and weaknesses of the game, so it is well worth a watch.

Digital Literacy Games – A curated list of educational games to test your ability to identify deepfakes and develop digital literacy skills.  Creating Disinformation Games Cat Park Players are challen...

The following article was written for PAXsims by Kristen Bishop, a Research Staff Member for the Strategy, Forces and Resources Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). She received a Ph.D. in Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before the passage of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, anti-agricultural biological weapons were a key component of the U.S.

The Connections Oz professional wargaming conference will take place online on 12-13 November 2025. For more information, or if you would like to propose a presentation, visit the website above.

Learning simulation, invented by Professor Rex Brynen and his students, puts participants into realistic situations and allows them to learn from their mistakes

The next Military Operations Research Society Certificate in Wargaming course will take place online on 17–21 November 2025. This five-day, online program is one of the only opportunities outside of government or academia to gain practical, high-level training in professional game design. Whether you’re just stepping into the field or looking to refine your skills, this course provides a comprehensive foundation you can put to work immediately.

Learning simulation, invented by Professor Rex Brynen and his students, puts participants into realistic situations and allows them to learn from their mistakes

Shifting Sands is a matrix game developed by James Hood and Chris Hunt at Assiniboine College. For the Environmental Legislation course, the Shifting Sands matrix game provides an interactive opportunity for students to evaluate the environmental, social, economic, and community impacts of development in the context of an extraction project. The proposed project presents opportunities to support electrification at a global scale but with potential negative impacts to local groundwater used by local rural and Indigenous communities.

Games for Cities is a five day training programme that will be held weekly in Amsterdam from 25 September to 30 October 2025. In this five-day training, you will learn how to develop and strategically apply games to address complex spatial and societal challenges. Drawing on theory and latest technologies such as Urban AI, digital participation tools, and inspiring real-life examples, you will develop your skills step by step.

Switzerland gets its first Connections wargaming conference, on 20-21 September 2025 in Pully and Lausanne, Switzerland. Full details below. Wargame Connections Suisse_WCS25_Flyer_V1.1Download