Staff rides and wargames are among the most powerful PME methods for developing professional judgement, decision-making, and critical thinking. This project brings together work on scenario-based exercises and assessments—from thematic field-based staff rides to integrated wargaming formats designed to test options, surface assumptions, and deepen learning in complex conflict environments.

Overview

This research area explores teaching & learning within Professional Military Education (PME) with a specific focus on practical, scenario-based exercises and assessments—particularly staff rides and wargames. The aim is to strengthen how PME develops professional judgement, decision-making, and critical thinking in complex operational environments.

Staff rides and wargames enable participants to engage with problems that resemble real military decision-making: uncertainty, limited information, time pressure, and friction. When designed with clear learning outcomes and assessment criteria, they become powerful tools for both education and examination.

International partners and collaboration

The research area is designed to support exchange and collaboration with international colleagues and institutions, with particular attention to PME best practice and NATO educational standards. Collaboration includes academic exchange, joint methodological development, and comparative learning designs across national contexts.

What we do

  • Staff rides: thematic and field-based learning designs linking terrain, cases, and structured decision points.
  • Wargaming: tabletop, matrix, and other formats used to test options, surface assumptions, and train decision logic.
  • Integrated designs: combining staff rides and wargames into coherent learning sequences.
  • Assessment: strengthening constructive alignment between learning outcomes, scenario design, and assessment methods.

Thematic priorities

  • Technology–tactics integration, including AI-enabled decision support and modern military technologies in scenario-based learning.
  • Urban operations, focusing on complexity, constraints, and operational dilemmas.
  • International PME best practice, including NATO-related standards and comparative approaches.

Selected activities

  • Development and delivery of staff rides (thematic designs with explicit learning outcomes and structured decision points).
  • Design and facilitation of educational wargames, including matrix and tabletop formats, tailored to PME learning and assessment needs.
  • Integrated staff ride–wargame sequences, using wargaming as a “decision lab” before/during/after field components.
  • Workshops for educators and course designers on scenario-based learning, assessment criteria, and constructive alignment.
  • Comparative exchange and dialogue with international PME and wargaming communities (methods, standards, and best practice).
  • Method development for assessment, including rubrics and criteria that capture both decision processes and outcomes.

Selected outputs (in preparation / forthcoming)

  • Toolbox/handbook for scenario-based PME exercises and assessments (staff rides, wargames, and integrated formats).
  • Reusable exercise designs and course modules for PME settings (including guidance for preparation, facilitation, and AAR).
  • Conference papers and presentations on practical PME pedagogy and scenario-based assessment.
  • Academic publications addressing learning design, validity of assessment, and technology–tactics integration in PME.

Research group

Core team
Docent Dr Mikael Weissmann (Project lead / convenor)
Major Jonas Björkqvist
Lt Col Dr Lars Henåker

Contributors
Maj (Res) Patrik Wiklund
Docent Dr Dan Öberg
Docent Dr Niklas Nilsson

Selected publications

Björkqvist, Jonas, and Mikael Weissmann. 2025. Fältövningshandbok Slaget om Ortona 1943: Tre perspektiv på strid i urban miljö [Staff Ride Handbook to the Battle of Ortona 1943: Three Perspectives on War in Urban Environments]. Stockholm: Försvarshögskolan (FHS). (Swedish Defence University Report Series). Available from: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-14135 (90 pp.).

Weissmann, Mikael. 2024. Guide till praktisk examination av praktiska moment: Konstruktiv länkning i praktiken i utbildningen av kadetter och officerare [Guide to Practical Assessment of Practical Learning Activities: Constructive Alignment in Practice in the Training of Officer Cadets and Senior Officers]. Stockholm: Försvarshögskolan (FHS). Available from: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1843357/FULLTEXT01.pdf (52 pp.).

Weissmann, Mikael, Jonas Björkqvist, and Patrik Wiklund. 2024. Staff Ride Handbook: Planning and Conducting Staff Rides. Stockholm: Department of Military History, Swedish Defence University. Available from: https://zenodo.org/records/10560892 (36 pp.).

Weissmann, Mikael, and Jonas Björkqvist. 2024. “Staff Rides in Professional Military Education: Fusing History, the Modern Battlefield, and the Battlefield of the Future.” Contemporary Military Challenges 26(4): 103–127. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2478/cmc-2024-0028.

Weissmann, Mikael, Jonas Björkqvist, and Patrik Wiklund. 2023. En handbok om fältövningar: att planera och genomföra en fältövning [A Handbook on Staff Rides: Planning and Conducting a Staff Ride]. Stockholm: Avdelningen för Militärhistoria, Försvarshögskolan. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7655033.

Weissmann, Mikael, Jonas Björkqvist, and Patrik Wiklund. 2022. “Staff Rides as a Pedagogical Tool in Professional Military Education (PME): Planning and Conducting Historical Staff Rides.” Journal on Baltic Security 8(2): 61–82. Available from: https://doi.org/10.57767/jobs_2022_0014.

Weissmann, Mikael, and Emma Björnehed. 2019. “Praktisk examination och examination av praktik: Möjligheter och begränsningar” [“Practical Examination and Examination of Practice: Possibilities and Limitations”]. KKrVA Handlingar och Tidskrift, no. 2 (April–June): 92–104. Available from: https://kkrva.se/hot/2019:2/06-bjornehed-weissmann-praktisk-examination.pdf.

Weissmann, Mikael, and Peter Ahlström. 2018. “Offensivens roll i taktiskt tänkande: Slaget vid Caporetto 1917.” In Tankar om defensiven, pp. 14–24. Stockholm: Försvarshögskolan (FHS). Available from: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-7309.

Contact

For collaboration, course development, or joint research initiatives, please get in touch via the contact details on this website.