Undergraduate Students Won the 2024 Wargaming Tournament

Team Fredens Hav claimed victory in the 2024 operational art and tactics wargaming tournament hosted by the Department of War Studies. This year’s game was inspired by a dystopian future conflict in the Nordic region in 2030.

After 15 matches involving 16 teams, Fredens Hav emerged as the ultimate winner. The team consisted of Robin Karlsson and Nils Dahlgren from the undergraduate military history program, along with Erik Westerberg, an undergraduate political science student at the Swedish Defence University.

This year’s wargame was based on a fictional future scenario portraying potential negative developments in Europe and the Nordic region. Teams were randomly assigned to represent either Russia or NATO. The game comprised eight rounds, with each round representing one week. Points were tallied at the end to determine the victorious side.

Over four days in December, two game boards were set up in the Swedish Defence University’s mess hall for the tournament. All students and staff at the university were invited to compete in teams of two or three. Participants included cadets from the Officer Training Program, civilian students at both undergraduate and master’s levels, and attendees of the Advanced Officer Program.

The game is a classic board game involving dice and various tokens, representing different unit types, placed on hexagonal sections of the board that together form the battlefield. It was developed by instructors at the university’s Centre for Wargaming.

War games are continuously used as a military training method at the Swedish Defence University's various training courses.

"Games like High North, The Battle of the North, visualize both theory and practical decision-making is visualized with the help of war games," says Lieutenant Colonel Lars Henåker, who was responsible for the implementation of this year's war games.

Placements

• Fredens Hav, Robin Karlsson, candidate. Military History, Nils Dahlgren, Bachelor. Military History, Erik Westergren, Bachelor. Political science
• 1st Platoon 231 qrzn, Dennis Lundin, OP 23-26, Albin Strömberg, OP 23-26, Isak Hanson, OP 23-26
• War Scholars, Rikard Nyberg, Political Science, Andreas Bäcklund, Political Science, Rickard Östman, Military History
• The orchestra, Johan Elg, FOI, Patrik Björkholm, Anna Pestrea, FOI.