CIVIL WAR ON-LINE
War College

School of Tactics
Command Course

Overview

The School of Tactics offers the Command Course for the training of combined arms integration and grand tactical skills in CWOL's Shot & Shell. This course is open for use by either nation in its training program.

NOTE: The War College offers other courses, the Battle Course, for the training of basic tactical skills, and the Campaign Course for the training of veteran officers in the operational skills needed for CWOL.

The cadre of the School will assist in the processing and administration of the course as coordinated by the Secretary of War. Any supplemental mentoring and/or remedial instruction is the responsibility of the appointed national Inspector General.

Course Objective

The Command Course seeks to train selected players in the skills that are needed to be

• Division or Corps Commanders {depends on the national command structure};
  {the intent here is to train those players who command the forces that defend or attack a point or city-type objective}
• the Chief of Staff;

The scenario of the course uses a variate of the War College Common Training Scenario. The operational objective is how well the opposing study groups utilize the national doctrine for the grand tactics involved in the defense or assualt on a point objective (usually a city in CWOL). The battle in this scenario is the seizure of Olympia. Battlefield success is not the important end result of this course. Success is measured by how well the study group:

• adapts the national doctrine to the scenario situation
• issues directives to execute the tactical concept in a time-constricted environment
• maneuvers forces to gain the advantage by employing the principles of mass, maneuver, objective, economy of force, and offense
• achieves surprise as best can be expected in a structured training environment
• if participating with his future command, how well the commander exercises unity of command

The optimum utilization of this course is by assigning players as

• tactical commander (title and rank is dependent on national military structure),
• Chief of Staff
• major subordinate commanders {which are at brigade level in this scenario}
• 
  NOTE: bold italic indicates the principle target audience for this training

Procedures

The School of Tactics operates in a de-centralized fashion. The Secretary of War for the national player teams coordinates all use of School materials plus control the administration and instruction of their national team. The Secretary coordinates training directly or appoints a national Inspector General who administers the course(s). However, to insure timely support of the national training program and the smooth administration of the course there is some coordination required by the School. These guidelines and procedures are outlined below.

Player Responsibilities

• To use the Command Course, all students are required to have SAS version 1.2.6 installed on their systems. Go to: Shot and Shell Download Site and follow the instructions
  {if you have SAS 2.3.x installed - disregard this step and proceed to the next one}
• Once the SAS version 2.3.x is installed, players download the Command Course .bin file
• Once the player has the Command Course .bin file loaded and operating on his system, he contacts his national Inspector General and alerts him that he is prepared for training.
• It is expected that all students demontsrated knowledge of the SAS interface commands and order formats. You can refresh your knowledge or check for modifications to old formats at the Shot & Shell Web Site at Shot & Shell Rulebook Download
• It is suggested that all students visit the School of Doctrine Web Site to review lessons learned about point defense in CWOL, Commentary on Defense of Cities and lessons learned about meeting engagements in CWOL, Commentary on the Use of the Advanced Guard in CWOL

National Inspector General Responsibilities

• Notify the School cadre that he will be running an exercise and request GA support
• Identify the time period of the training {start and stop dates}
• Coordinate with Course GA the turn frequency of the exercise (1x, 2x, or 3x per week)
• Perform Super User functions for the exercise by issuing assign orders initially and ensuring that all assignements stay current
• Gain the Command Course email account for orders and issue it to the students
• Issue instructions to the students concerning the Course training objectives and player requirements {see Command Course Inspector General's Handbook for suggestions}

This document is a passworded file intended for the use of the Inspector General only. The Inspector General must coordinate with the Command Course GA to get the password.

The Command Course GA Responsibilities

• issue the password for the course handbook upon request
• setup a POP3 email account for order submissions
• run the turn(s)
• post the exercise Battle News to a Web Site
• provide a "ground truth" map for the Inspector General, if requested
• provide an archive file of the exercise to the Inspector General

The exercise GA can stop the exercise without notice for player non-compliance of game procedure or failure of player participation

School of Tactics Links

• For information about the general situation, go to: The CWOL War College Common Training Scenario
• For tactical training for entry level officers, go to: The Battle Course exercise
• For training in grand tactics for veteran officers or future TACONs, go to: Command Course exercise

War College Links

• For ACW era doctrine & CWOL lessons learned, go to: The CWOL War College School of Doctrine
• For the tactical exercises, go to: The CWOL War College School of Tactics
• For campaign planning and grand strategy, go to: The CWOL War College School of Advanced Studies
• For the information about naval operations and tactics, go to: CWOL Annapolis
• For the information on the economic planning, go to: The CWOL Industrial College
• For CWOL victory conditions and critical city list, go to: Strategy & Victory

CWOL (Civil War OnLine)

• "Civil War OnLine Index Page"

Any comments, questions or suggestions about the CWOL War College can be sent to GACC

This page last updated on 10/2/2000

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