{"id":17232,"date":"2019-05-09T07:00:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T12:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.d20radio.com\/main\/?p=17232"},"modified":"2019-05-06T08:45:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T13:45:08","slug":"command-school-center-of-gravity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.d20radio.com\/main\/command-school-center-of-gravity\/","title":{"rendered":"Command School – Center of Gravity"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.” – Sun Tzu, Chapter VI: Weaknesses and Strengths, The Art of War<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hope everyone is getting as much mileage out of this cliche Sun Tzu quote as I am. As I alluded to in my post on schwerpunkt<\/em><\/a>, there is a tool of analysis called centers of gravity. I think in that post I used the Canadian centre, so my apologies for that. In penance, I’ll open up and explain this tool now.<\/p>\n

And of course, in typical Command School fashion, I’ll include a\u00a0Star Wars Rebellion\u00a0<\/em>example.<\/p>\n

Centers of Gravity (CoG)<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Eikmeier 2016
https:\/\/ndupress.ndu.edu\/Media\/News\/Article\/969689\/lets-fix-or-kill-the-center-of-gravity-concept\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the eminent strategic historian Lawrence Freedman may want to retire the term<\/a> for real life conflicts, don’t let that scare you off. Don’t worry, of course there is a debate<\/a>. What follows is a simple introduction to centers of gravity which, owing to the abstraction and simplification of games, may be even more applicable to games than in the much more complicated game of life.<\/p>\n

Let’s use Dale Eikmeier’s modernized terms. We can use the same process for friendly and opponent CoG analysis. I’ve reproduced an explanatory diagram from his article on the topic on the right.<\/p>\n

First, one must establish what the friendly or opponent objective or end state<\/strong> is. This drives the analysis, ensuring we are focusing on the strategy, not the tactic<\/a>. In our example box from Eikmeier to the right, the end state is the liberation, presumably from hostile military occupation, of the boringly named Country X.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, the next step is to identify the primary,\u00a0critical capability\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>needed to obtain the objective or achieve the end state. This is the critical capability which must be generated by the friendly actor, or disrupted in the opponent. These are capabilities\u2014abilities, and thus verbs\u2014not objects or actors. The example capabilities are common mission task verbs which would be part of a campaign plan to achieve the liberation of Country X.<\/p>\n

Knowing the critical capability, we can now determine the\u00a0center of gravity (CoG)<\/strong>. This is the actual entity, a noun, that possesses the critical capability. It is the thing that can do the thing, if added vagueness helps. In the example, this is a (friendly) Armored Corps, a large and powerful group of land forces.<\/p>\n

Critical requirements<\/strong> are those requirements that the CoG needs to perform the critical capability. Rephrased: without these requirements, the CoG cannot do the critical capability, and thus cannot achieve the end state. Our example lists\u00a0 a bunch army stuff that is needed by the Armored Corps to do its job.<\/p>\n

Critical vulnerabilities<\/strong> are either critical requirements, or parts\/supporting elements of critical requirements, that are vulnerable to the opponent’s activities. This is how your opponent can mess with your CoG, or how you can attack your opponent’s CoG. In the example, sure, the Armored Corps is quite the tough formation, but it needs supplies and the legitimacy of the mission to keep the tanks rolling. Deprived of those, perhaps first legitimacy leading to insurgent attacks on supply lines, the armored advance might grind to a halt.<\/p>\n

Explanatory Example:\u00a0Star Wars Rebellion<\/em><\/h3>\n

Let’s try an example.<\/p>\n

Suppose the Imperial player in\u00a0Star Wars Rebellion<\/em> plans to spread her fleets thinly and broadly so that she can sweep the galaxy and root out the Rebel scum. This presents a problem in that, while numerically superior across the galaxy, this could allow the Rebels to mass forces and gain local superiority. So, to prevent this, she decides to stop the Rebels from building capital ships. But how?<\/p>\n

Here’s the quick analysis:<\/p>\n