Author Description

Ambush was a wargame about protecting vehicles carrying nuclear materials during the Cold War. Written by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), it allowed the personnel escorting the convoy to rehearse their counter ambush drills to a variety of threats. The convoy chose the route, while the players representing the hostile forces carefully study the ground in order to place their ambush in the most effective position. While the rules were straightforward compared to other skirmish wargames of the era, they would have been useful in increasing engagement in training the escorts for these convoys. This would have allowed them to save training time by classroom-based rehearsal prior to live contact drill exercises on the ground. Moving nuclear materials was always a matter of national security and it was always possible that nefarious actors could have attempted to interfere with these convoys. The rules are published by the History of Wargaming Project as part of its ongoing work to document to development of wargaming.