Sebastian J. Bae, a senior game designer and research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), works in wargaming, emerging technologies, and the future of warfare. He also serves as an adjunct assistant professor and teaches a graduate course on game design at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. He is also the faculty advisor to the Georgetown University Wargaming Society, the co-chair of the Military Operations Research Society Wargaming Community of Practice, and a former Fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Creativity. Previously, he served six years in the Marine Corps infantry, leaving as a sergeant. He deployed to Iraq in 2009. He has also designed Littoral Commander: Indo-Pacific, an educational wargame exploring future tactical warfare in the Indo-Pacific region, commercially published by The Dietz Foundation.

DISCLAIMER: This game represents the opinions of the designer. It does not represent the policies or views of the US government, CNA, or any of CNA’s sponsors.

….and he is a pretty decent guy as I have met and had lunch with him a few years ago while on vacation in Washington D.C. Sebastian was kind enough to respond to my questions about his upcoming Crisis in Korea, which is a collection of 2 different micro-games in one box, one called Loose Nukes and the other KTO Crisis coming to Kickstarter soon.

If you are interested in Crisis in Korea from Catastrophe Games, you can back the project on the Kickstarter page at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/campaign-fall-blau/crisis-in-korea

Grant: What is your new upcoming game Crisis in Korea about?

Sebastian: Crisis in Korea is a set of two ‘micro-wargames’ exploring different aspects of a potential modern conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Each of the two wargames aims to explore ideas like nuclear deterrence, escalation dynamics, and the challenges of securing loose nuclear weapons.  

Grant: What is the goal of packaging two smaller games on the subject together?

Sebastian: Originally, I designed these two micro-wargames to be quick, easy, and relevant games to play with my graduate students, most of whom are not wargamers. So, I wanted a set of games that were thematically bound together, but examined the topic – in this case, crisis in Korea – from different perspectives. By packaging two smaller games together, I wanted players to be able to have accessible games for beginners to learn – whether that was a teacher showing a student or a parent sharing their hobby with their child.

Grant: What is the definition of a micro-wargame?

Sebastian: Like “wargames,” there really isn’t a widely accepted definition for a micro-wargame. But for me, as a designer, I think of them as concise and compact wargames that explore a specific topic – often fitting on an 8×11 piece of paper and usually playing under 30 minutes.

Grant: What was your design goal with the game?

Sebastian: The nuclear shadow over the Korean Peninsula is only growing, as North Korean nuclear capabilities are evolving. So, when designing the two wargames, I wanted to highlight the intersection of nuclear risk and conventional conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

Grant: What is the socio-political situation in the near-future setting of North Korea? Why was this important to your design?

Sebastian: The two games have different assumptions about the socio-political landscape in North Korea. KTO Crisis imagines a future where North Korea is aggressive, confident, and willing to start a conventional conflict to reunite the Peninsula. In contrast, Loose Nukes imagines a weak and divided North Korea where its regime collapses, losing control of its nuclear capabilities and both internal and external powers race to secure them for their respective benefits.

Grant: What is Loose Nukes about?

Sebastian: Loose Nukes is about China and the ROK-US alliance racing against time to secure North Korean assets in the wake of civil conflict in North Korea.

Grant: How do players distribute the Nuclear Assets on the board? What is the makeup of the different values of the assets?

Sebastian: In Loose Nukes, Nuclear Assets (NA’s) are distributed face-down randomly in specific hexes. This aims to represent competing certainty knowing where key sites are, but the simultaneous uncertainty of which nuclear capabilities are where at any given time. For the game, different NA’s have different victory point values, indicating different levels of importance.

Grant: What is the makeup of the game board?

Sebastian: The Loose Nukes game board is a traditional hex and counter map with various North Korean nuclear sites mapped – each indicating how many Nuclear Assets to place in each hex.

Grant: What are the numbered tan circles?

Sebastian: They indicate how many Nuclear Assets to put into a specific hex. In reality, certain areas in North Korea host various nuclear capabilities with the Northwest region hosting the greatest density.

Grant: How do players go about hunting down and collecting these nuclear assets?

Sebastian: Players utilize a combination of Nuclear Disarmament Team (NDT’s) and Battalion Task Forces (BTF’s) to find and secure Nuclear Assets across North Korea.

Grant: What other actions are available to players?

Sebastian: In Loose Nukes, each player can do five principal actions: 1) Move and Engage; 2) Move and Disarm; 3) Recon & Airdrop; 4) Cyber Attack & Subvert; 5) Move and Refresh. 

Grant: What are the capabilities of the different DPRK and PRC forces?

Sebastian: In Loose Nukes, the players play as the PRC and ROK-US Alliance and each side boasts relatively symmetrical capabilities, with slight differences in number and initial positions.

Grant: What is the purpose of de-escalation?

Sebastian: The two players (PRC and ROK-US Alliance) must manage the tensions in North Korea as they pursue their respective competing goals, otherwise without de-escalating the crisis at key moments, both may lose.

Grant: How does the game end?

Sebastian: The player with the highest total value of captured Nuclear Assets (NA) by the end of round 10 wins the game. If the DPRK control marker ever reaches its final level (represented by the nuclear explosion at the top right of the track) before the end of round 10 the game immediately ends with both players losing. If at the end of round 10, both players have the same value of captured NA tokens the game ends in a tie.

Grant: What is the play time of Loose Nukes?

Sebastian: Roughly 30 minutes.

Grant: What is the 2nd game KTO Crisis about?

Sebastian: KTO Crisis is more of your traditional wargame where North Korea attacks across the DMZ – reminiscent of the Korean War in 1950. And the ROK-US Alliance must push back the North Korean forces and secure the Korean Theater of Operations (KTO) by the end of the game.

Grant: This one seems more focused on direct combat. How does combat work?

Sebastian: Combat in KTO Crisis is relatively straightforward. To resolve combat, each player rolls 1 six-sided die (1d6) for each Army involved. For each 5 or 6 rolled, the player eliminates one opposing Army. All damage is assessed after both players have rolled for their respective Armies and combat ends. After combat, the next player conducts their turn.

Grant: What is the makeup of the DPRK and ROK forces?

Sebastian: KTO Crisis takes an abstract approach in what it defines as an “Army” in the game – focusing more on comparative national combat power at a strategic level. The game makes no distinction in artillery, missiles launchers, navies, or so forth. The only real distinctive military elements are in the Special Abilities of each country.

Grant: What special abilities does each side have access to?

Sebastian: Each country has their own unique set of Special Abilities. The ROK-US Alliance has access to fighter jets and special force units to secure nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, North Korea has tactical nukes and its own special forces employing sabotage and chemical weapons.

Grant: What roles does the PRC play in the game?

Sebastian: The PRC is a ‘paper bot’ in the game where it is not played by either player. The PRC responds to different ‘escalatory actions’ that the ROK-US player can take throughout the game. Throughout the game, the PRC can assist North Korea, but also at times, disadvantage it. It is a careful balancing act.

Grant: What purpose do the spaces with a D6 symbol serve? What does this represent?

Sebastian: These spaces represent nodes that can trigger PRC response as discussed above. Each node has different escalation thresholds represented by the d6 that the ROK-US player can trigger. On a roll equal or greater than the number associated with the node, the PRC will intervene in the conflict in some way.

Grant: What is the function of DPRK Nukes? How can they end the game?

Sebastian: I did not want to design a game about a Korean crisis without a nuclear shadow. So, the North Korean player can utilize a limited number of tactical nuclear weapons. They are devastating and powerful in terms of eliminating opposing Armies. However, each use of tactical nukes risks strategic nuclear exchange from the US. In the game, after damage has been assessed from a nuclear strike, the North Korean player rolls a d6. If a 4+ is rolled the game ends immediately. If the game ended in nuclear disaster, both players lost, but the DPRK loss was irrevocable. 

Grant: How do players achieve victory?

Sebastian: At the end of 8 turns, the player with the most Victory Points (VP’s) wins – requiring control over nodes with various nodes on the map.

Grant: What is the play time of KTO Crisis?

Sebastian: Again, roughly 30 minutes.

Grant: What type of experience do these 2 micro-wargames create?

Sebastian: The 2 micro-wargames provide an easy, fast-playing, and at times intentionally volatile experience of crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

Grant: What do you believe these designs excel at?

Sebastian: As the designer, I think Crisis in Korea excels at providing two competing perspectives on the same conflict in a fun, accessible way.

Thank you so much for answering our questions Sebastian. I am very much interested in these micro-wargames and love that there are 2 games in one package both focused on the same topic but with different focus about the same events.

If you are interested in Crisis in Korea, including both Loose Nukes and KTO Crisis, you can back the project on the Kickstarter page at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/campaign-fall-blau/crisis-in-korea

-Grant