Pijus Krūminas

Screenshot from a webpage. The background shows a block board game with a hexagon board. The title says:: Connections UK, After Action Report, Connections UK 2025, Professional Conference

And here's a personal After Action Report for Connections UK at Armchair Dragoons. It was a great event, and my only regret is that my flight was early afternoon on the last day. Available here: armchairdragoons.com/cnxuk25-aar/

Last semester we had a Churchill day in the class, and here's the write up of why it works in the educational context.

A photo showing an old cellar with a red brick wall in the background. It is a museum. There are fifteen wooden stakes shown as exhibits. They were used for construction but remind of stakes used to destroy vampires.

We visited the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, and now I think we had a vampire infestation in Vilnius sometime before late 17th century...

Please please please everyone (pls reskeet) who is involved with a uni/college academic program (broadly speaking) conected to games Could you write a quick comment + links if any apply to what you and your institution are doing in that sphere? I need to show what's out there. 1/
#AncientBluesky 🗃️

Academic Year 24-25 in Review An overview of wargaming activities of Wargaming Lab at ISM University of Management and Economics in 2024-2025 academic year

We have a Wargaming Lab at ISM University of Management and Economics in Vilnius, Lithuania. That's in addition to the course where we had a discussion with you! More: pijus.substack.com/p/academic-y... and faculty.ism.lt/en/ism-warga...

The global future of wargaming in Lithuania

I've met @icurtiss.bsky.social at Connections UK last year, where we talked about wargaming as a modelling method, risk gaming and his scenarios for Lux Capital. A couple of weeks ago, we sat down online to talk about these topics, students' games, and other war/riskgaming matters. Enjoy!

“the story of the #crossbronxexpressway is a lens through which we can better understand our modern world.”

pre-orders charging means the game ships soon. i recorded a podcast called endnotes to hold folk over while they wait for it to arrive.
@gmtgames.bsky.social
[ link below]

Commercial sector innovations can find their place in professional wargaming - from streamlining to mechanical novelties. Successful involvement of high ranking officers / decision makers depends on how they can be involved with relatively lower time investment and lower need for rule complexity.

Academically, important discussions focus on type of knowledge that wargames create, which was excellently presented by David Banks. It's great that postgraduate research is going strong, and it was interesting to see some historical counterfactual research on the possible invasion of Switzerland.

Megagames are a great platform to encourage discussions, communication, and highlight challenges (and need for cooperation). Last year, the game focused on logistics, this year it was about threats to the Green and Pleasant Land of the UK. I got the role of Chief Medical Officer and we survived!

The Baltic States and the Eastern Flank continue to get a lot of attention. Well, it's not surprising. There is a need for a greater involvement from the region, and I'm very happy about the upcoming wargaming conference in Poland.

Resilience and urban environment are still heavily on the agenda. Looking at the game fair games it's very clear. On the other hand, there is also a variety in topics from deception to the effects of space on land operations.

Two name cards on a piece of paper. One card says Pijus Krūminas. Another one says Department for Health & Social Care, and has the UK coat of arms. These are pieces of a game called Greek and Pleasant Land. They are placed on a piece of paper that indicates departmental aims and possible actions.

Previous week was spent at Connections UK, representing the Wargaming Lab of ISM. Some takeaways. First, it's always great to meet old friends and find new ones! Wargaming community is very welcoming, and I'm glad that Connections UK continue to hold sessions specifically dedicated to newcomers.

A Google search says "fire in the lake can you do only special action", the AI summary says "In a real fire, you should prioritize your escape and call for help, not perform "special actions" to fight the fire itself unless it is a very small, contained blaze."

When you want to quickly search for something about the rules, and Google LLM decides to help.

They did! We'll try another battle next time.

Classroom with small tables, a group of six students sitting around the table, playing a board game.

The board of a game showing a map of La Coruña with counters depicting French and British pieces. A hand pointing with a finger is above the map hovering.

University wargaming in the new academic started! La Coruña scenario from Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars by @mropla.bsky.social The French struggles for most of the time, but managed to deal fatal blows just before the night descended.

Sketch pencil drawing of an DonkeyElephant puppet. The left side has the head of an elephant, the right side has the head of a donkey. Smaller sketches of the puppet surround the main one.

Fully agreed. Also, his DonkeyElephant >>> CatDog.

An x-ray photo of the head of a string puppet depicting a human. Springs and nails are seen inside.

An x-ray photo of a string puppet depicting a humanoid with ears. Springs and nails are seen inside.

An x-ray photo of a string puppet depicting a dog. Springs and nails are seen inside.

String puppet X-rays are best X-rays. Pre-WW2 marionettes by Stasis Ušinskas, a Lithuanian artist who worked with animation, string puppets, stained glass, theatre productions, paintings, and other forms of art.

More Kafkaesque than Kafka! By exactly four limbs.

I was just adding this today to my intro class material.

A board game played on the table. Students and facilitators are sitting around the table.

In the end, each group reached a positive level of public welfare, even if some also did more for themselves... Yet, I think the students would form quite a good government.

Photos by Laima Penek.

Photo of printed board game elements placed on the table. Some cards, a purple board and some printed papers are seen.

How does agenda setting power affect policy outcomes? How can personal and public interests be balanced? Those are not easy questions, but using a game gave a platform to actually make decisions instead of just discussing ideas.

A presentation given to students, the speaker stand in the front, students are sitting. The slide on the screen says 'a game about interests'

Yesterday, participants of the Students to Government project ran by the Office of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania got a chance to play a tabletop game on interest management, agenda setting, and coalition building. How do interest groups form coalitions when considering potential laws?

Thanks for the shout! @keithlaw.bsky.social - always happy to chat about using board games in classroom.

As an economist, I would like to sincerely apologise on behalf of my profession. It's embarassing.

It's currently on VASSAL (not through Steam) and Tabletop Simulator (through Steam), but these versions are without rules enforcement. There will be a full digital version of LC at same later point. However, generally, it's quite easy to get into, there is complexity, but it is smooth and intuitive.

I'm not playing much online real-time, but if you'd be up for a PBEM over VASSAL, I'd love to play.

It would be amazing. I'd love to run it with students. They like John Company a lot, and such experience would get them engaged with the game and the topic even more.

I'm very much looking forward to this game. It has a platoon level system with drone and EW. It accounts for planning using Sync Matrices. It has huge educational value. Finally, it's set in the Baltics, making the game very relevant for our context. So, yes, I'm definitely pre-ordering.

And in several languages!