HPS Simulations is proud to announce the release of Future Force, a Jim Lunsford Game.

Future Force was designed to help train military leaders in force management and resource allocation. It is not a traditional type of wargame. Instead, it puts players in the position of a national planner, making decisions about what force structure to create and maintain, where to allocate resources, and how to effectively manage the armed forces’ budget during a simulated twenty-year period while facing current and emerging threats.

During the game, the player seeks to find balance between the following tasks:

* Conduct intelligence & counterintelligence
* Prioritize theaters of operations
* Manage strategic lift capability
* Create new units
* Update existing unit capability
* Conduct Research & Development

Future Force models planning, allocation of forces, and research and development. The overall concepts are straightforward, but the game offers players complexity if they want it. With unpredictably (as in real life), each scenario is different, and each game is challenging. Operations take place within Areas of Operation (Peacetime Military Engagement, Irregular Warfare, and Major Combat Operations), and may change during the game year (stability). Unpredictably (as in real life), each game is different, and each game is challenging.

Future Force has proven popular with both military and civilian gamers, and has numerous applications for training, education and competition.

Designer Jim Lunsford served as a U.S. Army infantry officer for twenty years and has done a tour as tactics instructor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.  Many of the games he has designed are used by the armed forces for training, such as HPS’s Decisive Action.

Future Force Play Options:

Single player vs. the AI Two player hot-seat Internet LAN Play by e-mail

Credits:

Design: Jim Lunsford & John Duquette Developer: Jim Lunsford Coding: Jim Lunsford Graphics: John Duquette & Jim Lunsford Game Manual: John Duquette & Jim Lunsford

System Requirements:

400 MHz Pentium Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 512 MB of RAM 360 MB free space on hard drive

More about Future Force:

Future Force is a game that teaches force planning and budgeting. Lunsford admits that “as a CGSC student myself, the Army budget process put me to sleep. I was an infantry guy.” However, “Future Force” is hardly sleep-inducing. Players must deal with multiple areas of operation, each of which are in various states of conflict. There are a limited number of brigades to allocate among the areas, and each unit type has different strengths (a heavy brigade is better for an area in a state of major combat, for example, while an infantry or Stryker brigade is better for irregular warfare).
There is also a defense budget, which can be spent on intelligence, research and development, or creating new brigades. Naturally, there’s never enough money or troops.

This, like many other of Mr. Lunsford's games'has the purpose of stimulating thinking and promoting discussion. (Ed - paraphrasing, mine)

From a more extnsive article posted at: http://www.tsjonline.com/story.php?F=4698027