Introducing Warfighters – A New Substack Series from ShadowBox

We’ve just launched a new interactive Substack series, ShadowBox Decision Games: Warfighters, designed for anyone looking to improve their tactical decision-making skills and gain exposure to a variety of perspectives.

The Warfighters series focuses on enhancing tactical judgment and decision-making by presenting challenging Tactical Decision Games that put you in the role of a decision maker under pressure. Readers are encouraged to think through the situation, formulate and post their proposed tactical orders, and compare their responses with those of others. Experts like John Schmitt follow up by offering feedback on the orders readers have shared and providing insights into real-world tactical solutions and decision-making strategies.

What’s a TDG? 

A Tactical Decision Game (TDG) is a short, realistic scenario designed to sharpen decision-making under pressure. You’re given a map, a mission, resources, limited information about the enemy to act, and a time limit. No perfect intel. No clear right answers. Just a challenging tactical problem that forces you to make a call. 

TDGs have deep roots in military training, where they’ve been used for decades to hone tactical thinking. But the modern TDG as we know it was shaped by John F. Schmitt, a former Marine officer and the author of Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication 1, Warfighting, the foundational operational doctrine of the U.S. Marine Corps. In the 1990s, John helped popularize TDGs in the U.S. military, turning them into a core tool for sharpening battlefield judgment. 

Now, John and the ShadowBox team are bringing that same approach to a wider audience. 

What makes Warfighters unique?

There is no substitute for experience. Effective decision making under pressure rests on the ability to recognize and understand patterns and potential solutions from past experience. No procedure or checklist will save you when the enemy is crossing the bridge and you need to act NOW. The deeper your reservoir of experiences, the more patterns, variations on patterns, and potential solutions you will be able to draw from. 

TDGs are a cheap and effective way to build that experience before it counts. They train you to think tactically, anticipate threats, and make decisions under fire. 

That’s what the Warfighters Substack series is about: games that train tactical thinking. 

It is unique because of its interactive approach to delivering TDGs. Not only do we encourage subscribers to comment with the orders they would issue and respond to others’ submissions, but we also invite them to submit their own TDGs—giving the broader community a chance to experience a variety of perspectives and offering authors an opportunity to receive feedback on their scenarios.

Join us in bringing the TDG tradition online – making it interactive and accessible. 

We look forward to seeing what orders you will issue.