More Information in Differentiating Different Military Terms
(Discussion from the YKTTW Entry. An edited version would be nice to add here.)Or if you want to get really detailed, close tactics are how to fight a squad, grand tactics are how to fight an army, operations are how to run a campaign, strategy is how to run a theater of operations, and grand strategy is how to fight a war, which is just below policy which is how to decide for a whole nation.
I remember those levels from a wargame guide I read a long time ago, however I could not find it in my room. I tried to look for corroboration on the net but it gave me little - though one source puts it at minor tactics rather than close tactics. Most sources are satisfied with tactics, operations, and strategy.
In wargames the distinction is usually represented by how large of a unit each counter represents, how large a space in each hex and so on. Victory in the Pacific is a strategy game, Panzerblitz is operational, Squad leader tactical. Most people won't remember those games though.
It is common though to mix things up in video games:
- Master of Orion, which is about grand strategy and policy, has tactical phases albeit somewhat subliminated.
- The Total War series blends both rather nicely. There's a slower paced turn-based strategic phase were you plan your economy and policy. However during battles, it switches over to real-time gameplay where you have to apply tactical methods on the fly.
- Most of the Silent Hunters are tactical like most naval games but they have strategy and operations mixed in when you are voyageing around the ocean in search of prey.
Ok, the book I was looking for is The Complete Book of Wargames by the editors of Consumer Guide. It doesn't distinguish between Grand Strategy and Policy but it does use the term Close Tactics. I believe I remember seeing a pentagon manual or paper or something that also had a similar list somewhere. Sorry to bug everyone.
- A cruder description I've run across is that dressing nicely, bring flowers, taking her somewhere nice for dinner, and parking by the lake is strategy. Tactics is what happens in the back seat. Which does put the like from the Modern Major General's song, "When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery", into a whole 'nother light...
