US Marines open 'Mindgame' wargaming tournament against an AI opponent built by Strategy Robot

Marine Corps University (MCU) has announced a wargaming tournament in which individual players take on an AI-controlled opponent, in an administrative message, MARADMIN 494/26, issued on 14 October 2026. Applications close on 14 November, and play is scheduled to run from 1 December 2026 to 1 April 2027. DefenseScoop reported the message on 15 October.

What the Marines announced

The message calls the event the "Mindgame Tournament", run through MCU's FIGHT CLUB, which it describes as "an extracurricular wargaming initiative".

The message also sets out a larger aim, in its own words: "This tournament is a pathway event towards integrating Super Intelligence into wargaming by leveraging an autonomous agent to act as a highly trained adversary in digital wargames versus humans." "Super Intelligence" is the Marines' term, not a description of the software from us. DefenseScoop says the phrase is the Trump administration's preferred name for artificial intelligence.

• Two scenarios. Players face the AI in "a carrier strike group (CSG) versus CSG scenario and a drone swarm scenario", using Command Professional Edition (CPE) wargaming software.
• Online play. The tournament runs through MCU's Wargaming Cloud, which participants reach from a personal computer outside the Marine Corps network.
• Repeat games. Players may play the AI "as many times as desired", subject to licence availability. The message says not all players can play at once because of a limited pool of CPE licences.
• Scoring. Final scores add the average of each player's five best games in each scenario. Only players who complete at least five games in each scenario qualify for standings and awards.

The AI opponent

According to the message, the adversary was "Developed by Strategy Robot and integrated into Command Professional Edition". MCU describes it this way: "The AI you'll face is not a scripted computer opponent." It says the AI "uses advanced strategic-reasoning and computational game-theory techniques to generate, evaluate, and adapt courses of action against a thinking adversary."

These are MCU's descriptions. The message gives no performance figures for the AI, against human players or otherwise.

There is a second AI tool. Players will get an "AI-enabled, large language model (LLM)-based AAR capability", an after-action review tool that, the message says, lets them "interact conversationally with game data" to find strengths, weaknesses and ways to improve. On our reading of the message, the large language model is named for this review tool, while the opponent is described in terms of game theory and strategic reasoning.

The message states its purpose as "to showcase competitive wargaming as a means to develop and assess tactical and operational decision-making". It adds that the tournament "will also explore the potential of AI to enhance wargaming, player development, and performance analysis."

Who can apply

The eligibility line reads: "The Mindgame Tournament is open to active and reserve members of the Marine Corps, Joint Force, government civilians and contractors associated with the Department of War and allied military organizations." Applicants "must provide a valid government or military email address."

The list ends with "allied military organizations". The sentence could also be read as covering contractors associated with them, so it is not clear whether allied service members themselves are eligible. The message does not name any countries, and it says MCU "will select participants based on the information provided in their applications". Nothing in it says UK personnel have applied or been selected.

Experience with Command: Modern Operations or CPE "is preferred", but applicants "willing to learn CPE may also apply". MCU says tutorial sessions and practice will be offered in the weeks before the start.

What the message does not say

We read the full message (through a text proxy, as the marines.mil page refused a direct download). It does not say how many players will be selected or how many licences are available. It does not say how individual games are scored, and it does not describe the prizes; DefenseScoop also calls them "Unspecified". The awards paragraph lists places by overall score and by Marine score, and as published its third-place line reads "Third highest score overall and highest Marine score", the same Marine wording as first place. As published, it is unclear how the Marine prizes are allocated.

Related coverage: we reported on the Pentagon's plan for an Autonomous Warfare Command, targeting October 2027, and on a Nature paper reporting that an AI called Ataraxos beat a leading Stratego player.

Why it matters

On our reading, this is a training event rather than an operational system, but it puts an AI adversary in front of players for four months, on a tournament scoreboard. MCU itself frames it as a "pathway event", a step towards a goal rather than the goal. Its stated purpose includes exploring "the potential of AI to enhance wargaming, player development, and performance analysis". Whether the AI is a strong opponent is not something the message shows; any results would have to come later.