The “KingFish ACE” board game is scheduled to debut at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, April 25 and 26, 2022.

In preparation for Lead Wing readiness, the 23rd Wing has implemented a new and innovative tabletop exercise that will challenge Team Moody on the Agile Combat Employment concept that the board game is based off of.

While studying at the U.S. Marine Corps War College, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Troy Pierce, Operating Concepts Branch Chief of Air Force Futures at the Pentagon, created the interactive board game to build awareness for future generations in the Air Force.

“I really wanted to get at a broader, younger audience - that’s why I landed on the idea of building a war game,” Pierce said. “And to implement the ACE concept well, it takes a deep understanding at every level. This game will help increase the understanding of the ACE concept that the Air Force is focused on.”

The war game is split into three playing field sections – a map board, an airfield board and a battle board. Throughout the game, players have the ability to create individual scenarios or choose from prompts given by the game facilitator.

“The game helps teach Airmen how each one of them plays an important role in future deployments,” said Tech. Sgt. Daniel Greene, 23rd WG A-Staff member. “They can learn big picture things while playing the game, to better understand realistic road-blocks and how to solve them.”

Greene further explained that the complexities of the game determine the outcome. For example, rolling dice will determine your fate regarding the amount of cargo you get to carry or how many aircraft you are going to have for your “deployment.”

The mission essential concepts played throughout the game reflect some of the challenges that the 23rd WG A-Staff are trying to make apparent to all Airmen.

“We get to bring together warriors from all (air force specialty codes), backgrounds, and experience levels to tackle possible real-world scenarios as the person that gets to make the decisions,” said Master Sgt. Emmanuel Martinez, 23rd WG A-Staff member. “Feedback received from (other bases) was that their Airmen learned more about ACE during this event than they did from any PowerPoint presentation, written guidance document, or word of mouth on the importance of ACE.”

The constructive feedback from Airmen indicates that “KingFish ACE” has the potential to affect the future understanding of ACE warfighting.

“I hope this reaches the whole 23rd Wing,” Martinez said. “I hope the experience gained and understanding of ACE resonates with all our warriors so much so, that they start the conversation with those around them.”

The 23rd Wing A-Staff is inviting all Moody Airmen to participate. Contact a squadron senior advisor to sign up.