Shield Labs
ResWar
How to Play

How to Play

ResWar is a cyber resilience wargame for 2 teams and 1 facilitator

Overview

A ransomware attack is unfolding against your organisation. Over 10 rounds, the Defender team tries to contain and recover while the Attacker team tries to maximise damage. A Facilitator controls the pace, triggers events, and reveals outcomes.

The game runs in a browser. Each team opens their own tab, the facilitator controls from theirs. State syncs automatically across tabs via local storage.

What You Need

  • 1 Facilitator — runs the game, reads narratives, controls pacing
  • 1 Defender team (2–6 people) — makes defensive decisions
  • 1 Attacker team (2–6 people) — makes offensive decisions
  • 1 computer with a browser — all tabs run on the same machine
  • Optional: a projector for the Visualize screen

Game Phases

1. Setup — Budget Allocation

Each team allocates their budget across two areas:

  • Technology — pick a tier (A/B/C) for each category. Higher tiers cost more but provide better capability. Defenders choose across 19 categories (backup, detection, identity, etc.). Attackers choose across 7 (recon, access, persistence, etc.).
  • Characters — hire team members from the roster. Each character has an expertise domain, stamina pool, and hiring cost. Characters get fatigued over rounds, so you need enough to rotate.

2. Playing — 10 Rounds

Each round follows the same flow:

  1. Briefing — the facilitator reads the situation narrative aloud
  2. Decisions — each team picks one of 3 options and assigns a character to execute it. The first-mover alternates each round (defender in Round 1, attacker in Round 2, etc.)
  3. Injects — the facilitator can trigger optional events (staff resignation, media leak, law enforcement, etc.)
  4. Resolution — the engine calculates outcomes based on decision quality, character expertise match, fatigue, and the tech choices made during setup
  5. Narrative — the facilitator reveals what happened and teams discuss

3. Debrief

After Round 10, final scores are shown across 6 dimensions: data integrity, recovery time, financial impact, business continuity, reputation, and regulatory compliance. A composite score rates the organisation from CATASTROPHIC to RESILIENT.

Key Mechanics

Character Fatigue

Every decision drains stamina from the assigned character. As characters tire, they make more errors. A burned-out character has a 40% chance of a catastrophic mistake. Characters who collapse are unavailable for 2 rounds. Rotate your team to manage fatigue.

Expertise Matching

Each decision has a domain (e.g., incident response, threat hunting, backup recovery). Assigning a character whose expertise matches that domain improves execution. A mismatch makes things worse.

Decision Quality

Each option is rated strong, neutral, or weak. There are no trick answers — the “right” choice depends on the situation and what happened in prior rounds. Strong decisions also reduce stamina drain.

Recovery

Good defensive execution can recover damage from prior rounds. The game isn't a one-way slide — strong play in later rounds can meaningfully improve your score.

Quick Start

  1. Open the Setup page
  2. Use the “Open in new tab” links to open Defender Setup, Attacker Setup, Facilitator, and Visualize in separate tabs
  3. Each team allocates their budget in their own tab
  4. When ready, the facilitator clicks Start Game
  5. Follow the facilitator's lead through each round
  6. After 10 rounds, review your scores in the debrief