Think.Fight.Learn.Repeat.

Wargaming has gone from a niche practice to something turning up in think tank headlines, service mandates, and hobby shops. This week's guest, Sebastian Bae, has been at the centre of that surge. Sebastian is a senior game designer and research scientist at CNA, a former US Marine Corps infantry sergeant, and the designer of the Littoral Commander wargame series, which is now now used across the...

This week on Think. Fight. Learn. Repeat., we sit down with Max Brooks, author of World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, who has spent two decades briefing generals, red-teaming with the Marine Corps, and turning worst-case scenarios into real lessons for the people who plan for them. In this episode, we discuss which parts of World War Z have eerily come true, why fiction beats a briefing eve...

Everyone knows John Boyd as "the OODA loop guy," but he was much more than that. In this episode, I sit down with Ian Brown, a Boyd historian who spent nearly a decade inside the archives poring over decades of briefings, transcripts, and slides to separate the man from the meme. We dig into why Boyd refused to publish a formal book, why he wouldn't let anyone walk away with his slid...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Anthony King to discuss his new book, AI, Automation, and War , and what the rise of artificial intelligence actually means for the future of military command and conflict. Moving beyond the familiar “killer robots” narrative, Dr. King argues that AI is more likely to augment military decision making than replace human judgment. We explore how AI is being abso...

The war in Ukraine will end sometime, but what happens next? In this episode, retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe, joins us to break down the next flashpoint on NATO's map: the Baltics. We discuss why he believes Crimea will decide the outcome of the War in Ukraine, why he calls Russia's nuclear threats a "myth" designed to freeze Western de...

In part 2 of my conversation with Dan Rice, Co-Director of the US Marine Corps War College's China Warfighting Initiative, we go deeper into the doctrinal weeds and the stakes get higher. From the structural similarities between MDO and China's Systems Warfare approach, to the terrifying escalation ladder of striking dual-use targets on the Chinese mainland, this episode focuses on a difficult que...

In the first part of a two part episode, Lex sits down with Dan Rice, Deputy Director of the US Marine Corps War College's China Warfighting Initiative, to break down the doctrinal concepts underpinning how the PLA thinks about and plans for modern warfare, with a focus on the Taiwan Contingency. From Mao-era strategic principles to cutting-edge systems destruction warfare, Dan pulls back the curt...

What does it take to build a grassroots movement inside rigid institutions like Western Armed Forces? In this episode of Think. Fight. Learn. Repeat., we sit down with Colonel Arnel David, US Army Special Operations veteran, NATO strategist, and co-founder of Fight Club International (FCI), to trace his journey from Infantry Officer to Co-Founder. Arnel opens up about the frustration that sparked...

Western Armies are trying to do too many things with too few resources. That's not a controversial statement, in fact it's the opening line of a paper that's been turning heads in defence circles since it landed in April 2026. In this episode, we sit down with Nick Moran, a 20-year British Army veteran who served in the Special Mission Unit community, with NATO, and alongside the Royal...

The Arctic doesn't forgive mistakes, it punishes them. In this episode, I sit down with Dylan Abbott, an instructor at the Canadian Army's Advanced Warfare Centre, where he teaches Arctic warfare and survival. Dylan breaks down what it truly takes to operate in one of the most unforgiving environments on earth, from the core skills every soldier must master to the mindset required to keep...

What does AI actually look like inside the world's most powerful military alliance? As the Director of Task Force Maven at NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) Colonel Arnel David has spent years at the intersection of artificial intelligence and national defence. This week we discuss his team's efforts in aligning AI adoption across dozens of allied nations. In thi...

How do historical assumptions shape strategic decisions and what happens when we get them wrong? In this episode, Phillip Colon, a wargame analyst at Group W, part of Systems Planning and Analysis, joins the podcast to explain why understanding China requires more than analyzing current events. We explore how China’s pre-modern political traditions, the Century of Humiliation, and the Chinese Comm...

In Part 2 of our conversation with Colonel Elizabeth Pham, we go deeper into how NATO’s Multi-Domain Operations course is transforming the way warfighters think, decide, and act in contested environments. Colonel Pham explains how the course moves beyond doctrine and PowerPoint to immerse students in AI-enabled planning, kill web design, cyber and space integration, and resilient command and contr...

What does it actually take to fight and win in a world where every domain is contested, data moves at machine speed, and decisions matter more than platforms? In this first part of a two part episode, we sit down with Colonel Elizabeth Pham, Director of Joint Plans and Operations at the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany, to unpack how Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) is moving from concept to exec...

What happens when there’s no clear right answer? In this episode, we sit down with Kevin Johnston and Kathleen O’Brien from Fight Club International to explore the power of Decision Forcing Cases, a method designed to put people directly into moments of uncertainty, ambiguity, and pressure. Instead of teaching what to think, Decision Forcing Cases challenge participants to decide, often with incom...

What happens when a small team of Ukrainian soldiers outperforms two NATO battalions in a major military exercise? In this episode, we sit down with defence expert Bryan Daugherty to unpack his provocative War on the Rocks article of NATO’s recent training with Ukrainian forces, and why it reveals the importance of training to failure to adapt and innovate. Bryan explains how Ukraine has developed...

This week, we sit down with Lucas Ziller, U.S. Army officer and military scholar, to explore modern strategic competition and deterrence in the Indo-Pacific. Lucas is the author of the article, “A Hybrid Deterrence Model for Countering China,” published in the Spring 2026 issue of Parameters . In this episode, we discuss: The limits of traditional deterrence in addressing China’s coercive strategi...

Further Reading & References Manoeuvre Warfare in the Baltic Revisiting the Idea of Sanctuary Russia Targeting the Russian Rear Zone in a Hypothetical Baltic War Strategic Theory and Clausewitz’s Trinitarian Test In this episode, we sit down with Lukas Milevski to discuss his 2024 RUSI Journal article on manoeuvre warfare in the Baltic region. Together, we explore how geography, force posture,...

In the second half of my conversation with Fight Club International co-founder Ed Farren, we explore how he envisions Fight Club fitting into the broader wargaming community, along with its future projects and his long-term vision for the organization.

In the inaugural episode of Think. Fight. Learn. Repeat. , host Lex Luciak speaks with Ed Farren, co-founder of Fight Club International, a global network dedicated to improving how professionals think about conflict through wargaming and debate. In Part 1 of this conversation, they explore the origins of Fight Club and why critical thinking and wargaming matter more than ever in defence and today...