Sun Tzu Military Applications 2

How to Use the Art of War:
Sun Tzu Strategy Card

Deck for Military Planning
Robert Cantrell
Center For Advantage
www.centerforadvantage.com
rlc@centerforadvantage.com
(703) 379-9429
© Center For Advantage - 2005

Contents
 Innovation Planner Description
 Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck Description
 Basic Military Planning
1. Identify the Problem
2. Create a Cause and Effects Net
3. Initial Problem Solving Effort
4. Expanding the Solution
 Center of Gravity
 Decision Cycle
 Games
 Additional Resources

Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck
Description
The Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy
Card Deck Description
Card Types

The Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck
Description
 The Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck is a
54 card set of competitive
strategies that helps
users make better
decisions faster by
considering all aspects of
their power to succeed

The Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck
Description
 It is based on Sun Tzu’ Art
of War and is derived from
the analysis of strategic
masterminds to include Sun
Tzu, Lao Tzu, Musashi,
Boyd, Kasporov, Lawrence,
the unknown author of the
classic Chinese strategies,
and the concepts behind
the classic strategy games
of Chess, Go, and Poker.

Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy
Card Deck - Applicability to
the
 Military
The Art of War: Sun
Tzu Strategy Card
Deck is militarily useful
for:
 Strategy education
 Threat analysis
 Military planning – key
topic of this brief

Card Types
 There are 4 card themes in the Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck
 Elimination – All spades involve eliminating something. That
something may be an adversary, an option, an objective, time,
etc. You remove something from the contest.
 Isolation – All diamonds involve isolating something. This
something may be an adversary, an option, an objective, time,
etc. You separate something from something else.
 Preparation of the Field of Contest – All clubs involve
shaping the field of contest. You create the conditions, such as
confusion on the part of your adversary, that better allow you to
win.
 Preparation of Self – All hearts involve shaping yourself. You
set your disposition to that best suited to reach your goal and
present your adversary with appearances that cause him to act
against his best interests.

Underlying Principle
 EIIN
 Eliminate
 Isolate
 Integrate
 Negate
 At the core of all competitive
strategy, you are trying to
do at least one of these
EIIN to your competitor
 To win any conflict, you
have to be able to do at
least one of these EIIN to
your adversary

Basic Military
Planning
 Basic Planning Steps

 Steps 1 to 4

Incorporate All Aspects of
Power
 The Art of War cards provides a comprehensive tool
to assess, decide, and act on objectives with all
physical, psychological, and moral aspects of
military, economic, political, and social power
 It is designed to supplement current planning
methods by increasing the menu of possibilities
considered for military operations

Incorporate All Aspects of
Power
 It also serves to make the
powerful ideas behind
Effects Based
Operations (EBO)
tangible and useful even
to those without much
training in EBO

Basic Military Planning
 Basic Military Planning
involves the Art of War
cards and any other
planning tools you
might be using

Basic Military
Planning

Step 1: Identify the
Problem

Problem
 Military planning takes place to resolve problems
typically caused by an opponent’s actions and
desires that go against our best interests
 Ask and answer:
1. What is the problem you wish to resolve?
2. What is the cause of the problem?
3. What is the effect of the problem?

Problem
 For example, consider
a problem involving
unrest and insurrection
Cause Yields Effect
Unrest Insurrection

Problem
 The problem to you is not necessarily the
insurrection itself, but the changes that insurrection
will create*
 The first level cause is the unrest
 The first level effect of the unrest is the insurrection
*This is an important distinction in planning because

the best plans focus on the central problem, and you
can only focus on the central problem if you really
understand what it is

Problem
 The problem is a point of view and describes how a
cause or effect impacts you (the people leading the
insurrection might be delighted by the change)
 The cause and the effect, however, are objective
facts – i.e. in the absence of intervention, unrest may
or may not create an insurrection irrespective of your
point of view on the matter
 Your goal is to change some aspect of the cause, the
causes of the cause, the effect, or the impact of the
effect so that you no longer have the central problem

Problem
 Sometime knowing the problem, its cause, and its
effect provides enough information to resolve the
problem. If so, skip to step 3 of Basic Military
Planning
 Sometime knowing the problem, cause, and effect is
not enough to solve the problem. If so, go to step 2
of Basic Military Planning

Step 2: Create a
Cause and Effects
Chain or Net

Step 2: Create a Cause
and Effects Chain or Net
 A basic problem has a cause and an effect
 However this cause and effect does not take place
in isolation
Cause Yields Effect
Unrest Insurrection

 Another cause yielded your cause and your effect
will act as a cause for another effect
Cause Yields Effect
Unrest Insurrection
Cause Yields Effect Cause Yields Effect
Deprivation Unrest Insurrection Conflict

 Identify Root Causes – Think of your original cause
as an effect and describe its preceding cause
 Identify Ripple Effects – Think of your original effect
as a cause for another effect and describe that next
effect
 Repeat backwards and forwards from the original
problem as many times and with as many branches
as makes sense

 A cause and effects net develops that is limitless in
depth
Root Causes “Ripple” Effects
Cause Yields Effect
Unrest Insurrection

 Your goal is to create your desired result as
effectively and efficiently as possible anywhere
along the cause and effects net that you can

 For example – If your goal is to keep unrest from
causing undesired change, you could:
 Remove instigators in advance
 Remove the regime in advance
 Provide alternatives to depravity
 Destroy the insurrection outright
 Contain the fighting
 Increase your presence to raise the stakes
 Decrease your presence to lower your risk
 Embrace whoever wins
 etc

 Going through the cards helps
you to assemble such lists of
possibilities:
 Remove instigators in advance
 Remove the regime in advance
 Provide alternatives to
depravity
 Destroy the insurrection
outright
 Contain the fighting
 Increase your presence to
raise the stakes
 Decrease your presence to
lower your risk
 Embrace whoever wins
 etc

 The more extensive your cause and effects net, and
the earlier you deal with the problem, the more
options you have to resolve that problem
 Ideally you will resolve the problem without direct
military conflict
 If military conflict is necessary, you seek to resolve
the problem in the fastest, most effective, and most
efficient way possible

Step 3: Initial
Problem Solving
Effort

Step 3: Initial Problem
Solving Effort
 In step 3, you start using the Art of War cards to
help you resolve the problem
 Each card has bullet points that serve a specific
function

Solving Effort
 Browse the Art of War
cards for ideas to
change the cause or
the effect
 If you have set up a
cause and effects chain
or net in step 2,
consider any of the
causes or effects in the
system

Solving Effort
 Consider each card:
 Is it useful?
 Can you use it?
 How might you use it?

Solving Effort
 Sometimes the strategy and
basis provide enough
information to solve the
problem. If so, record your
solution and put it into the
plan
 Sometimes the strategy and
basis do not provide enough
information to solve the
problem. If so, go to step 4
 If the strategy is not useful,
choose another card

Step 4: Expanding
the Solution

Step 4: Expanding the
Solution
 Expanding the solution involves developing the
strategy or strategies chosen to resolve a problem
into the concept of a plan
 Situation
 Mission
 Intent
 Execution
 Service & Support
 Communication

Solution
 For example, lets suppose
that two neighboring
factions have postured to
fight and threaten,
therefore, to cut off a supply
of a needed resource

Solution
 The problem is economic harm to you that will
come from the disruption of the needed resource
flows
 The cause of the problem is a rival system of beliefs
that two opposing sides wish to impose over the
region containing the resource
 The effect is a disruption of flows of the needed
resource that comes from the region

Solution
 If ‘Change the Scope of the
Engagement’ appears
useful for dealing with the
unrest or insurrection, you
might ask how you will
implement ‘Change the
Scope of the Engagement’
 You may already have an
idea, or you can seek out
another or additional ideas
on other cards

Solution
 You might decide to
‘Change the Scope of
the Engagement’ by
choosing to take sides,
at least initially

Solution
 You might decide that
aiding the victim of one
adversary would allow
you to eliminate the
other adversary outright

Solution
 Or in fact, it might help
you eliminate both
adversaries, since you
can deal with the other
after you have dealt
with the one.

Solution
 This being the plan
behind the plan the
adversary you aided
does not see or cannot
do much about
 Your planning does not
stop here…

Solution
 The deck allow you do go to any level of detail you
intend to go
 You write each decided strategy into your plan

Solution
 Keep in mind that the strategy on any given card
may serve as the answer to any other given card
 The details of how to use a strategy require your
expertise in your particular domain, and a solid
understanding of other domains
 ‘Change the Scope of the Engagement’ may mean
something different to a military officer versus an
intelligence officer or political appointee, even
though the underlying principle is the same

Center of Gravity

Center of Gravity
 The Center of Gravity is
the element within a
system that, by creating
some change to that
element, will produce
your intended result
 A key part of military
planning is knowing
where best to effect
change

Center of Gravity
 The Center of Gravity
card prompts you to
consider all physical
and behavioral aspects
of a system in order to
achieve the desired
effect (resolved
problem) with the
minimal use of
resources

Center of Gravity
 To illustrate the concept, if you
have a cup of cold water and an
objective to cool down a vat of
boiling water, you might best meet
your objective by using the water
to douse the fire under the vat
instead of pouring it into the vat
itself
 The fire would be your center of
gravity for effecting the desired
change in that system

Center of Gravity
 The ideal military center
of gravity shuts down
an opposing force with
a minimal expenditure
of your own energy
 The target might
include a key individual,
such as an inspirational
leader; it might include
a key structure, such as
a bridge or power
source

Center of Gravity
 If you choose to target
the leader, you might
do so by shutting down
that leader’s operation
 Or you might force him
to take action to defend
himself in a way you
have prepared to
receive him

Center of Gravity
 All systems have elements and processes that turn
input into output
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Instrument of Control
Input Subsystem
Output
System
Super system

Center of Gravity
 Your goal is to find the most effective and efficient
place in a system to effect a desired change
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Input Subsystem
Output
System
Super system

Center of Gravity
 For example, all enemy forces need to communicate
with each other and seek to improve that element of
control
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Input Subsystem
Output
System
Super system

Center of Gravity
 A likely Center of Gravity is to turn this idea against
your enemy and make it difficult for him to
communicate
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Input Subsystem
Output
System
Super system

Center of Gravity
 Which you might accomplish by allowing your
enemy no sanctuary. How do you do that?
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Input Subsystem
Output
System
Super system

Center of Gravity
Perhaps through a mix of real acts and deception
that gives your force a larger psychological
presence than physical presence.
Energy Source
Transmission
Instrument of Work
Input Subsystem
Output
System
Super system

Center of Gravity
 Always keeping in mind,
however, that the enemy is
intelligent and resourceful,
and will, given the
opportunity and time, find a
way to counter your
successes with some other
form of fighting
 A key to defending against
him is to stay one cycle
ahead of him in your
planning (See Decision
Cycle coming up)

Center of Gravity
 In a cause and effects net, you look for where you
can effect the most change with the least effort as a
prime location for a solution
 You also look for areas where an adversary cannot
make easy adjustments
Root Causes “Ripple” Effects
Cause Yields Effect
Fire Boiling Water

Center of Gravity
 The is an underlying
idea behind striking
with a borrowed hand
used successfully to
defeat the Taliban in
Afghanistan

Center of Gravity
 It was used
operationally by the Al
Qaeda on September
11th when they turned
airliners into weapons
 It is important to
conduct military
planning against
yourself to anticipate
what an enemy might
target as a center of
gravity against you

Center of Gravity
 Bottom line: Use the Center of Gravity card to
consider all aspects of where to best position a
solution for attack or defense

Decision Cycle

Decision Cycle
 Winning on the battlefield involves resolving your
problems and directly or indirectly causing problems
for your enemy
 For example, a plan that gives you control of a key
bridge creates a problem for an enemy that no
longer has that bridge

Decision Cycle
 Your objective is to win the
race of decision cycles
whereby your plan can not
only work, but work despite
active opposition to your
success
 You accomplish this by
creating situations that your
adversary cannot deal with
at your pace, which has the
byproduct of causing him to
make exploitable mistakes

Decision Cycle
 The intent behind the Art of War
cards is to accelerate transitions
in thought
 You make better decisions
faster because you:
 Do not have to reinvent strategies
that are already known before you
use them
 Are not limited, in a crisis, to
selecting only those strategies at
the top of your mind

Decision Cycle
 Bottom Line: You will have opposition when your
solutions create a problem for someone else
 For Military Planning, you want to create rapid
transitions that keep an enemy off balance
 What appears to be the best decision is
generally not your best decision if your enemy
can anticipate it

Games
 Art of War Cards Games

Description
 Strateffects™
 Strategy Sparring

Games Description Art of
War Cards
 Strateffects™ provides a game for seeking
problems along a cause and effects net
 Other games act like sparring for the mind and
improve strategic mental agility

Strateffects™ A game for the
world as it is…
1. Select a strategic problem to solve.
2. Describe what the problem is and what the problem means.
3. Build a cause and effects chain forward and backward from the
problem. For example, if the problem is “I do not have outside
support, meaning I will have to proceed on my own,” you might
go forward with “I will have to proceed on my own, meaning I will
have to succeed with the resources I have,” and then “I will have
to succeed with the resources I have, meaning I will have only
one chance to reach my objective.” You might go backward with
“I have moved beyond the capacity of my support to reach me,
meaning I do not have outside support,” and before that, “my
objective is remote, meaning I have to move beyond the capacity
of my support to reach me.” Go forward and backward at least
two steps from the central problem; branches are acceptable.
(Within reason, the broader your cause and effects chain or net,
the better your potential result.)

world as it is…
4. Deal at least five Strategy cards from the Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck to each player.
5. Allow each player, on successive turns, to apply a Strategy card
anywhere along the cause and effects chain – to include
supporting previously played cards – in a way that supports the
resolution of the original strategic problem. For the example in
#2 above, the card 10 of Diamonds, FEINT IN THE EAST, ACT
IN THE WEST, evokes the possibility that you might draw an
adversary away from your objective thereby eliminating your
need for support at the objective. Queen of Hearts, CREATE
SOMETHING FROM NOTHING, evokes the possibility you might
cause your adversary to believe you have support even though
you do not. You might further develop the Queen of Hearts by
playing the 3 of Clubs, SOW A DISCORD, that evokes the
possibility you might allow your adversaries to discover “secrets”
that are actually false – the secret in this example being that your
support has greater reach than it does.

world as it is…
6. Draw cards to replace those used.
7. Play until you have a plan, succeed at a plan, or until cards run
out.
8. For real world problems, play is continuous as the situation
changes.
9. You win as a team by solving the strategic problem, though a
moderator or group consensus can award the designation of
winner for training games.

Strategy Sparing
 Strategy Sparring™ is a game developed with Foreign Services
officers. Just like physical martial arts sparing, there is no winner per
say in this game. The goal is to improve the thinking skills under fire of
both participants. You use the cards from the Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck to exercise your mind and develop real-time
strategic agility on your feet.
 Shuffle the Art of War: Sun Tzu Strategy Card Deck, and draw five
cards each. Decide who goes first. Draw another card from the deck
and place the card face up on the table. In less than 10 seconds, have
the first player select a counterstrategy from his card deck, place that
card face up on the table, and draw a replacement card from the deck.
In less than 10 seconds, have the second player select a counter
strategy to the first player’s card, place that card face up on the table,
and draw a replacement card from the deck. Continue this sparing
cycle until you go through the entire deck. (If you have a chess clock or
two stop watches, you can use them to keep up the pace and make the
sparing more competitive.)

Additional
Resources
This concludes How to Use the Art of War: Sun Tzu
Strategy Card Deck for Military Planning
Additional resources appear at
www.centerforadvantage.com
www.artofwarcards.com

Also by Robert Cantrell
Heartland Reviews
As a retired military intelligence professional

and conflict theorist, I must say this is the
best interpretation of Sun Tzu’s classic
work I have read. The author focuses on
the meanings behind this ancient
Chinese war philosopher’s writings. He
puts them into a modern context, making
them easy to understand. Apparently the
Department of Defense agrees with me
on this, since they have selected Mr.
Cantrell’s book as a text for the National
War College in Washington DC. This is a
must read for all military officers and
business leaders. It rated a perfect five
hearts.
Bob Spear
Chief Reviewer for Heartland Reviews,

Leavenworth, KS

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How to Use the Art of War:

Sun Tzu Strategy Card

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 Basic Planning Steps

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Cause Yields Effect

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*This is an important distinction in planning because

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Cause Yields Effect

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Cause Yields Effect

Cause Yields Effect Cause Yields Effect

Deprivation Unrest Insurrection Conflict

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Root Causes “Ripple” Effects

Cause Yields Effect

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