Some interesting replies here. My main point was that the line between professional and hobby wargames is starting to blur. Sure, the professional stuff will have access to all sorts of classified info and may be optimized for teaching sessions, but the point remains that the "games" we are playing today, like DW, TACOPS, CMAK, et alia, would have been military grade just a few years ago (and in the case of TACOPS and CMAK, they are both used by various military orgs around the world). To play any of these games is to get a real education in real world strategy and tactics. I wrote a blog entry on this called "Enter the Martial Matrix" that explains this a little better (visit my blog to read it). Ironically, that entry was inspired by a particularly tense sension of SH3. In fairness, I guess I need to come up with a DW inspired entry.
Point is, from the POV of being a player or being a designer of modern hobby wargames is no longer that far removed from working with the professional stuff. Heck, look at DW---it is made by Sonalysts---a professional military contractor. This fact sort of sums up our contemporary state of affairs. Makes you wonder where it all may lead some day.... :hmm: