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Strategy & Tactics 003 (From Book I Reprint)

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78 views12 pages

Strategy & Tactics 003 (From Book I Reprint)

Uploaded by

Giora Minor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Strategy & Cactics A JOURNAL OF AMERICAN WARGAMING Volume 1 Ne 3 S&T_GAME REVIEW Box 65, Adelphia, N.J., 07710 ‘April 1967, EARTH DESTROYED IN NUCLEAR BLAST! AH BLITZKRIEG PART THREE: BOMBING Perhaps the feature that makes BLITZKRIEG so enjoyable is the air power provision; it certainly makes the game much more realistic and complex. Unfortunately, the air power rules are just those open. to the most serious problems of ‘interpretation. In many cases, AH has added fuel to the lames by delivering “rulings” that conflict with others they have given on exactly the same situations, TACTICAL BOMBING AND AUTO-VICTORY AH is pretty firm on this particular aspect of play. In answer to the question on the back of the Battle Manual, “May aircraft be used to achieve automatic victory ?”, they state, ‘* Yes, however if during the battle portion of the turn enemy FTRs reduce the odds below automatic victory conditions, then all of the units that moved adjacent to or over the intended AV victims are eliminated”. This, however, seems fairly unrealistic to us. If a battle field commander miscalculates the enemy's capability to intercept air units he is counting on to aid in a breakthrough, the enemy may well stop the planned attack, but we doubt that all the forces that were to exploit the breakthrough would be eliminated because of this. The allocated forces would simply be held up when they could have been used else- where. In order to duplicate this in play, we sug: xest that forces which were to be moved through fan auto-vietory that was stopped because of enemy FTR action simply hold their starting position. ‘STRATEGIC BOMBING OF AIR BASES Just what does occur when a city in which both ground and air units are stationed is attacked by SAC bombers? We have three separate answers from AH on file. Since there are nine distinct ways of handling this situation, let_us give you what we consider to be the most realistic, and point out the areas of disagreement along the way. (Contd on page 4) by M.G. Smedley, S@T Game Evaluater To some, this headline may be somewhat start- ling; but, as a matter of fact, this was exactly what happened in one-half of the games of Nuclear War played at S&T. The Nuclear War Game, published by Douglas Malewicki of Downey California, is essentially atomic satire reduced to a card game format. The game itself is extremely easy to learn and play; but it is not a true wargame, at least not in the sense gen- erally accepted. It is, however, a very relaxing, ‘fun’ game to play. We can heartily recommend it to anyone who just wants to have a good time. Each player receives a number of randomly dealt cards, representing a given number of people (con- veniently rounded off to the nearest million). The object of the game is to eliminate the other play- ers? population while retaining at least one million people of your own. This may be done by entic- ing the population of an opposing power to defect (through the playing of propaganda cards) or by ‘‘annihilating” them (accomplished by playing, in proper sequence, the appropriate nuclear weapon and delivery system cards). Once nuclear war is declared, propaganda is no longer effective. Woe be to the man who, through the luck of the deal, has only propaganda cards in his hand! Should a player be eliminated during a nuclear war, he may match all the weapons systems and warheads he holds and direct his “final retaliation ” against any or all other players before retiring from the game. Herein lies the sincere destruction. Half ‘of the time, this player’s retaliation eliminates at least one other player who, in turn, retaliates and eliminates a third, etc, etc, etc. |‘ Thus there may not bes winner in the Nuclear War Game just losers!” Of course, there are several other aspects of the game: anti-missile missiles, deterent forces, secret and top secret cards (which ‘may gain or lose popula- tion for the holder), and a spinner which modifies the effect of all nuclear explosions (** Explodes in a nuclear stockpile! Triple the yield. Note: if the 100 megaton bomb explcdes a nuclear stockpile a super chain reaction starts which destroys all coun- tries, the earth itself, and the entire solar system.”) (Cont'd on page 12) Page 2 STRATEGY AND TACTICS — EDITORIAL — In the last issue, we mentioned that TT Editor Bodenstedt was defeated as the Germans in a Remagen Bridge game played at West Point. The winning Americans were commanded by Cadet Second- classman Kenneth M. Day, Cadet Secondclassman Joseph P. O'Connor Jr., and Cadet Thirdclassman Harold E. Hock. Cadet Firstclassman Thomas H. Jackson and Cadet Secondclassman Duncan F. Stewart assisted Mr. Bodenstedt and Mr. Thresher in their defeat. Cadet O'Connor, by the way, will be making the arrangements for the AHIKS convention to be held at the U.S. Military Academy this fall. Planned for September, the convention looks to be the most exciting event of the wargaming year. Hayward Thresher, who is an advertising executive in real life, will be handling the publicity end of things, so a large turnout is expected. S&T will have a display for this affair and your editor plans to make the long trip to ‘the Point” to cover the story personally. We might even talk Ken Norris or Hans Brennecke into attending. Look for more details here as plans are firmed up Vol L Ne 3 ‘There have been so many comments on our Bulge variant that we feel it’s about time we outlined ‘our philosophy on the subject (it seems to be mandatory to have a “philosophy” on something anyway). We are not trying to redesign any game in our variant section. We are attempting to bring the game closer to reality without destroying its “playability” and without reaching the point where almost all of the original parts of the game are useless when playing the variant form. As Mark Goldberg put it in a recent letter, we are trying to give you “‘two games in the same box". ‘The man who devises variants has a big advantage over the man who designs original games. Mr. Berschig starts with games that are already playable to one degree or another, and that have been played enough so that errors in design are readily apparent. Alll he has to do is correct these errors without completely redesigning the game. Of course, the process is much more complex than that, but we try to avoid getting so involved in realism that it would be better to contract Ford to build a few Panthers, ship them to France, hire several thousand “‘extras”” and fight the battle over again with live ammunition. Realism should be sought enthusiastically by the game designer. After the game is published, we can only bring it closer to reality. You will note two financial changes below. First, we've had to raise the single copy price to 60¢. This is due to the amount of bookkeeping involved in processing an order for a single copy. Subscription rates remain as before. We have also replaced our flat §5 rate for articles with a scale based on circulation, length of the article, quality, and research involved. Our minimum rate is now $3 and there is no maximum limit. This takes care of the obvious inequity that occurs when one man who spent ‘two months researching a 2000 word contribution, and another who had a good idea he was able to present in 400 words after a few hours at the typewriter, both receive $5 for their contribution. — Christopher Wagner — Steategy and Tactics A Journal of Americme Marguming Vol I Nr 3—April 1967 Copyright © 1967 by Christopher R. Wagner Printed in Tokyo, Japan.” All rights reserved. “Copy: right under the international Copyright Convention. Published 10 times a year at 4 to 6 week intervals the Wagner Publishing Company, B-5, 2220 Musashino, Fussa-machi, Nishitama-gun, Tokyo-to, Japan, Ail editorial, business, and general” mail should be sent to Box 65, Adelphia, ‘N. J., 07710, USA. Subsciton "are avaible hat adres for $6,00 a year. Single copy price is G0¢. issues 60¢. Overseas: add 104 an issue Readers are invited to contribute articles. Authors of published articles will receive a {ree one-year subscription or cash at our current rates, Christopher Wagner, Editor/Publisher HENRY H, BODENSTEDT, TT Editor and U.S. Representative. MYRON R. BRUNDAGE, Con: tributing Editor. SCOTT C, BERSCHIG, Variants and Design Editor” LYLE E. SMETHERS, Graphic Arts and Research. JACK D. POULSON, Business and Marketing Advisor. IN THIS ISSUE. S&T GAME REVIEW— NUCLEAR WAR GAME--- page 1 DECEPTIVE MANOEUVRES IN POSTAL GAMES. by Hans Brennecke vee page 4 VERTICAL ENVELOPMENT by Michael Kohn (M. Brundage, editor) -----page 5 REMAGEN BRIDGE—PART THREE (FIRE) by Henry H. Bodenstedt -. pege 9 THE RED ARMY ORDER OF BATTLE—JUNE 1941 by Scott Berschig and John Videtto page 7 WARFARE WITH MINIATURES. by H.H. Bodenstedt page 3 BLITZKRIEG—PART THREE (BOMBING)~--~page 1 LETTERS, : soeepage 1 FUTURE FEATURES, ~page 12 ADS: Nuclear War Game Company « page 12 Kampf — page 8 Continental Hobby Supplies sopage 10, Vol LNe 3 STRATEGY AND TACTICS Page 3 MINIATURES Models of armored and motorized vehicles are available from hobby shops in great variety. Well known manufacturers of plastic kits produce many exquisitely detailed “blueprint” models in the larger scales (1/25 to 1/32). While these are ideal for collectors and builders of dioramas, AIRFIX kits in 1/72 scale are better suited for Table Top wargaming. The lowest priced plastic lines are undoubtedly AHM and Rosskopf. ‘Their models are close to the HO scale (1/87) and sold, roughly assembled, in individual transparent boxes. Finally, T would like to mention the models cast from soft metal by Denzil Skinner, HR Products, Superior Models and Authenticast, ail of which are HO scale or smaller. These miniatures are a collec tor’s delight, and, since many wargamers are also collectors, I highly recommend acquiring at least a few of these metal models, if only to increase the variety of equipment in your army. The only draw. back is that they cost about three to five times as much as comparative plastic models. Many pages could be written about all of these fine products, but since we are at the present build- ing the fighting forces for «: Remagen Bridge”, let us take a more detailed look at the smaller scale models first. AIRFIX 1/72 models need to be assembled be- fore they can be used in combat. This is fairly easy, and a little patience will be rewarded with a very realistic and minutely detailed replica of the ‘real thing”. Another advantage of the AIRFIX equipment and figures is that they are well propor- tioned to one another. But—and there is always a 2 BUT—the selection is limited. Unless you design wargame around the available AIREIX models, you will have to look further. ‘The majority of the equipment needed for ‘“Re- magen Bridge” is readily available from AHM and Rosskopf. Since these lines come already assembled, all you would have to do is apply the identification decals before rolling into battle. This, however, is the easy way out. Remember, the main advantage of Table Top games over map board games is eye appeal. One who is satisfied with mass-produced, uni-colored equipment might as well stick with card: board unit markers. The more particular table- topper will certainly want to add his personal touch to his fighting forces. For armored vehicles, this can be done in the following manner: The first. step is to disassemble the model com- pletely. Trim flash and protrusions from each in- dividual section with a sharp hobby knife. The turret should be removed by trimming the mush- roomed end of the stem that connects it to the body. The auxiliary wheels, usually found on tracked vehicles, and the plastic holding clip should be discarded. Now the entire body is carefully reas- sembled, using cement-for-plastics. sparingly, for a Permanent bond. Do not attach the turret to the body until completion of painting, oranancon