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    A must for Gamers

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    81 views12 pages

    Strategy and Tactics #4

    Uploaded by

    Bart Black
    A must for Gamers

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 12
    Strategy & Tactics A JOURNAL OF AMERICAN WARGAMING Volume 1 Ne 4 S&T GAME REVIEW GAMESCIENCE VIETNAM AH BLITZKRIEG PART FOUR: FIGHTERS The rules for employment of BLITZKRIEG fighters are fairly clear-cut except in the following case. Let's say Blue has 4 infantry factors and 12 FTR factors in city X27, Red stages a massive para-drop in the area and attacks this fighter base at 3-1 with the intent of eliminating the garrison and the aircfaft. May Blue simply move the fighters in question to another base during Red’s turn? Obviously, if the attack were made with TAC or SAC bombers, Blue could intercept them and land his fighters at a different base after resolving combat But let us assume that Red is not entirely inept and has not provided Blue with an intercept target within range of the fighters at X27. The first time we asked Avalon Hill about this situation they ruled that the fighters are eliminated if Red captures the However, when we submitted exactly the Dave. same question a few months later in order to check their position, the company not only ruled that the fighters could change bases without intercepting, but that this could be done, during the opponent's tum, whether the fighters were being attacked on the ground or not. The latter ruling is more on the order of an addition to the rules than an interpretation of those in the Battle Manual. Use of this rule makes it impossible to catch fighters on the ground. How. ever, using the first interpretation leads to the rather unrealistic withholding of air attacks in order to keep enemy fighters on the ground. As a com: | promise, we suggest fighters be allowed to intercept unoccupied squares. By limiting their freedom of movement (24 squares) during the opponents turn, the enemy should be able to occasionally trap fight- ers on the ground. By allowing them to move without intercepting, we eliminate the deliberate withholding of air attacks, (Contd on page 4) | ‘Box 65, Adelphia, N.J., 07710 May 1967 by M.G. SMEDLEY ‘The Gamescience Corporation of New Jersey has published something new and almost entirely differ ent from the wargames currently on the market VIETNAM; The Adult Action Guerrilla Warfare Game ‘The company has gone to great lengths to include every important factor involved in the current con- flict, and has succeeded in recteating the highly complex, ‘‘no-front”” type of ¢ontest existing in the real situation. In addition, the system upon which the game is based enables it to be modified to re- main up-to-date with the current state of the war. The game itself is simple to play’ in the same man: ner that Chess is a simple’ game to play. Like Chess or AH games, the amount of thought involved in making a move is considerable; there are a large number of “variables" to consider and it would be nearly impossible to play exactly the same game twice (unless, of course, it was done deliberately) The rules are lengthy and quite explicit. They must be read several times to become familiar with the unique methods of movement and battle. Once play starts, the action is constant and lasts approxi- mately one hour. Much to the credit of the designers, not one question was raised during the many S&T test games that was not covered in the Quite a feat in a game of this nature! he object of VIETNAM is to obtain either a “diplomatic” or a. military victory. These two aspects of play effect one another and neither can be totally ignored. A diplomatic victory is furthered by the skillfull manipulation. of factors including propaganda, world opinion, government stability, etc. This could have been an area involving a ood deal of “‘luckmanship’” but Gamescience has handled it in a very realistic manner. A. military victory can be won by controlling a given number of provinces and bases with friendly forces. ‘The Government Forces have the advantage of air- mobility, strategic and tactical air power (including the bombing of NVN and the ‘Laos infiltration routes) while the Viet Cong have an advantage in movement, infiltration, and tacties (including terror and ambush), (Conte on page 4) Page 2 STRATEGY AND TACTICS Vol Ne 4 — EDITORIAL — 1am very pleased to announce that Ken Norris has consented to represent S&T in Great Britain. It is quite a problem to send funds outside GB at present, and Ken will be accepting subscriptions and advertisements for S&F in pounds, ounces, etc., as a convenience for British wargamers. Mr. Nortis, as you may have noticed, objects to almost everything printed here, However, he has several redeeming virtues and we are very happy to have him with us One of Ken's redeeming virtues is that he subscribes to just about every historical and military publication worth its salt. One of the most valuable and interesting of these is a weekly periodical entitled “History of the Second World War”. The bulk of the material is written by people who were involved in the various campaigns of WWII and the photographs alone are worth the very reasonable cost of the magazine (sbout 50¢ a copy). When complete, the 100 or so issues that are planned will form a complete history of the war in six volumes. Special volume binders are also available for about $2.80 each. The Publisher?, Purnell & Sons Ltd., Gulf House, 2 Portman St., London, W1, England. ‘The Editor-in-Chief ?, Sir Basil Liddell Hart—recommendation enough. We heartily recommend you drop the publisher a note immediately. If you have any difficulty, please feel free to call on Mr. Norris for assistance; his address is listed below. We note that the Avalon Hill Company was kind enough to give S&T an excellent review, along with a completely garbled account of the AHIKS KOMMANDEUR and a nice outline of KAMPF, in the March issue of their house organ, THE GENERAL. In that same issue, we found an excellent article on the early North African WWII campaigns by James Tribolet, and a light but competent review of AH MIDWAY tactics by Richard Shagrin particularly noteworthy. Of course, the AH PHILOSOPHY series has always intrigued us since it commenced, by coincidence, with the first issue of S&T. Roger R. Cormier, whose ad appears elsewhere in this issue, is about to go into limited production of a wargame dealing with the Battle of Trafalgar. Mr. Cormier has promised to pass an early copy to us game of exception: for review and has gone to great lengths to produce what looks to be a very reali ally high physical quality. — Christopher Wagner — Strategy and’ Tactics A Journal of American Margeming Vol I Ne 4—May 1967 IN THIS ISSUE... S&T GAME REVIEW Copyright @ 1967 by Christopher R. Wagner GAMESOIENGE: VIETNEM =< seepage 1 Geert, eb Gremente Mawes || aur perrzanieG PART FOUR me sige al neni Core Consent, | WaRPARE WITH MINIATURES inked ja Ge eee ates | | by Henry HL. dems wd Musashino, Fussa-machi, Nishitama.gun, Tokyo-to, Japan, Ail editorial, “business, and general mail shoal be sent to Box 5, Adelphia, N. J. 07710, Information is also available c/o J. K. Norris, Custom House, Wick, Caithness, Great’ Britain Subscriptions are available at either address for $5.10) a year, Single copy price is 6D¢. Back issues (He. Overseas: add 10¢ an issue for postage. Readers are invited to contribute articles. Authors AH STALINGRAD: THE NORTHERN OFFENSIVE by Fred Keuger: z page 5 MIDWAY PROBABI by Jared Johnson page 6 RED ARMY OB: JULY 1941 through OCTOBER 1942 ‘of published articles will receive a free one-year by John Videtto and Scott Berschig s-:----page 7 Sulncription op cash at our current rates REMAGEN BRIDGE—PART FOUR (COMBAT) CHRISTOPHER WAGNER by HH. Bodenstedt enepage: Editor/Pabliser : HENRY H. BODENSTEDT, TT Editor and U.S. EXSTBOR. = reaped presenttive, J. K_ NORRIS, Representative for | | FUTURE pawe 12 Great Beans SCOLE . BERSCHIG, Variants and | | gy Design Editor; MYRON R, BRUNDAGE, Contribut- 7 pane 4 ing Editor: JOHN VIDETTO, Research; LYLE E. KAMPE am 8 SMETHER: Graphic Arts and Copy TRAFALGAR GAME page 6 Vol 1 Nr 4 WARFARE MINIATURES WARGAME TERRAIN The construction of wargame ter- rain, an often neglected subject, can be as much fun as creating an army. Many wargamers spend hundreds of hours molding, assembling and paint- ing their miniatures only to have their artistic masterpieces fight for wooden blocks, cardboard strips, and paper boxes. ‘This doesn’t seem to make sense and (again) I wonder if it wouldn’t be just as well to stick to mapboard games. is is not to say that I feel wargame terrain should look like a diorama of a battle scene, as displayed in museums or at exhibitions. But 1 do feel that a little effort in building scenery “props” will greatly enhance the appearance of the table- top battlefield ‘The most realistic battlegrounds can be created ina sand box. There are no limits on your imagina- tion and changes can easily be made (you could even bury your casualties). Another excellent setting for a grand-scale wargame is the outdoors; nothing man-made can compete with nature's scenery. Ex. cellent plastic figures in 54mm scalé, as produced by Britains and Marx, are ideal for use in outdoor battles. Eyen a sudden downpour will not do them much harm. I have seen games that were left set uup overnight (except for artillery pieces and me- chanical equipment) and continued the next day with no adverse effects, Just make sure to keep the dogs away... Sandbox and outdoor set-ups however, are a subject in themselves. For now, let us look at the Regulation Wargames Table (S&T Vol 1 Nr 1) and the possibilities of covering it with realistic and useful seenery. From the diagram, you will notice that the table is divided into 4-inch-square sectors, each of which represents a definite area of terrain. ‘The seven basic forms of terrain, as they are usually dis- tinguished in wargame rules are: (1) Open (Fields) ; (2) Hills, Mountains; (3) Woods ; (4) Roads, Trans- portation Lines; (5) Rivers, Lakes; (6) Swamps; (7) Buildings, “Structures. ‘(Hedge rows, fences, stone walls, ete, used in certain games are usually considered obstacles with limiting or protecting features) ‘On the map for Remagen Bridge, all terrain fea- tures closely follow the squares. This is to show, without leaving any room for argument, the exact outline for each section of terrain. This does not mean, however, that the shape of the actual terrain must follow the schematic right down to the “letter ‘As a rule of thumb, any sector which consists partly of woods, hills, ete, is considered as being that type of terrain as far as the rules are concerned ‘This means that the outline of the terrain section could be in almost any desired shape. Let us take fa closer look now at the construction of a mountain. The first illustration shows the northern mountain section as it appears in the schematic set-up for Torananeon

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