12

PROFILE AND VARIANT GAP Profl7e by Thomas G. Pratuch Variant by Charles T. Kamps, Jr.

Both writers are officers recen tly stationed in smaller town in the vicinity of hex 0518 . This no exact method to determine the combat ef­ Europe and quite naturaly have a high in­ relocation wiLl have only a minor effect on . fetiveness exists. The Untried Unit Table terest in games of the Fulda il k. I've played victory conditions in the game. (UTU) represents a relative ranking of the ar­ Gap myself and found it to be an engrossing The rast error is in the reversal of two mies by combat power. situation. It seems to start a little slowly but unit locations. The 2nd Brigade and 3rd given a cha nce, it picks up momentu m in Brigade of the 8th Infantry Division are The use of the UTU system also gives one's mind an d on the map. Perhaps this is reversed from their actual locations. T his the game a larger potential than is first ap­ because as the units bash at each other and correction wiLl have no effect onplsy, but it parent. The wargamer can easily adjust the suffer horrendous reductions via the Untried does make the map historically correct. combat rating of each army within a set of Unit Table, the si tuati on "clarifies" as the limits. euphemism would have it . - R.AS Rules The next area to bear examination is the section dealing with nuclear weapons. This is Designing a game to simulate conflicts T he rules of the game show many new the one rule area in which I have really dis­ that have not yet occurred presents a unique and interesting approaches to old problems. agreed with the SPI presentation. When any challenge in simulation because of the in· The most pleasing to me was the section on two or more countries go to war, there is al­ evitable variety of opinions and lack of real chemical attacks. Chemical attacks are very ways some reason behind the war. If one ex­ data. SPI's Modern Quad Series covers such difficult to translate into combat power, and potential conflict areas as Yugoslavia and they have probably been left out of war­ cludes the extreme causes such as insanity of the leader(s), one is left with an understand­ . The scope of these games is games because of this difficulty. Instead of able (although not logical) set covering: limited since the purpose of the quad style is assigning a combat factor to the agent, the to have easily played, short games. The only effects in Fulda Gap are handled by inclusion 1. One country requiring living space other NATO· conflict games with the untried unit status (another gem to 2. To gain the natural re·sources of were designed at the world war level of con­ be discussed later). Thus instead of saying another .area. tinental areas with game turns of weeks or that the chemical attack equals one battery of 3. To gain the man-made resources of months. howitzers firing high explosive, chemical ef· another area. It remained for a simulation like Fulda fectiveness is dealt with in the parameters oJ 4. To eliminate a conflicting ideology. Gap to present an operational scale game unit training, readiness and morale. While it can be argued that reason 4 that would allow the player to develop a T he accelerated assault is covered better would be the cause of a war in Europe, it is lengthy battle in the modern European in Fulda Gap than in NA TO by affecting the unlikely that the Soviets would overlook the theater. The game contains a combination of tactical unit rather than a supply unit located advantages of reasons 2 and 3. This is why I new approaches and ideas, some seen in away from the combat. question the penalty-free use of nuclear wea­ other wargames and some totally new. The The rules on supply and communication pons as the game is currently wri tten. result is an understandable game wi th clearly are the strong-points of the game. Instead of I will granUhat the recent public discus­ defined rules allowing the wargamer to having the supply lines wander through any sions on nuclear warfare seem to indicate modify the game further within guidelines set and all terrain, the player is shown the impor. that there is increased likelihood of a nuclear by the designer. tance of the road network (especially Auto­ conflict in terms of a large number of "tacti­ Physical Layout bahn) to travel in the German countryside. cal" nukes in European countries, Eve n the The game is set at operational level with Also, units that leave their supply lines are advent of neutron weaponry only decreases a game turn equalling 24 hours. The land quickly affected in game terms instead of the size of the destroyed area; it does not scale is 10 km/hex. The map is well done in several turns later as in past games. eliminate destruction. Neither approach three colors and has been coded in a manner The effect of the supply and com­ means that the countries involved will readily allowing ready examination for best defense munication rules is to force the Warsaw Pact go to nuclear weaponry. If the Soviet com­ areas and/or attack routes. The map does units along the east-west Autobahns. mander has to "nuke" -am-Rhein have some slight inaccuracies. The designer Short off-road sweeps along the flanks of the to dislodge a NATO defender, the resulting seems to have used a large-scale map of West main attack are possible, but they must be damage to the city will negate any value to Germany that was m~de prior to 1970. The quickly relinked to the main supply routes. capturing it. Ultimately both sides wi11 want German government has continued to im­ Otherwise the NATO player can isolate the to preserve the usefulness of the areas they prove the A utobahn network each year. The units and eliminate them for victory points. hold, and the molten slag of a building is not bulk of the new construction is in the Koln­ useful to anybody. Finally there is the fact Bonn area of the map. This is important for System Effectiveness that most of that seemingly empty map area the Soviet forces who are currently depen­ In comparing the game against the con· is really small towns and villages. For a ma­ dent on the east-west Autobahn through cept of a war in the European theater, several jority of the German country there is very lit­ Frankfurt. Perhaps SPI wiLl have updates for areas of the design are worth examining. The tle difference in effect between a "tactical" this game where the player can be told what first area is the use of the untried unit ratings and a "strategic" nuclear weapon. hexes should be converted into Autobahn to set the combat power for the armies. The rule on artillery unit separation is an hexes. In earlier games where untried unit interesting inclusion in the game. First, I Another problem with the map is the status was incorporated, the result was to must admit that I fail to understand why this location of the Hahn airbase hex. There are take a known battle and introduce an ele­ rule was written. Applying the rule has the several towns in West Germany named ment of uncertainty to the game so no two NATO player alternating nationalities at di­ Hahn, and the game map location is where sessions would be played alike. In Fulda Gap vision level on the map to keep artillery of the the largest such town can be found. The trou­ the idea is that these armies have not been in same country separated by more than si x ble is that Hahn Airbase is located at a much conventional land combat in some time, so hexes. A game usually finds the NATO 13 forces arranged one W. German, one 30. The NATO forces should use their infan­ The best site is on an Autobahn which is the French, one U.S., one Belgian, one W. Ger­ try for defense and save the armor units for axis of a main attack. The NATO player has man, one French, etc. This creates an unreal­ attacks as much as possible. The Warsaw less of a problem here because of the large istic situation as national integrity is broken, Pact units are slightly lower in quality than number of SDUs and their original position­ and in an actual war such practice would the NATO main forces (U .S. and W. Ger­ ing. reduce the command and control capability man) and have to rely on their numerical Supply Transports (STU): As mention­ of an Army. su periori ty. ed before, these are used to move the SDUs Tactics: Special Units in the early portion of the game. When the The use of the chemical warfare rules automatic supply ends, these units should be will send the NATO player to exa,mining the Air: When the see-saw air war of the kept in their mobile state and used to supply untried unit chart in the game to determine game gives one side a superiority in airpower the flanks of the battle. This will slow down the "survivability" of the various forces in (albeit temporary), neither side really gains the flanking movements of an attack, but such an environment. Without going into a much. The Warsaw Pact player should go for will preclude the attackers outrunning a fixed detailed analysis of the UTU lable, I will pre­ using long range nuclear strikes against ' supply line. sent the data: NATO forces. The NATO player should use the aircraft for ground support. Chance of unfavorable result General Comments Helicopters: Here I disagree with the Nationality compared to In the final analysis, Fulda Gap is an ex­ chemical-free combat approach to handling these units outlined in the player's notes to the game. Rather than cellent game with its variety of situations and Soviet oa/o saving them as a large striking reserve force, fast moving pace, A couple of variations that British 18070 the Warsaw Pact player should be using them I have played are: W. German 24OJo to seize critical points ahead of advancing 1. In NATO Disintegration: withdraw U.S. 28OJo conventional ground forces. Critical points only the French Forces; the Belgian are bridges, multi-road junctions and Army remains. French 3811Jo Autobahn junctions. The Soviet player can 2. Tripwire/Advance Warning: allow Belgian 46070 use the airmobile units to reduce the Nike French forces to be committed only sites. The NATO player can use them to after a Soviet unit penetrates into The figures presented here are for the Trip­ strike at an unguarded supply depot or cut­ wire or Advance Warning scenarios. In the Zone I, 2, or 3 (as used in the D + 7 off an isolated unit from supply. scenario). D + 7 scenario all NATO units have a 21070 Territorials: The best use I have found 3. Any scenario: the U.S. forces land­ risk. Overall I feel that the technique of for these units is to guard air bases and sup­ ed at Rhein-Main Airbase are handling chemical warfare is the best seen to ply depots. date. assumed to be involved in a war Supply Depots (SDU): Both sides have somewhere else (Hypothesis is that Tactics: Conyentional Forces the same problem with these units: once European war triggered by one in There is very little that can be added emplaced they are difficult to move again Mideast region). here to the excellent commentary provided in while keeping units in supply. The best I hope all who play this game enjoy it as the game materials. The best thing for any­ guidance is to keep the SDU in a mobile much as I have. It is nice to have a quick one to do is read the article "Broad front status on supply transports during the early game that can be played enjoyably in a few Strategy" by Frederick Georgian in MOVES turns when a side is automatically in supply. hours.

FULDA GAP: Variant Players of Fulda Gap's Tripwire Scen­ 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment the board on turn 1 by the NATO player jf ario may wish to use the actual garrison loca­ 1st Sqdn 2-2 (3918) Fulda they are not engaged by Soviet units, as they tions of NATO tfOOpS fOf their initial setup. 2nd Sqdn 2-2 (4225) would be committed with the rest of VII These are provided below, with a few addi­ 3rd Sqdn 2-2 (4113) Corps to the south of the Gap area. Similar­ tions and changes to the unit counter mix and ly, the rest of the US 1st Armored Division 3rd Armored Div combat strengths to reflect current Should not enter the gaJTle at all. organization. 1st Bde 6-2 (2517) Kirchgoens, Butzbach 2nd Bde 6·2 (2922) Gelnhausen From personal observation, I would WGllICorps 3rd Bde 4-6 (2618) Friedburg suggest the following alternative UTU 3 Corps Arty Cmd 7-2 (1012) Neuwied ratings: 8th Infantry Div (Mech) 3 Corps Avn Cmd 3-1 (2223) -Main 8 - British forces 1st Bde 6-2 (1622) Mainz WG 2nd Jager Div (now panzer grenadier) 2nd Bde 4-6 (0326) Baumholder C - West German regular forces 4 PG Bde 5-7 (4802) Gottingen 3rd Bde 4-6 (1831) Mannheim D - Soviet units (excluding 50th Div) 5 PG Bde 5-7 (30\3) Homburg Bde '764-6 (1820) Wiesbaden E - US forces 6 pz Bde 6-4 (3309) Neustadt Marburg US VII Corps (part) F - French 1st Div we 5th Panzer Div 72nd Arty Gp 7-2 (2926) Aschaffenburg G - Polish forces 13 PG Bde 5-7 (2414) Wetzler 2nd A rmored Cavalry Regimelll (part) H - East German forces 14 pz Bde 6-4 (1312) Koblenz 15 pz Bde 6-4 (1012) Koblenz 2nd Sqdn 2-2 (5133) Bamberg I - Belgian forces J - West German HSK units we 12th Panzer Div 3rd Infantry Div (Mecli) K - French 4th, 7th, and 8th Divs 34th pz Bde 6-4 (now forming; enter at 1st Bde 6-2 (4329) Schweinfurt 3834 on phase 2 of turn 1) 2nd Bde 4-6 (4033) Kitzingen L - Soviet 50th Div 35 PG Bde 5-7 (3923) Hammelburg 3rd Bde 4-6 (2826) Aschaffenburg As an alternative scenario variant, 36 p z Bde 6-4 (off map at Bad Mergen­ 1st Armored Div (part) remove Polish and French forces from the heim; enter as 34th Bde does) 3rd Bde 4-6 (5133) Bamberg game, as well as the US 1st Armored Div. US Notes: British, Belgian, and German This will yield a 2 to 1 ratio of Pact divisions 1 Ith A vn Bn 3-1 (2223) Rhein-Main HSK & airborne units remain as in the game. over NATO, the ideal our planners say they 41st Arty Gp 7-2 (2025) Darmstadt US forces in Bamberg (212 ACR & 3/1 AD) can manage (see Lawrence and Record, u.s. 42nd Arty Gp 7-2 (2614) Giessen should be withdrawn off the south edge of Force Structure in NA TO, Brookings, 1974) . .