ABRITISH BOARD WARGAMERS MAGAZINE PHOEN a \ g PRIcI <1"5 Hitler's War NICKY PALMER ALSO INSIDE: BRITON'S STRIKEHOME! KURSK SALADINATACRE COBRA RECONSIDERED CARWARS IRONBOTTOMSOUND THE ANGOLIANCIVILWAR THE BARBARIANS© Simpuds ublisned & ais Simpubs Lid Altrinch Frintee by Bou sbsher M: Watson ‘et Fate asa wa Me Ditectar: Ray Bowden Page 6 FPhocnly i a bimonthly magatne sie at providing UX garners with» a whic ress thew opinion of, suggest improne arose for boaid wargame Page 7 ration anoulg be ent to, JOHN SPENCE, RO. Box 1 GE MIDLOTNIAN TH2S‘aXR SCOTLAND. Ais (0, Page 11 fblcation i this magazine become’ t if ae Slat ftined oh concer. Fumie: Contours a Baaeile include it of toureet compiled: Hew ste the he epaione ‘of nesanaty Page 17 gtr a fhe abe Full Page £65.00 pe issue ApvERTISNG RATE Hatt Page £96.00 per ue Page 21 ‘Quarter Page £22.00 per inue as tenet unt for com Page 23 ‘Gamera renty artwork requited or charged ext SUBSCuIPTION RATES" Tear (6 sues) £6.95, Panay ARTICLES SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION: Contibutors are Page 25 sehaeel penn amie Lo tan calm ySowtencony it ‘margins typed on A‘ (11%xb4 ins) paper, Please remember to inclue Page 26 Toei fame nd add roan, ci est .. fative material should be iupred on savas sheets and esty ran age 27 f Titely tobe reprepared for reproasction i po tle and manufacturer showid be incieded | | Page 28 pede iude ate bea hich wil enable meter Pann 30 Spread over sucomsive sues | aye 31 Britons, St (ovtents Drive on Damaseus by Paul King Rivets by S.N.Goodwin Hitler's War by N. Palmer ce Home! by 0.1.A.Mack. Kursk by P, Evans Saladin At Acre by W. Hamblin Cobra Reconsidered by A. McGoe (Car Wars by J. Lambshead lronbottom Sound by J. Lamshead “The Angolan Civil War A. Musson For Sale ‘The Barbarians by P. King Book Revue by H. Wilson Moil Call Readers’ Letters Feedback / Contact! DITORIAL JOHN SPENCE Phoenix is deed, long lve Phoenixlt Sounds dramatic doesn’t i but atthe time of wri ing things ara that way Inclined In the wargames Field ana | couldnt resist an over-the-top comment 1 start this alto. Whilst (eis Iterally ‘rue the ly 20 far reaching Most of you will be aware by the time you reas this column shat TSA took control of SPlin April and ‘that the Naw York company a we have Known It for the past ten years no longer exists Due'ta their premier position for 0 long thie ep shack for most wargamers and throw Us al into’ alittle confusion =the. members ot the industry a well the gamer. The situation Is such that there are stil a number of doubt at to wht this wil taad to. and whet portions of SPI wil Survive. Thus, many of the design staff Nave felt SPI to sat up thet owen company called Vietory Games with possible design problems othe now ‘Aenongst other items in a sate of tux i the future (of S&T and, though I'am In no postion to state {Exactly what wil happen, one could consider future Bubllontion frazen forte time being following the Sppearanes ofthe issues already phystcally in exist nee. SET has been a kingpin in Phoenins costing nd ‘circulation “package!” up. to now the UK Phosnix malling schedules have been closaly liked With S&T appearancas and this occounts Yor the ‘rae sppearanen of our own magazine in the est fon months ~ nothing ese. ‘Couple this with the new stance thet Simpube must {ake now and you can ee tha Phoonix must change 2 Tit sentenea! Simpubs have docided £9 {ate a much more ative part In game production with the formation of a special company to handle thai product: As part of this re-organiation et the statament from Maleaim Watson on page 3 in this issue on the uptodate situation) we have decided to rovamo, renew and’ chonge Phoenix this sue you now have is the last of the old Ryle Betore you fuss too much, we do not intend to throw the baby out with the bathwater, we will tain much of ‘the ‘best of Phoonix, alter our ‘rovare Base philosophy and ever add to the nen package, We will not be able to hide our ties to the hw geme liner nor would we wish to ~ Phoenix ‘mut ‘and wil be Used to bring the ew products to Your attention. is Intended thet one of these Products will" become” part of the annual “sub fcription but rather than go down the S&T path of ‘game in every ieue we hope to tupplement the ‘ort of th subséription with some son of discount Offer ona number of ihouse games. The dealt ff this arrangement have yet t9 be finalised and these will be announced with the first issue of New Phoenix once we have had a chance to asst the situation: | believe thot this will give you both 2 quality magazine and cheap games without the problem of being limited to wher the puDieher Inserts in the mogazine fr YOU. We will continue to run 2 mixture of review and Critique moteral which could lay me open to Eritclem of being bistad in favour of the home grown product. | assure you this wil not be the mre ‘Tintend to tread ths difficult tightrope as fairly as is possible. ‘Those people supplying mater. {al land new authors and material are slays welcome) ore never fnfluenced In thes judgements by myself antes Tknow that what they hove sid It Incorrect and 1 would hope that you would agree that most reviews that spear are fai. edmit that Some mistakes have slipped through dhe net but | dtp a the ier that snyone ha the automatic Fight reply to reset the belance ~ I consider that Fight and proper too. Inhouse material, on the other hand, wil not Appear insight feviws in New Phoenix. Wnat we Wall hev is background information on the pares that dows not appear anywhere ose, ts desig, ht Historical backgroune and even game replays but nothing that is primarily aimed at putting a sub: Joctive aitesiment on the worth of the geme, May te hope that our prosontressanable record of fa ress will continue in future. 1 would lke to het ‘Your views on this dichotomy! Hoving Isid some groundwork for future iste | would like 40 turn now fo anther situation close omy heart» namely historicity Miltary history is one of the Iynchpine of our hhabby"—"sayone with any interest in historical to tear utre Board wargames wil have rome reading fon same aspect of malitary nstory under hi bit Gahic maybe quite extensive Vt some of the lscustions | have had with gomers ix enything to fo byl. It tho histarieal component of the war. Gore that Tirst attracts the potential gomer ond, Ropetully, keeps thom with us. | thus thought that Grou hare some of my current vows On this subject with you and would like to hear your view ‘Any gome review worth its salt will try to ralatea Astoria! game ands" design to the action. or Campaign that itis meant to represent, the pages ff this magazin are, hops you wil gre, wel raced with such critique. The rationale behind ‘ueh an apptooch i of cours, that mort purchasers ‘ah their gome to frthfully represent rely and e's models however ci, through which tay ean Study some of the significant factors that went It to moulding the actions, and their results, of the ‘ppocing armies (or whatever This dows not necessitate games in which every possible factor is represanted. As {Nave sid in he Past, I belive that the designe” requirments fray’ be fulfilled In any number of design phil Sophies ranging. from the broad brush soprosch {in wien such factors as unit uniqueness are sor ficed to produces Tesing af the batle 2 Bate for Stalingrad) to the caraftman sparooch (every and t dotted and erossed — Airwar 80 would oe | Good example ofthis aparaach) ‘Such diversity of approach makes critical dsacton ff historia” arpecte of some, gamer. dificult, Who isto say what aspects ofthe battle hava bean factored into the combat sequence and tables or Whether supply is reflect n apparandy simple ‘move ruler apart from the deign eam ill Tan Continues on page 31The King is dead Long live the people! In April of this year it was offically announced that TSR Hobbies tne, of Dungeons & Dragons fame, had taken control ff Simulations Publications Inc publishers of Ares, Moves and Strategy & Tactics magazines. A second announcement follow: fed this to the effect that SPI had been put into liquidation and ‘2 decision had been made to move the corporate corpse up to the TSR HO lock, stock and staff, The staff, however, were appatently not consulted about these plans ‘and in a fit of uncertainty the ex SPI designers used their good ‘ole American initiative and slipped out from underneath the magic umbrella to form their own games company which they have called Vietory Games | flew out to speak to TSR Hobbies Inc about our future plans as s00n as their position vis a vis SPI was made official and | ‘came home with the distinct impression that we would ‘continue to function as the distribution centre for their games ‘and magazines here in the UK. Unfortunately since then I have been unable to get any concrete proposals from that company and | do not believe that I can wait any longer to make our ‘own plans known to the public. One of the first subjects to which we have addressed ourselves hhas been the future of Phoenix. Since we are not certain when TSR will be able to get future issues of S&T out we feel that the time has come to cut the Phoenix loose from that magazine. The issue you are now reading will be the last of the Phoenix as you have known it to date, issue 37 will be called the New Phoenix and. this will be the first in a series of quarterly ‘magazines with which we intend to fill the current void. The New Phoenix will have 36 pages with a maximum of four pages of advertising. A four issue subscription will sell for £5.98 and the New Phoenix will be available through our mail order service only, Those of you who have sent money in for Phoenix will find a Credit note enclosed for those magazines outstanding after issue 36. We would like to invite you to reinvest this in a subscription to the New Phoenix in the knowledge that response to this move will determine once and for all whether ‘or not we at Simpubs will continue to publish a UK orientated Board Wargamers magazine. If we find that we cannot support such an operation based on the UK circulation then we will stop chasing shadows and acknowledge the fact by winding up the New Phoenix. We are holding money paid to us by Ares, Moves and S&T subscribers pending @ decision by TSR on their plans for this, country. | realise that this may not be satisfactory to many of you and should you decide that you would like to use your Balance towards the purchase of other goods that we carry then we will be happy to accommodate you where possible. | do know that a letter was drafted out in April giving an ‘assurance to US subscribers that TSR would honour SPI's ‘commitments and Ido know that | was given averbel assurance that the same would apply in this country, however action speaks louder than words and |, like you, am still waiting for some action. In fairness to TSR | should paint out that they did inherit @ very messy situation but then they are big boys land one must assume that they knew what they were getting into, ‘As soon as we know for certain what plans TSR have for this country we will circulate the information to you in the mean time please be aware that we have your best interests in mind. Malcolm Watson WANTED The demise of SP! New York hes, not surprisingly, left a rather large hole in the wargames scene. We at ‘Simpubs believe that our 10 years experience in this, highly specialised hobby leaves us well placed to fill at least part of the void by introducing our own line of games internationally. The factors contributing to the SPI crash are vatied and numerous, but one which may have been significant was their insistence on maintaining 2 substantial full time design staff. With this in mind we are following the Avalon Hill example and encouraging free-lance designers to submit their talents to our scrutiny. If you would like to work with Simpubs to establish a Great British Wargames Line then write today sending full details of your experience in this field, your historical/ gaming interests in order of priority and, where possible, a sample of your design work. When sending samples we recommend that you use recorded delivery to ensure that you have a record of your submission. Ray Smith SIMPUBS LIMITED 60 Oakfield Road Altrincham, Cheshire WA15 8EWCAN YOU BEAT NAPOLEON AT AUSTERLITZ? The Wargamer — your chance to make history Six issue Subscription £16; single copy £3.99. From World Wide Wargamers, (Dept, P) Eton Lodge. Highwood, Essex ML SQH.1 : ESDEVIUM GAMES | °°" LOW COST MAIL-ORDER SPECIALISTS @Come & see the BIGGEST & BEST 330-130 230-615 on Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri 9.15 ~5.15 on Saturday salction of posta, places & sete for CHESS, GO, SHOG!, MAM JONG, BACKoauiMton, TRcHESS. RUBICS CUBES, OCTAGONS, PYRAMIDS, SNAKES Selection of Games, Rules & Accessories Ciraveu. nat rants at 81.5.8 Fantas, and Science Fiction miniature at in the South Fantasy - Role Playing wget teenTe® F Cardboard Heroes £2.45 Otmer Role-Playing Gam: FRP Scenarios & Aids ‘The Fantasy Trp (MGO) R ‘SF-Space Opera RS (FGU) : Hees Segarra. cfeStowure Runequest (Ch) R£S.95 eee eemsnrscon Things Gute Soonarge Sata + Specia! otter + New Artival Peat eassatemae a dears ey A Role Playing Rules fun onoencnanoes 17 #0nie 29 8 aoe, pt foe. 5 Plays Solo ‘manutacivrers pices pip 10% (20p mim." 1-20 max}Overseos Bp 30% (00 min. Board Wargames ~ Prexxth Century Board Wargame: xxth Century on. Business Games See bana 5016175 ESDEVIUM GAMES (6F) 185 Victoria Road ALDERSHOT Hants GUI? 1JU “Tel: Aldershot 311.483 ox(erening) Farnham 722269 8 Boardgame Payment in Shri oe M_ Miniature Rules Youre phone orders and pay by ACCESS = NO POSTAGE ON MANY GAMES FOR REGULAR CUSTOMERSpDrive on amascus Where have all the hexes gone? PAUL KING ‘You woule be forgiven for thinking, from the ile that this war a modern Arabia conflict. In actual Yact It covers am unusual campaign ding 4941 in which Vieny and Free French fought one another, The same ie 3 recent offering from W.WW. 4nd if Included in iesue ‘TS. of The. Wargame Brietly the history behind the game sos faltows the Briisn were concerned over the presence of Vieny: neta ‘territory in ‘Lebanon ‘nd Syria. The sea gould provide 2 "baeksoor for Axis forces to the Alicar Camaaign Iraq wae won over to the [Axis cause, so the Brishsttockod rag, Germany ‘was desperate for airbases to help lag and Sogun Using the. Vichy eld air bases, Eritisn empire foress ‘therefore attacked "Lebanon “and. Syria hoping to catch the French off guard, and sso expecting mass desertions to” the Froe. French fnuse. Unfortunately nether happened. The ight involved a hotch poteh of unite on bath sides, ond "month was to elapte before the Btn forces there certain of victory Turing to the game itself the components are of 2 00d standard of quality and one or two features Beer special mention. Included ars rule senrefold {fan organisation “ehort ‘depicting al the tao. hhundredand odd. counters. For setup all the counters ‘ora initially. plsced on this, and very fauiekly" for they ate all numbered and easy to Blac. From here units ean be placa inital map Seployments of let reinforcoments providing at GOODWI RIVETS is 2 sclencefiction game of robotic battles, Bublisne by the American "Metogsming” company’ "Tne stsumption that during the Wucla"/BI0 logical warfare of the fate 213 century the people on Earth did on elieent job of systematialy ‘terminating one another, leaving gang of sm Incalgent mass produced orronete rosming the countryside for desert} lodking for something 10 ‘Although postesing the average inteligence of on flectrie cancopener ‘the robots, or BOPPERS {Gatletietd Orlentated Pre-Programmed Eracieator bots.) managed to more or lem Tend for then salves afer the humane were gone — they could ive off the landy ust to long se there wore @ few Usedear lots on it" and they soon began to fight ‘amongst themselves over the resources alle ‘Tho game. costs around £2 in the UK, and is socked by mast major suppliers, notably "ex ‘cluding. Simpubs. For your maney "you get © polythene folser contining 8 17 page rues book. Ieestzea about 4" 7" with an attractive fl Colour cover, plus a emai Woolsap, 14" fame. map ‘printed in bive on. cream, and 112 Dartollycut thin card counters, rather smaller than SPU sce. it wav designed by Robert Taylor, who lists among is sourees of Inspiration various SE books and’’a real smoooath bottle Bourbon is" aivoreed. totally from the. ules: ‘mechanics, which producer a clear reult although fone feature does sand out os a problem at fist {his isthe ridiculous extreme ta vihicn the current US penchant for abbrevisting the namey of units tnd ether game features to initials is caried 6 ‘easy roferance chart for futura events, Perhaps the ‘most striking feature fs the map ~ there ore no FRoxaganst instead they are suorttuted tor by tiny dots, each dot being the centre of hypothetical hex.’ Units move by eavaring dots instead of exes, “The result exactly the sane end, | must admit {ovour this method if any for a hango. Auded fo this is the fact that it f'8 desert wararé gomme and {he Use of tiny dots eohancer the effect of the ‘wide open spaces". The map hes a 30 quality to in'due to trading of mountain races, am during lay ane gots the fee of viewing situations Mop [SUH.O" However, the result Ie that more thon one Bown shade can mean the seme thing Fortunately fem hazy areas exist and commonsense wil 8 you through’ these. There-are other minor. Guibes, Perhaps the worst being the fact that ater going Bi the trouble ot producing an organisation chert lahich pulls aut, all the other charts and tales are Spread through eight pages of cules thus i is neces Stary to photocopy to be able to use some charts And the cules atthe same time, Firms sue a8 PL ould certainty have gained from some of the leads In this gamo ~ by the same token W.W.W. sil have ‘hing earn rom the games of S.. ‘The sequence of play is sim with reinforcement, ‘movement and mendatory combet For both payers. Reinforcement is rather more complicated for the Vichy player's he must docido on whether oF ot to accept German intervention, and how to get is units trom Groece Is. by limited ir pase, Un Dredicable see transport or even mare unpre Pothope the imited space makes tis necessary, but attest reading ean be Ruanly confusing If 9 BOPC attacks » TB (PTA ABs) and rolls a [AR onthe CRT. do you treat tat NE? Vos) ‘The rules are varied ingenious, ond simple to apply: the Unmanonuvrabilty, of mistes simply ond btfectiely dealt with by « next fing Tul, and Fules for Focket fie, air movemant, different ¢ypae Of unit (thre are twelve types in all ach with a Special iclasyneraey of somesort unit praduction, Te-programming”, neutral Toctory complexes, and so forth, meon that despite is small size the game is one that ean be played repeatedly without bo dom setting in. It could bo aid that some rls are ‘ator simplistic, ab In range attenuation of racket fire Rango-t. power", Rengo~2, power Fange"8, power-t, for examples but bs we are com sidering weaponry” of which we know very Iie this rule's perhaps 8s good as any other, adit har the convenfort advantage that ft should save time that would otherwrae be spent flicking threush te ‘ules st opposed to actually playing the game, | find that the particular advantage of Rivets ae 2 ume. over ‘others in. my. collection ies inte Solitaire” posstalites, due to the ‘Programming ‘ules. Esch of the six main types of BOBPER (Dive BOPPERS, Tiny prongunced ‘weny" aceording ta the ules” BOPPERS, Big BOPPERS, dock BOPPERS, Rocket BOPPERS and Light BOPPERS) fan be programmed to sttoek any single loss of the other side's robot, ond wil hence ignore other lasts. Tiny BOPPERS. alone have wuthent Gomputer power to recogniza all types of them. Hence if tha programming i anything other than mirror image for the wo gee ft ie possible or {9ch to Use an ‘optimum plan’ and yet the syles of play of oach Side must be vifferent, avon if only ‘one person is laying. This moans thot "deliberate ‘stakes to pravent an impose ean be avoided, In the sworplayer game programming is earied secretly By each sie, and obviously the Is imBos slo — Turkish land panage. Added interest a Protded by various train mon artery fe Srmoured units with their advamtagecretone, Blus social tort for the Vichy player whlch ars Stten dificult to, destroy. Poesbly. the: ment tractive feature of the gome fs that whit ite an Sperational ive! yore of battalion company seed Units ie does not ecu in a vacuum. Fohtea cor Sertions are important, special nthe os ff Germen intecennion at ths can slic 2 ponte, {u“rxponse fromthe Britsh player in ters of {einforesmants Turkish agreement san importent ‘ature ond os 8 reauit of tls the game I rather open ened proving ferent vatory conditions oni“ Hacer. Allin all Drive on Damascus isan interesting simu lation. Train and its usage key factor for both ‘the long Impesssble mountain ranges gut the’ map langthaays Into three stipe. The Brith Player's init deployment 's eritieal and his pian Section must be well thought out to gun any aa! Success. Doss he take the historical rose olor the coastal strip with its many datensibe rivers han attempt to capture Beirut, or ty and crock the haviy defended fort of Mbrdieyoun to goin rapid seewst| Up. the. dordan valley, or nek the Syinay Desert and the alveet route to Damaseus with the threat of Vichy fortress garrisons to the eat ready | must admit to being no great player of desert warfare games, but this ane proved most enjoyable nd ‘instructive, Why obscure ilagee wth {tacks through them were important becomes cea when trying to Keep up 9 rapid motorised thru Bnd why solitary mounting become of strategie ale il lear aftr plying the game only fw In conclusion then Drive on Damascus is 2 geme well worth tying. The derigner, Vance Van Borris, fas exrtanly’ dane his homework ta. provige ripping, 26 wall ae obscure, topic — his Watorical ticle nthe tales shows thi. At the sometime the ot idea makes 9 plessant change from the usual ‘map layout and | would expect to see other gomes Use the some sdea in future, but | doubt Hi wl vc replaer the hexagon. ‘ible for solltaire players. The chart shown can be sed 10 decide ‘on programming for each sido Simply” roll 1 die for esch sige the top row Says whieh type of robot i reerrad toa pro ‘Farnmed to attack the type fund inthe particular ow selected by the de Toll, Do notre separately ‘or each type ae this could easly realtime vather ‘Uneven tstibation Overall the game is apparently bug-ree (com rulos point of wew, and athough £2 for an item 0 Small" may ‘toms waste of money° | find Tat Fivets Te quite exceptional value in terms of ts sustained ‘interest salue, ‘The budding designers ‘among. you may like to tanster the gome te Improved counters and a larger board tf cbr tainly worth the effort, as these ere probubly the ‘worst features ofthe gamne, Bm are clear and el Drintad, but hopelessly smal Yor sustained, 63 Chub, play. Ever you don't lke SP, for €2 Why nat give this one a try? Notes TB=Tiny Bopper JB = Jack Bappar [BB = Big Booper DB Dive Bopoer LB= Ligh Bopper LB = Rocket Bopper Fol | ie for each side's programming. “Tiny Bonpers are automatically programmed to avtack anything DIEROLL TS JB BB DB Le RE Re eB Je Te La 86 Je AB Te Le L Re ie 66 Le Te (8 op L Ie bo Re Ta te we Re 8B Le Te Solitaire Progamming chart, (See text.)00 hitler’s War The Strategist’s Masterpiece NICKY PALMER ‘A good gore review, I've always felt, should be fie’ Social Democratic manifesto. onthe one recommendations to make up the readers mind for Iiim. There are very few games which everybody or nobody all enjoy: the feviewer's job fe to steer Biavera co the games which ill met thet tastes tater‘ 9 fnpe om Te ed gn | propose, however, 10 forget this policy in reviow ing Hider’ Wer, Ths Isa very goos game Indeed, poulbly the best to appesr on the market Tor Interested in sratagy you wail be cheating yourself ft rel vest you don‘ sell out the sx pounds tehich it contin this country. t-ahould ike to Thinnee this unseomiy fervour with warnings. anc feearvetions, and one oe fwo wil appear below, but by and ge the praise ir going to be thick and tinted Poke sbarckness pill and read on Hitlr’s War covers the sme ground as Third Reich lord War i from Poland 1899 to Bern (pemapt) 1945, Thor, however he resemblances end. Third istonalcloments as well as strategie coniderations Ithae numerous erica rules to koep history on track; the fet ection of the lee were rditg Sah ambgutn Ieaovng rac the capt of players will put up with all the rex to explore a the fecinating poet te. Tepe rulebook i almost eately. tree from Sra goed ‘weiing. ‘The enphest ik’ stanpsly compared with Third Reich is the intricate quasi Sperationel deta but insteod the players haves ttemendous palette of high evel decisions to make, ‘The basic structure of the same is sally explined There are three protagonists with rules for 2-0 ‘player gamesh: the Axis, the West and the USSR Veriout specialised units ‘cussed. below. There tre deployed on 2 map scaled at 200 km to the tex #9 the Frenen eaeten border is & hoxes fom the Channel to the Med wily the Russons tt points apreson. postonina” you are the Cine, and your 40D i be this turn and what forote are to be committed to them. Each Army corresponds to an offap splay showing sts svengin in ta epartmonts {up to a maximum of 10 strength points per hex) ‘one army moy be ouigned 6 snlantry and 3 mech: ‘mised snotier may. be 4 paratroop and ai fand 30 on. Army counters ore lust shells 0 ve revere ‘those force commitments, and con be ‘deployed and removed to ‘Combat proceeds in threr steps first the delending rey Tees When the otacking army; then the ‘with an "advance" One can continue to advance fo one may decide to try fora Quick blit2krig bY fvancing first and sing one’s fe for targets Ipohind the front (byt tone falls 19 advance tis then too late to fire. Garitone nove no dotansive tte bat reset edvorces, a0 thet eve against Un {fonda errtary ane wil probably onty penetrate ‘armour present (ste bilow!. brought to life by the subtle differentiation bet ‘Seon each typeof strength point {a} Infansry: the boric workorse, cheap to pro ‘ice and te atfectve te anything sein defence, However, infantry points donot count for the vance drat o) Mechanised: more expensive than infantry fiteounted for advances, Canaot use atenswe 16 {el Parstroops: much more expensive than infantry passages (e.g, the Channel!) and count double for (a) Tactical sir: cheap and aor subject to stacking ‘sqval amount of ae or thay rola die greater th ‘the enomy avr point tora. Tactical at therefore against advances inthe defence (a) Amphibian: invasions can be made by armies ‘sith a east 80% of points aahbious (Forts: exnensive,_immobil but each point ‘The uses of these different types will be demon strated bythe game folowing this review, but we fan alrdy” note here that 2 clear Ides of the Statepe. lan is susntial to decide on foro’ Sllocations, The most flexible offenive weapon, if fo emphibious assault involved, fs 3 paraait fry. But infantry ie needed vo tak defensive fie We haven't yet roached the heart of the Unite Use) are shown on the map or in connected fottenap boxes (USA, Canada, dia and Alican Colonial boxes, ll of which are least toretialy Fiabie to invesion by the Axis # they can pet over the problem ofthe Allied ives (In practic this sha dood in one turn and to provide production points each turn. When you conquer a country oF En individual 1U hax, the 1U's ae knocked out, but for priee of 3 production paints vou can rebuild Alter each turn, you can build new strength points ing the new pointe to amie in your Homeland In Submarines (for Asie tvategic warfare: Aled TU ‘re reduced) ASW points (to courte submarines), Unrealistiealy be producra in & month, strategie bombers. (to strike. at enemy 1U'r and’ morale), fanter escorts and air defence. (to excorfatack bombers rae "mii an alternate fate in the game, atomic bombs for delivery bY tombers or misses At the start of the game, a! Impossible, including mest of the strategic weapons By spending 2 production points on 8 category however, you have 81/3 chanee of improving Vout technologies! level and im future producing tht typeof unit more eheapiy. Some weapons ean only be produced at 9 certain evs, the extreme case of {course being the atomic bom which requires lee! Gear a 23% rate the bomb wil therefore take the {tit game length of 18 ture or 8 years, enough the ‘Americans enter the ar in 1942 with evel 2 tech ology in this etopory. The tick iso start with (hie ange of Feearey and then to speciale nthe‘departments which you most need andlor are Showing the most progress. Technology hae aight endeney to Teak a the other sie” if anotrer player has 2 level higher than yours, you have: 8 Bow chance of moving up yourself Production therefore offers three choice: (i) Fair captured 1U's to eve more production (i) Bulld more units to proseeute the war atfort ‘and capture new IU Ui) Do research 10 gst more mileage from your ‘existing 1U's and gain new weapon. How to ditribute the available resources between thee choleas lean alvaysfascinatng diemma, For ‘xampie, the Axis wil certsly’ bulld a Tot of infantry’ during the full cempargn, so perhaps sr rly research effort should go, nto thie depart tment?" But. than the Russions may get cheep Intantry earlier toy copying your'new rfies), and this ill pore a serious thrent to Barbaroue, Reference was made sbove to morale: this applies to the Axis and Britain only” Nationa morale Starts at 10 and varies betwoen 1 and 0 below the [evel of 8 offensves become hard and at 0 the ‘country surrenders, Morale mainly ‘varie 8 tr Fitory fe conquered or fort, and ene plays” wl ‘sce hie campaign with a view to dliveringa fresh Blow to morale every turn" Atomic. bomb, in facdition to knocking out 1U's permanent. send ‘ovale plunging by & per bomb, 30 Fone get the ‘weapon the mar wl end rapidly, Nowe thet nothing hat been said about political restrictions. Thera arent any, except that 9 Bre 1942" Soviet attack’ on Germany delays the time when the USSR can get its ful wartime production ‘apecity,resoureer presumably going en te #9" \war instead of the economy. This doce away ith ‘hia Reich's ariel Eoxe Front govrson fle, and replaces it with the realitic constraint that Stalin doesn't want an early wae but will certainly ‘walk into Berlnit he given the chancel Simfory, Germany. ane the Allies se uite free to attack different neutrals from those historically snvlved Wit seems. good idea" an. Axis capture of Gibraltar through Spain's one atwactive possiblity Various speci! rules emphasize aeosraphy the fll oF Gibraltar prevents the Allies from sing tet {Susi 2poin Med. navel tenaport capacity they bili havea paint route round the Cape: the fel ot Malte boowt face Med capacity from 2 to 3: fhe fal of Suer cute off Indien production ond hits Grin moras: Lond Loose spose 0s feet only after the USSR ls et war) through 6 Rorthern’ana a southarn entry point to the USSA aie can be taken by the Ast: he Axles eb Bled inthe attack by Russian winters (propres. ‘Thora aro atleast 8 plausible Axis lines of pie, rot neezesariy mutually exe'usive a forces low with ¢ “phoney war land plunge vesourees Into reseacch for'a massive (omtatictve balldsup by sary 1944 (2) launch a iitekreg on France (G)_maximise 1U capture by mopping Up every reutral in sight (@) attack through Spain and take Gibraltar, thor ize Malta and overstelm North Africa (5)_moke an early offensive agsinst Rusia before fhe gets cheap infantry, pathaps supplemented by & thru through Turkey (6) build substantia paratio0p force to throten Briain and Malt, and then use Wt it the Ailes over theve ports) against Russia. (71 10 research tees to the point where you can eaten up with the 6:point Allied lead at the Start, proweting yourselt against the US in the middiegame (8) research the Atbomb and 9 delivery aysts covery tuen with 8 wie to turning the he late the war The Allies hove corresponding counter etrategie: tarly crucial decisions ara how ‘hard to faht for Franca and. North Africa, and whether "0 end ‘maximal Lend Leave to the USSR, So, far lve played the game four times without fealing that {ve more shan eratehed the src Of the problems: each game bringe new idea 9 try fut next time, defy anyone to “creck” Nt quickly, as : ¢ an) eas a Aight e a0 though the besie historical problem of the two: ont war possibly weights the balance sighty the” Allies” given bestpley. Unfortunatly, the Dhyles! production is rather uninspiring! a smal fra flimsy folded! map in en ebay bashed card board Box. Don't let the appearance put you off tht is quite simply, tre some thet Third Rah Hitler's War: Sample game Winter 1939 Axis! At the outset, Germany starts with enoug mechonised forces to be sure of taking, te neutral Nexes, Strategy (3) shove would suggest en ‘attack. on Poland and. Denmark or. Yugoslav, ieoving the Low Countries ag a neutral butter However, the Axis are going for a biltekrieg on France. in this gems, 40°they ‘take cut tre Low Countries to provide a broad front for @ spring offensive, while an Intanteyair army. aka Unsuccessful attempt to take Copenhagen without mech (ean be done Ifthe garrison iy Jstroyed) A, {ow points sty in Badin, reinforeed by the Build, teldetor 8 Sovitatteck, Production/essarch: 1 parstoop point, 1 mech: fanised, and succesful ‘rewsaren on. mechanised {to level 2 trom 2 rarting love! of 1), acti! ait (to 2) ond submarines ita 1. Morale’ aes to 12 sie to conguest of at eas 8 hex, USSR: The possiblity of enveloping Germany's minor allies with their production centres has te ittractione, ut the German countersroKe would te too strong, Instead, the Bate States ae brakly ‘hrorbed and thelr TU immediately. repaired: Intantry is built and veseerch goes into infantry il. Allies: An attack through South Germany against fhe Ruhr is Teosible but unwise: all the efforts of the Allies must be cavoted to securing Pare The Brivah move their infantry aerose the Chonnel to Stifen French defences, weeping mechanised and fmphibious points at home to word off the por inte paratroop landing, Produetion/rseareh: Build 7 infantry in Paris (to Join 2 already there) and do succesful infantry research. Spring 1940 ‘Axis: haly comes in, boorting production to 23. ‘The Axis mass thot Torewe for te Bitzkriep. A 10. point nfantrysrmour arate the, frontline Franch at the Channel, who consist of 3 infantry and I. aie point. The French knock out two stacking points and take ony 1 lone the air point, {eo maximise defense sgeingt mechanised advance! ‘The’ AXls has two reehnnised armies which veers Blanned for use. against Pars pints area bit too much to brush (itting he teeth, the Axis player user the fre ower of ‘the first one in reducing the border force’ (whe cannot tire agoin this turn), Ts Axis lrmy now wheels about and advance” to Bevin {eo avaid the noes for heavy building to keep It Sate. Tho lst Axis army mow advances succeselly into’ Franca: despite 2 vir points In his ormy, the Franen ‘manage to eacape to Parts (2/3 chance), ‘Tho aim. ow attacke Poris, but loses 4 points to 2,vond cannot hope to cverrun the ety. An iponsve offensive! Production/researeh: Repeir two captured U's, build infantry, | mechanised, and reazarch mech nied (as), aff auceaods, level 3 — so air now Just costs 1 pr strength point) and submarines Viale) USSR: rrodueton/emen only: bul 1 fort point in Moscow, reeareh infantry (sucesed, lve 1 ond mechanic (a's). ‘Allie: Since the Axis have left Africa atone 40 far, the Allies do as ell refering to concenvate on ‘the atte Tor Frones. Once again the Ruy Is wi erable, andl this time it seme faaibe to auneh 8 Counteratack without weakening Pars. The Britian ‘mechanised move over fo France and join Allied Intontry stking across Belgium snto the Rr. ‘Axis TU are devastated, whereupon the Allies ‘shee! round and advance” back to Paris Production/vesearch: 3 infantry, t0 top up Paris, 8nd resareh into infentry, mech, amohinns, if,peratroops, bombert, eicorts, end ASW, all of “Table 7: Production aves the sample game (ich fa except paras to level T] and Bombers ete the seme Selentas Axis, ussR Notes, Summer 1960 ve wom (rine softs | a | 8 rection. Homever, inthe position there tant |Sering 40 | 23 | 22 | 9 Axis in Italy, USSR gains Bale States much oe aorescnn pee hte Fa faummrad | 21 | 96 fo Ales rah tr, bt counters tks Ps Taian tlre ep ho Rea an ste Maton Sk ecantanan ‘on |wimer «0 | 2e | xe | 9 2 omepiad Ux bacome practi France hes left most neutral U's out of their |spring 41 | 30 18 9 ‘Another 6 join the network. Submarines inflict damage. Scie Rey ae At drt Tron Serving tey can manage incusing pwrerecrr, [Summers | 36 | 16 | 8 Another 4, and German minor lies eatribute 2 nd sured th taing the cy on a lucky 4d |wineer at | 36 | 32 | 8 Goodbye Birmingham olay ae n Tord Reh), and tre postion ooxs s [Serna 42 1.40 | 17 | 20 US and USSR come in, Britin goes out bit rowley agnin, Morale ‘ge t0°74, wile. British Imoraie drops 108. “Table 2: Balance of expenditure on production, research and IU repair inthe sample game Production/research: Build 4 infantry in Bertin (to ord geet Russe), repre 10's, and rcereh Seth ond abetbotn fam Axis, Allg USSR Notes Mu Mw Pal Home morcom,'T wantty and veearcintannry [Wer 30] 9 6 - [21 2 {ta soring 40]11 6 6 | 616 Allies: with only 1 partroop point and no amphi. {Summerd0] 8 4 9} 412 Sane, the Germanearinat muon ofa tet t |winwr 40] - 6 18 [19 man or best, 40 the Allied playar contents himeel SL a : tyth sanding 2 intantry ta Egypt and replacing [Sorina 41] 18 212/12 3 hom at home. Jsummerat |32 4 - |t4 2 Jwinser at | 20 412 110 2 2.9| 7 Pare intontey 4 = | Allound Altes research 2. - | Allies research drive continues 2 ~ | Building up the Gib fort, Heavy Axis 1U repairs [Axis paralaic army forme, 7 London infantry Massive Axis air built, plu new mech, Landon fort 2 ~ | tore axis at anda para, London fortitying further: Production/research: Build 2 infantry London, fessarch infantry, meen, amphibians, air (all {Secestull end barbers ar ASW (aot fal. ter 1940 ‘Axis, The two mech armies take out Poland and Gv nf hip“ hw mua” sin Soeningthe Prospect ot stratgy (4): the Nort rican campaign after the fll of Gib. AXIS_ARMY_ RECORD SHEET Production/research: 6 1U's repsired, and unsuc- tll renserch on infantry, mach Fie 10-16. Note th (wil not be able to help a neutral (asi certainly the cas for Poland), they con delay the conquest. | CENTER amy cep Co Until the next turn, By! which time wil be ther than plucky OOOOOOO000 - O ‘mechanised fores for other ark USSR: Production/esaareh only: build 1 fort | new point Moscow, t infantry, and research infantry (Gucceeds!. Soviet infantiy. cost is now the optima Allies: A nasty dilemma, At present tha threat 10 Britain is sel minima, but with Axis production {up t0 30 they could ‘quickly build. paratroop fre, Gn the bther hand, f nothing e done about Gibrsiter it wil fall next turn, making the Meditar Faneon 9 permanent headache forthe Allies. Inthe font the lies opt for © Amy LJ LJ LJ LJ coaearei i bie. cte ~ O ie wists 3 ltt tod ve T] LJ L] L] LJ LJ to overwhelm i. Ht the Axis take tha time to Pre frees further and at any rate 4 months of precious | pax Pert ike ‘Axis time wil have bown vated Spring 1941 ‘Axis: The coming Soviet bulldup is 2 damned fuisanes, but having got so far it geome worth Giving. Britain another shove. Portugal and Yagoslvia ae occupied, the former enabling Ai 0 prepere 83 hexausoult on Gib. Submarines rack gut one lied production point, the Ht ‘coe forthe U:boat arm, OOOOOOOO0O QOUOUOO0000 OOOOUOUO00 OOOOOO0O000 Production/esearch: Repsie 4 1U's, build 2 pars a, troop points and 6 air points the latter now 8 — ‘ere 1 production point each), and esearch mec ‘nied (al), USSR: Production/researeh: The rifle factors 90 Tanned One fon night shit 9 infantry points produced A line Pet et gam ge Na hile lee Seas =” | DOOUOOOUUOO ‘ers Gib put it's alo 8 alr points and 3 paras OO |: OO LCade met tm Megan 2 ami cy ata y Sort a ei tans ca 35m Ca ‘avilable against London. Irnically, North Alvca Winter 1941 issu quite peacetal but ever it Skier survives the fail of Gib. will b6 9 bossy nutsance when the Axis: Now what? Malta la sure thing, andl in due ourse Suez should follow, But ithough London is 46 points hammer the London defenders, and only ‘point of dafenders survives to struggle spins Me tain of paraoopr Britain fast Maree, the [Americans rive end want to move on italy Produetion/rewarch: In this situation, research raw the short straw again, giving way tothe con Stuction of infantry in London ang another fort point in Gib, The [U reaieed by submarine wartare Prepaid (presumably this f simulating the loss Sind replacement of merchant shipping) ‘Summer 1941 Axis: More crucial decisions. The German minoe allies have. joined up, and the Axis now have Enough foress to take Gib, or launch a cexpectabie ftfensiveaosinet Russia, I he later i layed the ‘hole outlook will be clouded by the Russian ‘winter next turn and the US entry ito the war Tthe turn after). On the other hand, nies the main ‘Soviet production centres ean’ be quickly {nvloped, their capacity wil leap $028 a8 soon a ‘wor brooks out a Winter Barbaronen i therefore 2 Dorieulerly silly idea, since virally no procuetion fan be taken on that ture. ta tei gare tt was ‘ecided that Lend Lease could only start once var hes broken out, and this tips the scale of the Ait ‘etison: go tor Gib! Three armies with # tote af 536 points mow up. The fret wave reduce the fort iy “the next wave by 2, leaving *re deenders Wulewabie "to the find sigult with 18 pointe Tincluding 8 a1). Two defencing points hold out, bbut now tie tanks ral forward and it a over by» nerow margin, Produetion/research: Preparations for he war with the USSR (building 4 mechanised, 20 a shea dar Side tha resoeren fort (ust infontey and mech, both fain USSR: Produetion/research: Build 4 infantry anda fort point in Leningrad Allies: The paratroops can now take Nlta it thoy {ko but the more werying treat ist Briain fail. A coken infantry point is moved to Att Found whe Cape, but the main preparations ore ot Produetion/research: Build 2 fort points London nad snfancrysai research fae tafe from direct assult, Plymouth can be taken With sase, giving an ever chance at the Wieland. “The chance is just too tempning 10 reest and the ‘eras seize the southwest and i aifleids,enabling the Luftwaffe to. Ming. i massive atteck Birmingham fols as the pave Britain because" of the apsonce ot ampniant ant Dresonce of the Gritsh feet! taker Greece, com: Plsting the conquest of continental Europe west of the USSH and Turkey Produetion/resarch: pair Birmingham nother 10, bald 15 air and para USSR: Bula 1 fo point Leningrad, 2 intr. Andresearch mech lla ‘Allis: she evisi i at hand although Roosevelt poised to come ia next turn. And now, withthe Gharity of hindsight. the Allied player sous the enormity of his bhuider in sancling ie machanied {roops to France and net repling them, as he could enily have done instead of tying to shore tip the Gibraltar fort, The German forces in Brita consist of an armada of planes and a mere 2 para troop points. The airralt cannot defend apoinst ay ‘advance’ wih’ significant mechanised arm, the Rome foreas could take louesto enemy a stacks In infantry snd over the paratroape wth the Produetion/reaaren: London builds two more fort points, For mant 9! better Uso forthe lst two IU thay. eondiet amphibian resarch: it looks a8 though the US iy going to need great expertise in smphibisna I tai Spring 1942 ‘Axis: Great care still needed: the Russians can attack trealy this ‘turn "aithout any production analy, the Americans arin, and the British are Sl ave and Keking. with Landon too tough & fiat forthe. Bieminaham forces to crack lone Whar too? The ‘Axis player broods for a lang time, then decider: snotnerparaair army [oun te seat on London, whe the land forues tart & limits offensive Is the thinly Sotended touthern Soviet frant. Benzer ermios sweep through the Ukraine to end the turn within striking dietanee of Stalingred ‘The Alles sign, The Axis now has production abercaching 80 and should be sbi to" detest the USSR ‘gute easiy once the paras and sir points favo boen retrieved trom Britan, well bafore the US can propare a sighifcant counter threat With's Dit of hice, the Axi can even outspend the Alles In foots ahd eventually challenge for control of ‘The fora Allied mistake wes noted abow, and his game's thorefore in no way 2 demonatiation of Sound defensive play. What H does Gemonetrate I the Hlexibivty of the game system Paratroope and fi pointe were wial_sgsiat Gib, and. London, ‘ochanised wore decisive inthe fall of France and {he neutrals: cheap infantry procuetion would have saved Russia the two front war could Rave tees ept going, The Axes wom by using all the Unit ‘Bpobilities 19 the full In vesting multiple thee ‘auinst the Allies which diverted them fram ear Soldating te Home Army until it was to9 Ite, In fessareh they ‘concentrated on the lines with ‘uk payaft(mecheneed and nbowe all af the War had lasted to 1945 thie might nave proved an ‘rror. Convorsaly, the Alles overdid the Tong: Yesgareh in springaummar 1940: i's all ery wl A plan for tomorrow, but wee £0 make He that there wil be 9 tomorrowBRITONS, STRIKE HOME! A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BRITISH BATTLEGROUP IN "MECH WAR 2" and a few other observations DONALD MACK In my profile of Mech War 2 published in Phoonix 25," “mode. some comments, anent. the” British Bricegroup es cepicted In that game and intimated that | would return to tis aubject in more dota Having dane tome’ reteoren and atked 9. tow amine vehicle profiles and to comment on some ‘Epects of the Crema! Warfare ules nasmch fe they affect the various Chemical Protection {Gey tat of vehices Finaly thera will bes word The Battlegroup Concept The two mein types of maneouwre units in the British Army” ore. infantry. battalion ‘and the ‘Sommends, both are independent units with life fy part othe word and of being ‘Dugped Ino Staton, However the methods of movarn mechan it ara ec hh gre ot aby Iaith arm can work independently of the other {he infantry need the tanea" pune to help protect ther, expecially when on the move in their organ Srmoured personnel eariare (APC, the tanks need ‘fontty to Tus aut enemy infantry position®, to provide close protection in close country and 10 Fold ground which ther armour, mobility and ire able especially the Infantry battalion) to operate {5 Dura units of thet respactive arms In a mech anised context they ate much more ikely to find Sr combined. semourimashonsedinfenty. forees, grated radio net. This wil often be achieved by detaching. company perhaps 2 reinforced Shroenes 8 squadron tothe botalin’ ut that = The ArmoursHeavy BG: As ite name implies this hat a hig proportion of Tanke 10 infantry and ‘omental heaaquar fact bly an Ine rale is primary offensive (within a stesteie 8G: More infantry thon tanks, of an intantry bataion HA. In ly detoneive grouping although i ha within itis loca! counter attack ability ‘The Balanced 8G: Thar's right, you've gor itl It {wo armoured squadrons and can be under the Commend of ether type of HQ, As 3 battalion hos four le companies and an armoured regiment four bre squadrons, you will realise that the two units can field betwnen them two balanced Boe oe ane ermourheavy and one Infantry heavy BC A BAOR armoured division's manoeuvre units ae Three, mechanised. infantry battolions. and (wo Srmoured rocimonts and it wil hus held fve BGs, two srmoureavy” and the. infantry haw; of {our baloneed and one very much infantryaneayy: intantry-neawy. Tho system ie thus very flexible much more flexible tan using units permanent much the she groupings towether in operations — felatonehipe, Furthermore each BG wil integrate fons but combat wars, 8 CT being tothe company for squadron what the BG is to the bettalion oF ‘esiment. Last but not least, the 86 wil include an {tmouredreconairance lament in the form of 8 troop trom tre Close Reconnaissance Squadron of the divisional armoured reconnelssance regiment, dnd wil almost eartainly inelude Swingfire (ont tank guided weapons] and Blowspipe (surfacetoa rises} detachments of the Raval Arley ‘The Battlegroup in ‘MW 2" ‘The socalled "Third Batiagroun’ see Fg. fin fae Hampshire 8G or 15/19 Hussars BG) \s, a8 you ‘grouping. The battalion has detached one company Flue one Btmm mortar section land Milen, of ‘hich more aterl and hae received an armoured Ehusdrans it has then used the resulting mb t0 {orm four combat teams, ie CT f armour hee, ‘nth two tank tro0ps and one infantry patoon and ‘hill’ be commanded by squsdeon HO! 2nd CT is Infanery‘heavy,consieting. of 8 ‘hort! 1 company fone platoon having been sent to Ist CTH Shae ten of tanks: ard CT #9 fll le company plus 8 tank troop; and 4th CT is virtually @ ‘pure’ file company. Each team also nat 9 siction (2 ‘ehicles) from the diviatonal ant-tank battery, RA, Thmed with Swinghre ATGW mounted on FV 436 3 modified version of re FV 432 APC, The bat: ‘allon’s integral Blmm mortar piatoon, organised In tour sections of two mortars, hr Geiaehed one ‘ection with the ‘not shown’ company an hs de ployed the. remaining three to CTs 1, 2 and 3 {romember thet Tor gore purposes ondioard arti thig does not affect thet fe-CF) Along with Battlegroup (battalion) HO appears the Stached troop oF the Close Rivsce Squadron, in {our actions of two vehicles each: Oh Yes, ond ihe Foland. Heaven and SPI know what the Holand ding theres quite apart from the fact that & Brivan Army doesn't use it our own Rapier Just 8 good, in Tact probably better ar defence fepiments FiA' are. under Corps command and ‘would be most unlikely to bo paresod aut to BGs, ‘They have other roles, Air defonce at 5G level is proviced by ‘Slowoipe detachmens of the lv Sion” AG’ batty, RA thee eno fined sie BRITISH THIRD BATTLEGROUP Batepronp Awe Independent Command ‘0, ene || ore 1m 2ay First Team os cM || rsa |] oe maa = Second Team “=| S| ewe || 7531] ore - oe “Third Tear = = om 2 1 Tar Team Avsts (Independent Commond) 5 77 2 rsa] ors 7five Jaunchers. This is not shown 0 auch but is tlsfactorly‘reprewoned ‘by tho ‘Maio? AD apapiity of te HOLunIe. The general organisation thus depicted is aceurate (Roland. epert)_ond ‘reflect the makeup of the British infantry battalion, the armoured squadron, ‘ang the divisional subunit kay to be made aval: Sle to an infantry‘heavy BG. My sole comment st this lovl Is that the Swingtre detachments would be unlikely to be sllocsted to. CT; thelr use and ark ‘platoon commander (wo Sooke Up the Sntiank defence plan for the entre BG) ang its ‘ch more on the cerde thatthe Svinglite Getch ‘mente nuld simply be in laestion" ane net under Command’ as far as CT commanders mould be con tsirnad. As they fe Independent Command unite Inthe game and can that range freely. the ectus) Ikely situation has Mot been misrepresritad, Detailed Organisation of ‘Third Battlegroup’ Close Reece Troop: ‘That mix of Scorpion and Scimitar is incorect, | fear, The Clove, Reece ‘Squadron ‘consists of five oops each of eight ‘Scimitar tracked reece vehicies (to call them ight tanks fs Hable to arouse quiet laughter in military Circles)" the Scorpions. are to be found. In the Medium Fleece Squadrons of the armoured rect regiment and. wil. be Timly undo” divisions! ‘contra. So"aed och counter ar Scimitar, two Stops tothe ‘counter: this wale you short on manent but {wil be coming to th ate Armoured Squadron: We are siso being sold short here, Each troop ls depicted as having thre ste (insinvee wanks}, "Actually a” Britis armoured squadron conssis of four troops, two of four fanks end two” of three. Furthermore. each srmoured regiment holds enough extra tanke in preservation to Increase the number of operations! fanks to four per troop on mobil would probably but not necessary. be in CT, the armeurneavy CT: (2) i mobilization is deemed to have taken place prior 0 the outbreek of Nos ‘ities, nerese af roope to four tanks. Armament Chieftain Turret MG: The Chieftain tank includes {an externally = mounted 762mm machine gun on ‘the commander's cupola, Tne Vehicle Unit Date (Uk! tabeon Page 34 of che Red Star/White Star Exclusive Rules pemphlet should include the tol Toning: Weapons Systeme ~ Tur MGs; lr Gefonce Sour" Stablised Main Armement: (This section is a: Dlicable to. curtain tanks other than Chieftain British tanks have had stabilised main armament Sines about 1980, enabling the main gun land the eoax MG) to be held trained ‘on a target wile the tank is moving this enables accurate ie Yo be ‘ellered by 8 moving tank and would convey. ¢ particular advantage when Using Short Halt fr | fn vouen for emis: have soon Centurion ts demonstrating fie on” the move and reguarly Iiting ther target and remember vividly teeing 95 ‘Adé new Case (31.0) to Mach War 2 Stan Gard Rules booklet at flows (31.0) Stabilised Main Armament ‘move a¢ well a5 Raving an dwantage wien Gring Short Halt fier UK Chieftain, US MaGA3, Wi German’ Leopard, Tse Cen Procedure ‘Tonk units of the above types with @ Bound command may ire mhile onthe move Bt the owing player's option. Fre combat is Fesolved t any ime during movement. [31.11 Units firing on the move may fre ‘hair main gun and/or coaxially mouoted MG_at any "time. during movement. Each system may be fired once only long a90 28 1953 Centurion doing its ‘party piece" at the School of Infantry by turing rou nd round on its axis, one trek locks, ‘hil {urret and gun stood stl, Meld on an unchanging line at sgh ‘The following tanks should be deemed to have Stanilsed mon ormaments UK, Chieftain; US, GOA; W German, Leopard; laraal (Suez) Golan Centurion. These ae ale to fire while onthe move ‘and have ‘an scvantageous modifier when Using Short Hat (re BOX) arden Cannon: The Scimitar tracked roce vehicle ie'srmed mith @ Rarden cennon which sn my pinion, much underrated im MWB. its clusion noe the general cossication of Medism Msin Gun'3 door not refiect Its eapebilties The Rerden was specially designed to be employed agenst ‘PCs ‘and other lahey-srmoured vahieos. itis 8 SSomm qua with e high mussie velocity (and there. fore flat wajeetory), the ammunition for which includes: stmour percing (AP) shot, AP explosive tnd. AP Incendiary wacer. It is effective up to 4500 merres 7 hexes) but the tracer burns Out ot 1100mn (6 texas). The arden is normally fied os 2 'semisutometie cannon = it ie ciped but Sutomatie fire of up tot rounds at time can be sed I required ‘Tne combination of fit tajectory, sami automatic rida. proportion of tracer avaiable. for rm each lip takes the arden a) very sceurate weapon and the types. of ammunition ‘sed guarantor highly satefactry results againet omy. APCs. Yer at 2 Medium Main gun 3 firing 41.3 BMP hited In the open at O-1 hexes (from ‘ery close vange_ Up 0 300m) 1 hat an attack Sanath of [ust 3. esuming that two vehicles are Firing togetner his Gives exactly 60% chance of hitinot 9 firecfine hi, just it) against a SMP Sanding in ‘he pen 100m anayioat 2 hexes [adorn this erance goes down to 25% and over Shhones (BUOm) fre is rchibited AA letter to SPL about various aspects of M2 emained long unonewored but | have since been in antact with “Stephen Donaldson, then with ‘05G, who was one of the developers; he told me ‘that he has never even heard of the Pardon and f2¥#, "| suggest tat you do the evlustion”. That Is. problem at lam no designer, Ara Main Gun 3 ‘he ‘weapon is being s91d short but amply to Uperade i to Main Gun 1 or 2 would exopaerat® its eoctivenassegsinst ate targets, My sole solution: Rarden counts os Main Gun 2 with te folowing provisos (1) Fire against "A" cats targets Ie rerolved on the "8" eolumn of Table (W021 (2)"When firing “at a Hard target dhe 2. Coss Moaitior of @ Medium Main Gun 3 ll apples (dee Table 122) ‘This stil ends to fall short of Rardon’s capabilites but aot nearly 20 much: nor ean tbe eceused of ‘exaggerating those capabilites, Infantry Anti-Tenk Capebiitie: The ntantry Data Table indicate that 8 UK mechariaed, infantry Biatoon "may. ba armed with sither’ the. Mian ATGW or the Carl Gustav. shouldercontroled ‘Amm antitank gun, The notes res that these (31.2) Fire on the move is at he owning Dlaver's option and need not be plotted it Sdvance, To perform fire on the move the ‘vening player simply stops movement of ‘the unit counter, resolve fire Inthe norma ‘nay, and continies movement, 12 the lt of te unit's ME i cesied 181.) Units defencing against fie on the move receive 3 Lose Mogification of "2 0n ther Loss Mositication de rol. (314) Units which fire on the move may not fire the same system again during the Tmaverent phage in vitieh fire on the MOVE (31.5) Units with stabi rain armament also tie at am advantage wien Using Short Halt fire (Case 21.0). Enemy units detend. ing agsinet them receives Short Hat modifier of only taf their Lote Mod iestion ai roi fare whats available and that the seensrio notes al Speci whieh is earned. This is an incorrect rendering of the armament actuely avaiable, The Milan i operated bythe Battalion antitank platoon, which gan deploy four Sections each of "wo detachments, nach tach- ‘rent having two firing ports ts. launehera; but ‘the countersmix falls to provice there detachments. ‘ach of whlch sould be shown ae an infonty ‘ATGW detachment complete with APC. Further ‘more the mechanised infanty platoon Ws equipped (ith three Cer Gustav lor LAW, ‘The best way round this misrepresentation it as fellow: (1) Mian wl raqunny be delayed on the aie fof one section par infantry heavy” combat team ‘Therefore in "Third BG" teams 2/3 and 4 haves Milan section wth thm. (2) Designate two platoons in ach team as having ‘2 Milan detachment with them; each sich patooy fan fire Min as a two-step weapon. Lows of one ‘rom the piston dost not affect Milan ca ‘bility but on the loer of second step Mil goes own to one step; hen the platoon love it hd ‘Stop the Bilan detachment i eliminated too (3) Milan is aiwaye fired separately trom the platoons own weapon eves end in addition to ‘hem, (a), All mech platoons alvaye have Car! Gustav and LAW and fire thes in the normal way Vehicle Profiles 'B Class Vehicles A faity important point on ‘whieh I remarked in-my profile. of this game it The fact that Soviet tanks in detllade recive 1 ‘modifier ‘on the Lose Mocification Table, 3: ‘Seposed 10 "2 forall other tanks. Thi etect the ‘ct, proven In combat. that becalte of the Very mal angle of depression of their main guns owe 3 dearee — {the penalty for having such low {rete} Soviet tanks cannot make or eeetve ee ot Geilade postions. ar can tanks which can Seprest their gune farther: this puts tiem at Sieadvantage in tank-to-tank iin, Unfortunately the modifior which penalises Soviet tanks, all of which, have 9 "8" profile, applies ally to aif other "8 voici, a eaagory wien Inoludes all Bitty APCs and THs and most West German nes, even though these most certainly do fot" sutfer from the Soviet problem, this can rocuce some diffcuit situations for the NATO layer m scanarios which do not elude US unis, {Tne simple, sonable end justifiable solution is sirmply ths loss modifier of “1 In defile spolig ‘ni to Soviet tanks and ail other vehiles receive the standard 2 moditer