World At War: 1987
coldfront.net channel is /join #WaW1987
coldfront.net channel is /join #WaW1987
Welcome to my war game, World At War: 1987 which centers around the Third World War between Warsaw Pact and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The start date
is March 12th, 1987 the day in which the Soviet Union and its allies launched Operation Proletariat Sword a last ditch effort to defeat the West. In this alternate history the Strategic Defense Initiative was deployed successfully in late 1986 leading to a geopolitical crisis that quickly intensified the Cold War. With its nuclear arsenal nullified the Warsaw Pact realized that their time was coming to an end. The Soviets began to prepare for war by ordering the build up of its military forces along the West German border and in the eastern half of its empire to prepare for an unprecedented invasion of the United States.
You take on the role of brigade and company commanders of the 8th Infantry Division, known commonly as "Pathfinder". Already stationed at Bad Kreuznach they have seen the steady buildup of NATO forces in the Fulda Gap of three pathways that WarPact troops were expected to pass through to not only conquer West Germany but breach the French border. At game start their invasion has swept through the gap and defeated allied forces at Fulda in a brief battle early in the morning of March 12th, 1987. Currently WarPact forces are moving swiftly toward Frankfurt and then to Mainz in order to form a foothold at the Rhine River.
How To Play
The game will be played in turns usually covering 1 week in game time . Movement will take place on a hexe map made by Hexagrapher. I will utilize die rolls as well consider strategy/tactics in determining the success of orders and random events. Turns will take 4 days in real time to play out or faster if we get all our orders in on time.
I will be using different colors sprayed indicating unit presence. As you can see
At its basic level your objective will be to find enemy units, engage them, and render them worthless to the enemy preferably by total destruction. You will have more specific objectives like ensuring that certain bases, cities, and positions do not fall into the hands of the enemy while other times you may be sent to simply search and destroy the enemy without worrying about protecting positions. Losing certain locations like a highway or base could lose you support options and supply points for the next week or scenario.
Orders are simple:
A-Company, 1st Brigade move 4 hexes north. Engage enemy unit (*).
Or, A-Company, 1st Brigade hold at current hexe (or if at a location I want you to specify the city or base.) There's not hexe key for these maps but i'll make sure you all end up where you're supposed to.
Please bold all orders. Unbolded orders will not be counter. Also read the rules multiple times before sending orders or asking me how I do this or that. Oftentimes people will not read everything and ask a question thats already been answered in the rules.
Initially we will have 4 player slots open, the brigade commanders and the division commander. If there is enough interest I will open up battalion commander slots. The chain of command goes Division Commander over Brigade Commanders over Battalion Commanders. The division commander controls all support assets including artillery.
Unit Movement
All units have 20 strength points representing their numbers, firepower, morale, and exhaustion. Once you go below 5 SP your units may run away or refuse orders.
Infantry Units: can move 5 hexes a turn (10 hexes on good roads)
Artillery Units: can strike any hexe within 10 hexes of its position, diminishes enemy unit strength in a targeted hexe if successful, our artillery will often be tasked against enemy units elsewhere
Aviation/Helicopter Unit: this unit refers to helicopters which can provide some fire power in a hexe or transport units on the other side of the map
Recon: a special forces unit that is dropped by helicopter behind enemy lines to gather intelligence, recon support will be limited due to their relative small numbers compared to regular infantry divisions
Close-Air Support (CAS): attacks by aircraft against enemy elements in direct support of our units (must have a unit within 10 hexes of enemy unit to call in CAS)
Mechanized Support: this represents support from tanks and other armored vehicles, can move 10 hexes a turn (20 hexes on good roads), mechanized support is useful in countering enemy armor but also laying down heavy firepower on infantry and enemy positions, although we have our own armor regiments they will often be deployed against enemy armor rather than aid infantry
Engineer Unit: engineers build fortifications and trenches, which boosts the strength of a unit even beyond the standard 20 strength points.
Another important aspect of the game is Supply Points (SP) that represents our ability to resupply and replenish our ranks. SP isn't really earned from successful completion of objectives directly but from keeping open supply routes and being in a position to receive supplies. 1 SP replenishes a unit’s strength by 1 point. A unit connected to a supply route in some shape or form can receive 20 to 100 SP per week. If disconnected then no SP will be received unless it is scavenged. A random die roll will occur and you may receive 0 thru 20 SP.
The smallest “unit” in terms of game mechanics is a company or regiment.
Support may be in abundance or limited depending on the overall situation.
Terrain and weather will have an impact on your unit movements. If it rains heavily for a couple of days your units will be charged an additional hex of movement for traveling through muddy grounds. It could also render units stuck and worthless until rescued so be weary. Also you shouldn’t order units through mountains or forests if in real life they could not perform such a movement. These kind of orders will automatically be nullified.
The Enemy
I will be playing the enemy. Enemy units will operate in much the same fashion as our own units but their positions and tactics will of course be unknown unless intelligence is successfully gathered. Enemy units will spawn randomly although at times you may be able to figure out a pattern of movement. Satellite intelligence can give a general overview of the situation on the map but exact unit movements must be discovered through recon and logical deduction.
The enemy will have its own supply points and number of units which must be diminished and overcome to win the scenario unless the enemy decides it best to withdraw forces to other areas which leads to victory without necessarily having to reduce their SP and unit numbers.
Enemy units as well allied for that matter will have generic designations because trying to have accurate unit names would take up too much time. So you'll see something like "67th Infantry Battalion (Soviet Union) approaching" although a unit of that designation may not have existed or may not have been even close to the region.
How To Win
War Exhaustion will be something to keep in mind. Losing a scenario, having armies surrender, or seeing entire nations make peace with the enemy contributes to the war exhaustion of our side (NATO). We start off with 0% war exhaustion with 100% needed for the enemy to declare victory. This would take quite awhile however, even years in game time but it does exist.
Winning scenarios and forcing enemy nations and armies to surrender will build our Victory Score which starts is March 12th, 1987 the day in which the Soviet Union and its allies launched Operation Proletariat Sword a last ditch effort to defeat the West. In this alternate history the Strategic Defense Initiative was deployed successfully in late 1986 leading to a geopolitical crisis that quickly intensified the Cold War. With its nuclear arsenal nullified the Warsaw Pact realized that their time was coming to an end. The Soviets began to prepare for war by ordering the build up of its military forces along the West German border and in the eastern half of its empire to prepare for an unprecedented invasion of the United States.You take on the role of brigade and company commanders of the 8th Infantry Division, known commonly as "Pathfinder". Already stationed at Bad Kreuznach they have seen the steady buildup of NATO forces in the Fulda Gap of three pathways that WarPact troops were expected to pass through to not only conquer West Germany but breach the French border. At game start their invasion has swept through the gap and defeated allied forces at Fulda in a brief battle early in the morning of March 12th, 1987. Currently WarPact forces are moving swiftly toward Frankfurt and then to Mainz in order to form a foothold at the Rhine River.
How To Play
The game will be played in turns usually covering 1 week in game time . Movement will take place on a hexe map made by Hexagrapher. I will utilize die rolls as well consider strategy/tactics in determining the success of orders and random events. Turns will take 4 days in real time to play out or faster if we get all our orders in on time.
I will be using different colors sprayed indicating unit presence. As you can see
At its basic level your objective will be to find enemy units, engage them, and render them worthless to the enemy preferably by total destruction. You will have more specific objectives like ensuring that certain bases, cities, and positions do not fall into the hands of the enemy while other times you may be sent to simply search and destroy
the enemy without worrying about protecting positions. Losing certain locations like a highway or base could lose you support options and supply points for the next week or scenario.Orders are simple:
A-Company, 1st Brigade move 4 hexes north. Engage enemy unit (*).
Or, A-Company, 1st Brigade hold at current hexe (or if at a location I want you to specify the city or base.) There's not hexe key for these maps but i'll make sure you all end up where you're supposed to.
Please bold all orders. Unbolded orders will not be counter. Also read the rules multiple times before sending orders or asking me how I do this or that. Oftentimes people will not read everything and ask a question thats already been answered in the rules.
Initially we will have 4 player slots open, the brigade commanders and the division commander. If there is enough interest I will open up battalion commander slots. The chain of command goes Division Commander over Brigade Commanders over Battalion Commanders. The division commander controls all support assets including artillery.
Unit Movement
All units have 20 strength points representing their numbers, firepower, morale, and exhaustion. Once you go below 5 SP your units may run away or refuse orders.
Infantry Units: can move 5 hexes a turn (10 hexes on good roads)
Artillery Units: can strike any hexe within 10 hexes of its position, diminishes enemy unit strength in a targeted
hexe if successful, our artillery will often be tasked against enemy units elsewhere Aviation/Helicopter Unit: this unit refers to helicopters which can provide some fire power
in a hexe or transport units on the other side of the mapRecon: a special forces unit that is dropped by helicopter behind enemy lines to gather intelligence, recon support
will be limited due to their relative small numbers compared to regular infantry divisionsClose-Air Support (CAS): attacks by aircraft against enemy elements in direct support of our units (must have a unit within 10 hexes of enemy unit to call in CAS)
Mechanized Support: this represents support from tanks and other armored vehicles, can move 10 hexes a turn (20 hexes on good roads), mechanized support is useful in countering enemy armor but also laying down heavy firepower on infantry and enemy positions, although we have our own armor regiments they will often be deployed against enemy armor rather than aid infantry
Engineer Unit: engineers build fortifications and trenches, which boosts the strength of a unit even beyond the standard
20 strength points.Another important aspect of the game
is Supply Points (SP) that represents our ability to resupply and replenish our ranks. SP isn't really earned from successful completion of objectives directly but from keeping open supply routes and being in a position to receive supplies. 1 SP replenishes a unit’s strength by 1 point. A unit connected to a supply route in some shape or form can receive 20 to 100 SP per week. If disconnected then no SP will be received unless it is scavenged. A random die roll will occur and you may receive 0 thru 20 SP.The smallest “unit” in terms of game mechanics is a company or regiment.
Support may be in abundance or limited depending on the overall situation.
Terrain and weather will have an impact on your unit movements. If it rains heavily for a couple of days your units will be charged an additional hex of movement for traveling through muddy grounds. It could also render units stuck and worthless until rescued so be weary. Also you shouldn’t order units through mountains or forests if in real life they could not perform such a movement. These kind of orders will automatically be nullified.
The Enemy
I will be playing the enemy. Enemy units will operate in much the same fashion as our own units but their positions and tactics will of course be unknown unless intelligence is successfully gathered. Enemy units will spawn randomly although at times you may be able to figure out a pattern of movement. Satellite
intelligence can give a general overview of the situation on the map but exact unit movements must be discovered through recon and logical deduction.The enemy will have its own supply points and number of units which must be diminished and overcome to win the scenario unless the enemy decides it best to withdraw forces to other areas which leads to victory without necessarily having to reduce their SP and unit numbers.
Enemy units as well allied for that matter will have generic designations because trying to have accurate unit names would take up too much time. So you'll see something like "67th Infantry Battalion (Soviet Union) approaching" although a unit of that designation may not have existed or may not have been even close
to the region.How To Win
War Exhaustion will be something to keep in mind. Losing a scenario, having armies surrender, or seeing entire nations make peace with the enemy contributes to the war exhaustion of our side (NATO). We start
off with 0% war exhaustion with 100% needed for the enemy to declare victory. This would take quite awhile however, even years in game time but it does exist.
at 0%. We must achieve 100% to force a victorious end to the war.How To Join
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