...a long long time ago :-)

The project has taken up speed. After having lost a couple of months while waiting for the verdict of a big publisher interested in the game, we are on the road againg. In fact they still seemed to be interested but nothing was happening, so I told them to send my playtest copy back (which has still not arrived btw).

That was when I started considering about self-publishing and the same day (no kidding) I was preparing a file to send to a game-manufacturing company another publisher contacted me.

Tey are really interested in the game and are willing to do their utmost to see it published.

The steps taken for now are:
as mentioned, the publisher checked the feasability and is positive
a Vassal module is in the making to playtest the monster (although the sub-systems work well, the whole game has until now only been playtested solo and by me alone)
a call to find playtesters has been launched and I'm still in need to find more, so don't hesitate to join the Red Striker Brigade :-)

Tactical Nuclear Warfare

AAR Tactical Nuclear War

The WP launched 5 nuclear attacks in front of their 3rd Army in the area Göttingen/Hannover. The magnitude of each attack will be small (out of three possible: small, medium, massive), as the missile units (SSM) used are SS-1c and SS-21 equipped.

Before the attacks are resolved, the following happens:

DEFCON track: +1 (from 4 to 3), if it reaches 1, the game ends immediately

World Opinion: 1 in favor of NATO (due to only small nuclear attacks) (important for Victory Points)

Victory Points: +5 in favor of NATO

Nuclear Attacks are always successful (except if any ABM units are present in the hex and are successfully intercepting the missiles). Small nuclear attacks result in 4 hits which have to be distributed equally between assault units.

The result of these five small nuclear attacks:

Destroyed: 23rd UK Engineer Regiment, 20th UK Tank Brigade

Heavy damage (only 1 combat factor left): 4th GE PzGren Brigade, 9th GE Tank Brigade

Medium to heavy damage (2 or 3 combat factors left): 7th UK Tank Brigade, 22nd UK Tank Brigade, 20th GE Tank Brigade, 33rd GE Tank Brigade

The city of Göttingen has been totally destroyed. One of Hannover's two hexes is destroyed.

Now the NATO player may roll a d100. If the roll is less than the total number of nuclear attacks (in this case 5) he may retaliate without waiting for political release of nuclear weapons.

British recce Tornados, US F-111 on a deep strike mission in Poland, an overview of the ground offensive, a Spetsnaz Raid and a ground combat example.
check out the pics on the site:
http://www.rince.lu/wargames/redstrike/RedStrikeproject_2_GT1.htm

2nd massive playtest, Game Turn 1

(check out the website to find the same narrative with pictures)

GAME TURN 1

August 1 and 2, 1989

STRATEGIC STAGE

World Opinion Phase

No change, no VPs earned

Cards Phase

No cards on GT1

Assessing Reinforcements Phase

NATO reinforcements



· US 4450th TFG (F-117A Stealth Fighter/Bomber) will become available

· US 401 TFW (612,613 and 614 TFS) arrives with their F-16C multi-role aircraft at Bitburg/Spangdahlem airbase from Torrejon, Spain

· US 197th and 194th Brigades will become available at their POMCUS sites

· FR 24th Infantry Regiment will move into Paris, the FR 9th Marines Division enters play



WP reinforcements



· USSR: 3 Divisions and 6 ½ Brigades / CSSR: 1 Division, 1 airborne units and several support units will arrive in CSSR and GDR map edge hexes

· The Polish and Soviet Baltic Fleets may enter the map through any baltic full sea map edge hex during any eligible movement phase



ADMINISTRATIVE STAGE

Unit Assignment Phase

Both sides assign unit modes to their ground and air units.

Supply Phase

Skipped on GT1. All units are automatically in supply.

Initiative Determination Phase

As per scenario instructions, the WP starts the game as nitiative player. The marker is placed on the tracks display.

Weather Phase

Optional rule not used.

FIRST ACTION STAGE / Initiative Frontline Offensive

First Movement Phase

First Initiative Segment The shooting starts with a massive cruise missile strike of the WP against the Air Defence Network installations of NATO. This well organized strike is executed by 323 long range bombers from their bases in the Western Soviet Union: Tu-16K, Tu-22K, Tu-22M3, Tu-160 and Tu-95MS which launch their AS-4 “Kitchen”, AS-6 “Kingfish”, KH-55 and AS-15A “Kent A” cruise missiles from a safe distance well over East German territory. The first hours of the war see the Air Defence Network of the 4 ATAF severely damaged and becomes limited operational. The 2 ATAF fares better and stays operational at first.



Click on pictures to maximize.





The air units at their base on the offensive mission track. 3 Tu-16K units are chosen to conduct this mission.





The counters are put on the Strategic Map on Hex D25. From here the movement starts. The units have a movement allowance of 171 MPs (1 per Operational Hexes), 1 Strategic Hex counts for 10 MPs.

It takes 40 MPs for the 4 ST hexes and 5 for the transitional hex.





The air mission enters the operational map on the easternmost hex anywhere inside the transitional hex. From now on the air unit will move at 1 MP per hex cost.

You can see the use of the optional air mission marker to hide information from the other player. Of course, once the aircraft were detected this marker is removed.





The air mission moves some more hexes to put the target into range of their cruise missiles. The target is the CRC Lauda of 4 ATAF.





As visible on this close-up (click on picture to maximize) of the air unit counters, the cruise missile symbol has the following informations: missile silhouette, missile name, range expressed in operational hexes.





The outcome of the strike is determined by cross-referencing the type of missile on the missile table with the target to find out the hit probability. 1 D100 roll per air unit executing a strike mission. On a roll of 1-57 the strike is successful and 1 hit is achieved on the ADN installation.





In this case 2 of 3 missile strikes scored a hit. Hits are recorded on the respective player aid.



The Tu-16K and Tu-22M3 long range bombers of the Baltic Fleet launch their cruise missiles over the Baltic Sea against the ADN of the 2 ATAF and score 2 more hits, in effect putting the air defences of 2 ATAF on limited operational status.


The next air mission is a reconnaissance mission on ADN Freising. The Su-17R is detected but the German F-4 interceptors based at Neuburg do not start. They rather wait for the strike mission. The recon mission on ADN Lauda was successful too. The Su-24R from Welzow did also manage to reconnoitre the GE 5th Mech Bde on the road to Fulda.

The GDR Mig-21R unit from Preschen could bring back valuable informations about the defensive positions of the GE 7th Mech Bde south of Hamburg.


CZ Mig-21MF on a bombing mission to CRC Freising are detected by AWACS well inside the CSSR. GE F-4F of the JG 74 based at Neuburg alarm start to intercept the Czech. The first air battle of World War 3 is about to happen. The Germans have only been detected in the same hex by the Mig-21, so combat results are applied simultaneously. The Mig-21 on strike mission wisely decide to jettison their air-ground ordnance and may now defend themselves using ½ of their anti-air rating. The Mig air attack dr is 1. The F-4 ECM dr is 4. The F-4 attack dr is 10. This means that the Germans take 1 hit, the Czech none. Both units return to their airbases, the Czech because they jettisoned their bombs and are now unable to continue their strike mission, the Germans because they took a hit and their interception mission is considered concluded. Another interception mission might initiated right now.






The Soviet 911th APIB with target CRC Freising was early detected and the US 22nd TFS (F-15C) from Bitburg/Spangdahlem took to the air to intercept them. One hex short of the target air-air combat between the F-15C and Mig-27 on escort mission happened. Even though the F-15 succeeded in approaching the Russians without being detected, the battle was inconclusive The Mig-27 on strike mission attacked successfully the CRC Freising scoring 4 hits. Their bombardment rating was augmented from 5 to 8 due to special forces on LRRP. The dr was 2 which resulted in 2 hits. Those were doubled because a successful recce mission was conducted vs the target. CRC Freising is destroyed and AND 4 ATAF is out of service. No more automatic detection while crossing the IGB and no more ADN ground-air combat. This is an important achievement for the WP.







The SOC Brokzetel in Northern Germany is the next target. The 3rd and 4th Independent Soviet SSM Brigades of the Western Group of Forces launch a salvo of their SS-12 missiles with HE and achieve two hits. (hit probability 54%)





The 5th and 6th Independent Soviet SSM Brigades miss the CRC Erndtebrück installations with their SS-23 missiles, as do most of the other missile units with their SS-1c "Scud". The 36th SSM Brigade of the 3rd Soviet Army finally scores a hit on the ADN installations. This means that ADN of the 2 ATAF is out of service.



From now on there is no more automatic ADN ground-air combat over Western-Germany! The first step to air superiority.

The next three missions are reconnaissance air-missions over West-German troops south of Hamburg and eas of Hannover. One of the Polish recce air-units is downed while the other achieve their goal.

Polish and Soviet strike missions try to hit the reconnoitred ground units, without much effect though. One of the missions is successfully intercepted by the Dutch F-16 and NF-5A taking off at Twente airbase.

Setup for playtest 2

Hi there,
the setup for the second playtesting session is done. After more than 150 actions of rectifying and smoothing and adding and subtracting and embellishing etc. the second playtest should start right now.
Already another couple of points have been found to make the game better.

Playtest

GAME TURN 1

August 1 and 2, 1989

STRATEGIC STAGE

World Opinion

No change, no VPs earned

Strategic Cards

NATO player draws and plays event on Scard Al Qaida: “Muslim Uprising in the USSR. Reduce SP supply level by 30 SPs”

WP player draws and plays event on Scard French Nukes: “No more french reinforcements or replacements for entire game”

Comment: NATO player grins at Muslims seemingly joining their side, but the French almost bailing out of the upcoming conflict is a bitter pill to swallow.

Battle Cards

WP player draws 1 more Bcard which he adds to the 3 already dealt during setup. He draws and keeps secret the following cards:

· Landsturm (which he may use to counter the same NATO Bcard)

· Entrench (defending units bonus)

· Flexible defense (defending units bonus)

· C3i Failure (no deliberate formations, halve all ground unit MA)

NATO player draws ? (secret, after all)

Comment: the 2 defensive cards are not very useful at this point of the game (at least for WP), but the C3i Failure card is a mighty bonus as it will keep NATO units from moving AND putting up deliberate defense along the whole front during GT1!

Reinforcements

NATO reinforcements

· UK 2^nd Armored Division will enter play in any any full sea map edge hex under a TRANS counter

· US 401 TFW (612,613 and 614 TFS) arrive at Bitburg/Spangdahlem airbase from Torrejon, Spain

WP reinforcements

· 5 Soviet Divisions, 1 Czech Division, 2 airborne units and several support units will arrive in CSSR and GDR map edge hexes

· The Polish and Soviet Baltic Fleets may enter the map through any baltic full sea map edge hex during any eligible movement phase

· Several soviet Su-24 and Su-17 fighter-bomber regiments arrive on east-german airbases and the long-range bombers of the 46^th Air Army are available

Naval Strategic Movement

NATO

· US Los Angeles class SSN move from the East Atlantic to the West Atlantic

· A UK Task Force and a US SSN group enters the BCE map from the West Atlantic box

· One of the smaller norvegian task forces cruises off the coast of Stavanger (coming from the North Atlantic)

WP

3 Soviet Task Forces enter the Operational Map from the North Atlantic. They detect the US submarines but as they are out of range, no attack. On the other hand the US submarines attack one Soviet Task Force and score 3 hits. One of the Soviet TFs detects and attacks a Norwegian TF and sinks one of their subs.

Thus the first shots fired damage three soviet surface ships and sink a norwegian submarine. We write August 3^rd 1989 and the biggest clash of all times has started.

Unit Assignment Phase

Both sides assign unit modes to their ground and air units.

Supply Phase

Skipped on GT1. All units are automatically in supply.

Initiative Determination Phase

As per scenario instructions, the WP starts the game as initiative player. The marker is placed on the tracks display.

Weather Phase

Optional rule not used.

First Initiative Segment / Initiative Frontline Offensive

After discussing the main objectives of the first strikes and the means to destroy these objectives, the ground war starts with a massive missile strike of the WP against the Air Defence Network installations of NATO.

Due to the very poor accuracy of Scud-B missiles these are not launched, but the SS-23 missile is the best choice at hand for small targets. The only two SS-23 units fire at Messtetten (1hit) and Lauda (miss) ADN installations. The follow up missile strike is executed by the SS-21 regiments. Brokzetel and Visselhövede both are missed. All of the attacks were made with HE warheads.

The next step is the long range bomber attack with AS-15A Kent cruise missiles from the TU-142 Bear-F bombers. One hit scored on each, Börfink and Lauda ADN.

A soviet submarine group attacks a lone danish MCM in the Skagerrak Sea Zone and sinks it.

A Soviet TF (consisting of 1xCA, 2xFF, 1xSSN, 1xSS) attacks a west-german naval detachment (1xMCM, 1xSS) off the danish east coast. The german submarine scores a hit on the soviet SSN.

A Soviet TF of the Baltic Fleet (1xCA, 1xDD, 1xSS, 1xFAC) found a danish force of FF and SS south of Copenhague. The danish force was sunk, the Soviets taking no hit.

The WP player decides to play his C3i battle card (Bcard) which is immediately countered by the NATO player. This card would have halved the movement allowance of all NATO units and deliberate formations would have been interdicted to NATO units. The NATO player decides to play his Landsturm Bcard which would give him a DR modifier in his favor during the whole GT. This one is also countered by the WP player.

The WP air offensives foremost target is to eliminate the strong NATO ADN installation. A first wave of reconnaissance aircraft make their appearance in germans skies. The successful reconnoitering will double any ensuing hits by air-ground combat. The sites of Erndtebrück, Messtetten and Brokzetel are successfully reconnoitred.

The next waves of WP aircraft try to break through the wall of Hawk and Nike missiles. After having taken heavy losses due to anti-air missiles, ground unit AAA and a strong interception effort from airbases throughout Germany the WP air strikes put the air sectors of ATAF2 and ATAF4 on limited operational status.

The WP losses are one soviet reconnaissane unit, two complete Czech MiG-23 regiments and 22 hits on East German, Soviet and Polish air units. That equals about 300 aircraft lost in this first big air battle pitching the Reds vs the Blues. NATO losses are about a dozen US F-16 aircraft lost on interception missions and the AND station at Brokzetel is permanently destroyed.

Counter density

More details about the counter density as seen on my setup pictures.

1) my homemade counters are roughly double the thickness of normal industrial counters (see pic attached with the biggest "setup" stack of 16 counters)

2) the stacking rules: not more than 5 regimental equivalents (RE) per hex. With a batallion counted as 1/2 RE, a big maximum of 10 counters in a hex.

3) the picture shows the setup of the game. There will be a pre-war GT movement phase in which both players may/must move their units (additionally all eligible units are assigned a mode). At the end of this special movement phase stacking rules are in effect.

4) one of the goals of the playtest is to see wether counter density is too high. French divisions for example are represented by 1 counter whereas german and US divisions are broken down into brigades + HQs.