WWIII 1985 [Long War]
I’m going to game a few battles of a fictional WWIII setup with a few aspects drawn from the current war in Ukraine but applied to 1985 instead of today – especially the expectation of a short war that turns into a long (as in several years long) affair.
Maps will be max size but simplified to save on time - takes me too long to build otherwise.
NATO/Western forces will mostly follow real OOBs but Warsaw Pact (AI) forces will be generated.
I’ll play it as a few improvised campaigns. The core forces will focus on fighting elements to allow them to gain experience over time. Trucks, transports and engineer vehicles will be provided as AUX units. Supporting troops like artillery, AA, Engineers, Recon and the like will typically be portioned out “static” assignments to battlegroups. (This will at time include heavy SAMs.)
I’ll use some house rules:
- “logistics” - each company formation will have two ammo carriers that can resupply the weapon systems of that company but not other weapon systems. Example: the ammo section of a Marder IFV company can carry 20mm, Milan ATGM, Stinger munition but not reload 120mm mortar, 105mm tank or say heavy SAMs. All ammo sections can carry small arms ammo and reload infantry sections including inf AT-teams that are not ATGMs.
- “engineers” - each engineer squad equals five on map mines/obstacles. Engineer vehicles generates double mine/obstacle points when digging trenches.
- “recovery” - AFV recovery crews and vehicles will be provided as AUX forces - with limited combat power. Friendly AFVs that are immobilized during play will need to end the battle adjacent to a recovery unit to stand a chance of being repaired.
- “captured kit” - recovery units can also be used to attempt to capture abandoned enemy AFVs.
- Battles will be 90 turns.
WWIII 1985 [Long War]
Threaded Mode