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 Third World War series (GDW & Compass Games, 2022)
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 [F] CSW Forum  / Boardgaming  / *INDIVIDUAL GAMES AND GAME SERIES Discussion  / Era: Contemporary  / Potential Conflicts  / Third World War series (GDW & Compass Games, 2022)

 

The Third World War series of games from GDW cover a hypothetical NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict that spans the central European theater from the Arctic to the Mediterranean, plus the Near East (Iran, Iraq, etc.) The series consists of four games published between 1984 and 1986:

The games can be played as stand-alone games, or can be combined into a monster Combined Game that provides an exciting look at a conflict that (thankfully) never happened. A file containing the consolidated errata from all four games is attached below. In addition the these published games, there have been some expansions/variants developed as fanware, namely a Korean Peninsula expansion, a South African variant, a Sino-Soviet variant, and an ambitious Global expansion.

 

Compass Games TWW page - https://www.compassgames.com/product/the-third-world-war-designer-signature-edition/ 

 

Dave Clark's Korean Expansion - http://members.shaw.ca/da_clark/tww/korean_front/index.html (This site has gone MIA.)

 

Chris F's Google Drive site for archive of (GDW edition) TWW-related files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7A0y_YzDE4VdGpPNjhKeHpjYjQ?usp=sharing



Attachment:

GDW Third World War Series Errata 1986p.pdf



Older Items Oldest Items Outline (older msg: 3406)

Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 8:10 pm (#3407 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
A few months after Persian Gulf, we managed a campaign of the other three games.

This was a 3-player game, where we reduced workload and provided a certain degree of parallelism by handing each player two fronts: One played the Pact in Central Front and the Norwegians in Arctic Front, one played NATO in Central Front and the Pact in Southern Front, and one played the Pact in Arctic Front and NATO in Southern Front.

This way each of us had some attacking and some defending to do, each got a taste of NATO and of the Pact, and the workload was also balanced to a degree, although the two Central Front players of course had the most activity on their hands which may have sort of affected their level of activity in the other games, and certainly played havoc with my ability to keep track of other theatres. There were situations where one could not really follow in detail the moves on "the other front", which may have led to some slips. However, six players were not available and overall I thought it worked really well especially given that 3-player games are not so numerous, and I would do it this way again.

(As usual, to see full size pictures, right click on "view image" or click on the attachments at the bottom.)

The pictures below show the setup. We did set up some countries ahead of time IIRC just to see what it looked like. Many of the image angles may look odd; this is a very well lit room but as a result it can be difficult to get an angle without some light source reflecting in the plexiglass.








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Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 8:28 pm (#3408 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
Turn 1: The initial WP airstrikes were fairly focused, concentrating on runway cratering (with limited effect) and bombardment of a few highly stacked city sites, in particular Berlin and Nuremberg actually being hit. A main problem was that the weather was pretty bad, and we remembered the rounding rule wrongly so that the WP flew most of its fighters in a bid for air superiority but then contributed nothing to the strength and NATO gained superiority. (I think we noted later that this was actually wrong and the factors were rounded up, but by that time most of the game was over.) But the single unit that was eliminated by the cratering happened to be the F-19 stealth unit, to great NATO complaints.



In the south, the Bulgarians crossed into Turkey, with the southern air units also delivering some attacks on stacks in European Turkey. The eastern flank of the Bulgarians attacked into Greece but initially just created casualties on both sides as the Greeks held fast.



There were some heavy bombardments of Norwegian units in the north as the Russians crossed the border.


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Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 8:33 pm (#3409 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
The WP attempted some narrow breakthroughs. The US 11 Recon regiment was driven back from the border by an attack of five divisions, but south of it, the 3rd Mechanized gave the Soviets a bloody nose and stopped their drive on Wuerzburg right at the border, with 2 disruptions for all of them. Berlin was not yet attacked. An attack on 2 Panzer east of Hamburg by six divisions was very lucky, badly hurting the defenders who fell back into the swamps north of the city with 3 disruptions, but at losses to the Soviets. The biggest NATO disaster was the attack by four divisions on the British 4th Armoured which was destroyed, leaving the left flank of the defense of Hannover open and potentially allowing an early crossing of the Weser.

Attacks east of Nuremberg began to push back the NATO cordon.

Unfortunately no records have survived of the air war; NATO was generally more active in supporting its units but unlucky in the air. Losses were almost equal in this phase, but the NATO units lost were generally high value units, such as a F-15 unit, and at some later point an A-10 unit.





The Second Echelon sub-phase saw the Soviets and Czechs encircling a German Panzergrenadier division east of Nuremberg, a full strength followup assault against the 2nd Panzergrenadier Division southeast of Braunschweig, and a bridgehead being formed across the Weser north of Hannover. Berlin was completely surrounded and assaulted from three directions (i.e., much of the surrounding forces were held in reserve). Hamburg was spared until more units could be brought on.


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Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 8:37 pm (#3410 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
The fight got really hot and I was not able to take photos consistently, so the allocation to phases is sort of a reconstruction. during the NATO reserve phase I did not get around to taking photos. Below is what had happened afterwards. The big assaults on Hannover and Berlin did not take their targets. In fact the Hannover attack rolled really well, inflicting damage on the defenders, but the retreat result could be ignored. But at least the fall of Hannover seemed closer. The attack on Berlin dealt a bloody nose to the attackers. This was bad since I desperately wanted those units to be able to join the push into West Germany.

But the big success came south of Braunschweig. A furious attack pushed the German 2nd Panzergrenadier Division out of the line (3 disruptions) with exploitatin pushing several hexes to the west. The most dramatic attack still coming was against the German 2nd Panzer west of Braunschweig.

The center, from Kassel (with the British 3rd Armoured holed up in it) to Wuerzburg, was holding well.

In the south, the Soviets and Czechs drove a wedge into the front around Regensburg, whose defenders were badly handled and came adjacent to Nuremberg and close to Munich.



Again, in the WP Second Echelon Sub-Phase there were no photos.

In the center, a renewed attack on the 3rd Mech in front of Wuerzburg inflicted some disruption but did not gain ground. Nuernberg and then Augsburg were taken but their disrupted defenders managed to fall back and hang on to Munich for the moment as the French moved forward to try and maintain a NATO line in Swabia and western Bavaria.

In the north, the Soviets had taken Luebeck and Kiel and started executing amphibious landings in Denmark to cut off some of the troops that had retreated over the border.

Berlin's defenses were finally crushed in two assault waves and the reinforcements could stream towards the German border. Hamburg was merely screened. A massive assault was launched on Hanover and managed to inflict two disruptions. However, the most momentous actions took place south of Hanover, as a series of attacks levered the NATO line out of position, as the 7th German Panzer was levered away from the Weser and its weak backstop, the British 5th Armoured Regiment, was knocked out of Bielefeld and its reserves, the 1st Dutch Mech division, all the way back to the Ruhr leaving Osnabrueck as the flank. This opened a corridor wide enough so that in the second echelon impulse, the Soviets could race forward and reach Dortmund with three divisions.



In the second impulse, the Soviets eliminated the Dutch in Essen (demoralising the Netherlands and so preventing further Dutch reinforcements in Germany), spreading out across the Ruhr area. These troops would have to hold out until reliaved. A further attack pushed the D3 level 7th Panzer south into the mountains, and arriving Polish reinforcements from Berlin bolstered the flanks against the expected counterattacks. Another attack on Hanover saw limited gains.


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Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 8:41 pm (#3411 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
Slightly different perspective.



NATO Central Front ground unit deadpile.



Meanwhile in the North... the Soviets were grinding steadily past the Norwegian roadblocks.


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Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 8:46 pm (#3412 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
In the south, the Pact had made limited headway into Turkey, but the Greeks had largely stymied the Bulgarians. However a gap south of Plovdiv had been exploited and a Romanian mountain unit had reached the Med.



In a violent reaction to the breakthrough in North Germany, NATO pulled back across the Central Front, partly to free the V Corps forces from the Fulda Gap and use them for a desperate counterattack against the breakthrough.

In the South, Munich was abandoned and a new line formed along the Schwarzwald over Stuttgart to Karlsruhe.

In the Center, a roadblock was left but Mannheim-Frankfurt was the new position. Two attacks were launched against the breakthrough from the south, one from Kassel and environs spearheaded by the British, and one along the Rhine by the retargeted V Corps.

In the north, token forces were left in Hamburg and Hanover, while the Bundeswehr launched a northern pincer through Osnabrueck and Muenster.

In the photo, the British and German attacks had already gone in, eliminating the 1st and 2nd Polish Guards armor divisions.



The US counterattack eliminated the Soviet division holding Dortmund and cut off the rest of the Ruhr from the Soviet front. However, the Soviets put whatever air they had available into a massive strike on the German forces in the plain between Muenster and Essen and managed to severely disrupt them. Still, two US divisions were now occupying Dortmund and linking up with that pincer. A major stack in the mountains had to be left untouched.


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Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 8:52 pm (#3413 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
View from the south...



In the next air phase, neither side having had much luck with runway cratering, NATO switched to supply interdiction, causing some Pact units to go unsupplied, but not terribly many. The other highlight in the air phase was the temporary removal of the US F-111 unit from the fight to AA fire, to the cheers of the WP side and the howls of the NATO side.

The Pact units pushed forward again, putting some light guards on the rear area NATO garrisons, and following up the NATO retreats in the north and south.



And the deadpile enlarged.


3ww_P1090475e

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Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 9:03 pm (#3414 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
With Hamburg taken, now it was Bremen that was encircled and attacked, though with initially little effort. The initial Pact attack pushed the NATO forces out of Osnabrueck. This opens a corridor south of Bremen, and the Pact spearheads race past Oldenburg, cross the Ems, the Dutch border, and reach Arnhem. This reopens the supply line to the forces ensconced in Essen and Duesseldorf.

At the cost of some disruptions, the attacks into the points push 7Pz out of position, and now the Pact troops in southern Germany are moved sideways to cut off the US and British troops west of Kassel, while only a thin screen remains in southern Germany. The methodical clearing of Danish forces up north continues.





Meanwhile the Soviets gained control of the Norwegian airspace and began landing at various ports in Norway.


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Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 9:08 pm (#3415 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
After some consideration, the Central Front NATO player declared defeat and we ended the game. The southern front was stalemated but we could see that Norway was done for. Total playing time over four evenings was about 8 hours.






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Markus_St - Jul 21, 2018 9:14 pm (#3416 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
Below the loss pile, NATO air status, and here the final overview.



3ww_losses_P1090723s


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Steve Penn - Jul 24, 2018 9:02 am (#3417 Total: 4729)  

 
[Penn, Steve]
Very Cool

Enjoyed reading the synopsis of the game and looking at the great pictures. I have the three games that you have have laid out in your session. I'm only missing the Persian Gulf. Never been able to play any of them yet, but some day I will. It was cool to read how the separate fronts played differently.

Lee Hanna - Jul 24, 2018 11:23 am (#3418 Total: 4729)  

[Hanna, Lee]
Great to see! The Pact forces in Germany seemed to do their best in what I think remains the critical sector, north of the Fulda Gap and straight to the Ruhr. Were Pact airborne forces used at all? I didn't catch it in my quick read of your reports.

Markus_St - Jul 25, 2018 4:19 am (#3419 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
Too afraid of them being shot down I think (which may have been an error, you obviously can't be queasy about such things as the Pact).

Delnore - Jul 26, 2018 9:10 am (#3420 Total: 4729)  

 
[Delnore]
I think there is good reason to suppose that Soviet desant forces wouldn't actually have been expended in division-sized drops in central Europe.

Looking at your map, I am not so sure NATO actually lost the Battle for Germany. It is possible to wear down a Soviet penetration that reaches the Ruhr and Netherlands and eke out a win late in the game.

Vince Hughes - Jul 26, 2018 2:54 pm (#3421 Total: 4729)  

 
[Hughes, Vince]
The Desant troops were very effective in Scandinavia in our plays years back.

Delnore - Jul 26, 2018 3:35 pm (#3422 Total: 4729)  

 
[Delnore]
Yes, I think their more productive use would have been on the strategic flanks. Many years ago I made a comment in this forum about alternative uses of desant troops such as "special forces" type operations and internal security. It seems to me that desant troops' actual function during the Soviet era was serving as a politically-reliable force that could be rapidly deployed within the Soviet Union (a vast and poorly-connected country) in case of a local uprising. This was reason enough to maintain the force. Their wartime role may not have been settled.

Markus_St - Jul 27, 2018 2:33 am (#3423 Total: 4729)  

 
[Markus_St]
Looking at your map, I am not so sure NATO actually lost the Battle for Germany. It is possible to wear down a Soviet penetration that reaches the Ruhr and Netherlands and eke out a win late in the game.


Well, the Central Front player was the most experienced of us three. I think it was not just the penetration but that the Pact had been able to maintain a clear attrition advantage. NATO had lost a fair number of divisions outright, had lost some of the best air units, and another group of divisions had ended up not just cut off but encircled. There was no ready-made counterattack mass, and given the Soviet success in Norway, the strategic reserves were going to Germany because we saw that as the decisive point. So the Soviets would not have lacked mass by the time NATO would have counterattacked.

I do think the NATO player may have underestimated the remaining future punch of his air force, since the Pact readiness rolls had tended to be pretty bad (unfortunately it seems I didn't take a picture of the Central Front Pact air display at the end) and it looked as if a turning point might be reached. We kept waiting for the Pact air to be swept from the sky, but they had more luck in air combat than in maintenance. This likely wouldn't have lasted forever.

The CRT potentially makes it possible to get out of nearly any hole by focusing on getting clean elimination results against individual stacks. But that's all in game terms where we always fight to the last counter. In real world terms, I think once the Pact was over the Rhine in force and in supply (and they would have been on their next phase), combined with the loss of Norway, that was it.

The French would have had an opportunity to lead a counterpunch in the south, at least temporarily, but we didn't see that as decisive.

Jeff Turner - Jul 27, 2018 2:42 am (#3424 Total: 4729)  

 
[Turner, Jeff]
I played the combined four games three times years ago solitaire.

One victory was a big NATO victory, the second a draw, and the final one a big Pact victory. NO nukes were used.

The key is properly using the Pact echelon mechanics to keep NATO from forming a solid line.

That is what I think from playing it as above. Great fun it was!!

Vince Hughes - Jul 27, 2018 6:27 am (#3425 Total: 4729)  

 
[Hughes, Vince]
The key is properly using the Pact echelon mechanics to keep NATO from forming a solid line.

Exactement! Played Central Front four times with a 2-2 split. When NATO formed the line (using the rivers), they won. It takes a ballsey WP player to prevent this. They have to be bold with air forces but not profligate (and thats not an easy balance), and I think, just accept that their forces will all end up with a non-recoverable disruption hit. Then, do all that can to keep NATO off balance and prevent the line.

In my first game as WP, this happened to me. The NATO line formed and it was banging against a solid wall with little to no gain. I tried a Desant inspired flank around northern Italy to try to break the impasse, but this was easily seen off and/or blocked by Italian and French forces. I think the combined game offers more scope for WP by widening the flank northwards to Scandinavia. Things can be taken advantage of here.

Jeff Turner - Jul 27, 2018 6:46 am (#3426 Total: 4729)  

 
[Turner, Jeff]
Losses to the Pact do not matter many times, just keep feeding the divisions in regardless of the disruption hits. Try to produce a gap and then widen it.


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