War games

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One useful tool to educate people on how wars are fought is wargaming, or "conflict simulation." The following games which I designed over the years are in widely varying stages of completion. In some cases only a map is available, while in other cases, the game sets include a map, counters, and rules. Most of them have not been adequately play-tested. They are listed in reverse chronological order according to when I designed them. Note that the Western Front map is being revised extensively, as explained below. Anyone who is interested in obtaining a copy of one or more of these games may contact me at postmaster@andrewclem.com All of the maps shown on this page are rendered at the same scale, one-eighth of the vertical and horizontal dimensions, or 1/64th of the total area of the original. The full-size versions cover from two to eight full sheets of letter-size paper.

Roll mouse cursor over counter image to see a close up.

Wars in the Gulf:
Iran-Iraq, Desert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom

(2003)
COMPLEXITY: Difficult?
STATUS: Map & counters

This is a major revision to "Operation Desert Storm," which I created in 1991. Only a few weeks after I began graduate studies at the University of Virginia, Saddam Hussein conquered Kuwait, an unprecedented challenge to the United Nations. As U.S. forces were deployed to the region, I began working on a map and game to keep track of what was going on. The game has extensive rules on air power, ballistic missile attacks, as well as nuclear, chemical, and biological (NBC) warfare. Politics, diplomacy, and national morale also play a critical role in the game. The major historical campaign scenarios are:

• September 1980: Saddam Hussein launches a preemptive invasion of Iran.
• January 1991: "Desert Storm" -- U.S. leads a large coalition to liberate Kuwait.
• March 2003: "Iraqi Freedom" -- U.S. leads a small coalition to liberate Iraq.

Operation Enduring Freedom:
The U.S. crusade in Afghanistan

(2001)
COMPLEXITY: Moderate
STATUS: Map only
(rules available from Paul Haase)

This brigade/battalion-level game turned into a sort of collaborative effort with another war game enthusiast, Paul Haase. I made the map in the weeks after the September 11 attacks, as it became clear that the United States was going to intervene militarily against the radical Islamic Taliban government and the associated Al Qaeda terrorist movement, which had bases there. After making an inquiry with the grognard.com Web site (managed by Alan Poulter and others), I learned that another person had already devised rules for a U.S. intervention scenario, Mr. Paul Haase. His rules were a modification of the Holy War game published by Strategy and Tactics in 1988 or so, covering the resistance by mujaheddin guerrillas to the Soviet occupation forces during the 1980s. Since the map scale of that game was almost the same as the map I drew, the rules are suited for the map I made, which could also be used for a 1980s scenario, with some modifications. An important feature of this map is that each hex is numbered so that the Taliban player can conceal the deployments of his units by writing down orders, and placing "dummy" or "ersatz" counters on the map. The real world war turned out to be something of an anti-climax, however, as the Taliban regime quickly folded and Al Qaeda militants melted away into caves and/or fled abroad.

Serbs Against the World:
Wars in Yugoslavia, 1912-1999

(1999)
COMPLEXITY: Moderate
STATUS: Map only

The bloody Balkans are often ignored, but there have been many fascinating military campaigns there over the years, dating back at least to the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, when the Ottoman Turks crushed the Serbs. This game covers the entire 20th century, which necessitates certain special rules to cover changes in railoads and highways. It is on the division/brigade level. The historical campaign scenarios in this game are:

• 1912: First Balkan War -- Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece join to oust the Turks.
• 1913: First Balkan War -- Serbia and Greece join to oust the Bulgarians.
• March 1941: "Blitzkrieg" -- Nazis waste precious weeks crushing Yugoslavia.
• 1942-1944: "Resistance" -- Tito leads guerrillas against Nazi occupiers.
• 1991-1995: "Croatia" -- War of secession.
• 1993-1995: "Bosnia" -- War of secession, U.N., NATO intervention.
• 1999: "Kosovo" -- War of secession, U.S. intervention.

Battle of the Bulge

(1998)
COMPLEXITY: Easy
STATUS: Map & counters

LEVEL: Division/brigade Almost everyone knows about Germany's last big offensive in World War II, including the fact that it was a long shot: Everything had to go according to plan, or else all was lost. Thus, the main historical question is to what extent the Western Allies would be delayed in their conquest of Germany. A German "victory" in this game would translate into greater Soviet control over postwar Germany. In the game, the German player chooses how much of Germany's precious armored reserve forces to commit to the offensive. The more forces he commits, the higher are the conditions he must achieve to "win." For example, if the German player chooses to repeat history, "going for broke" like Hitler did, he would have to capture the port city of Antwerp to win the game. If he chooses a strategic "feint," on the other hand, he might win simply by inducing the Allied player to redeploy a large enough number of forces from General Montgomery's Second British Army and General Patton's Third U.S. Army to the Ardennes region.

The Korean Wars

(1997)
COMPLEXITY: Moderate
STATUS: Nearly complete

"Wars" PLURAL? This division/brigade-level game not only covers "the forgotten war" of the early 1950s, but also includes rules for a hypothetical contemporary scenario. It illustrates just how dynamic and dramatic the original Korean "police action" was. Weather, air power, and morale all play crucial roles in this see-saw contest. Reflecting the geopolitical constraints under which the war was fought -- neither side wanted to risk an all-out nuclear war -- the general object of the game is to gain control of as many cities as possible. Each space ("hex") measures almost 15 miles across. Each turn represents about one week of real time; there are four turns every month. There are four scenarios:

• June 1950: North Korean invaders overwhelm South Korea.
• November 1950: American forces are shocked by a massive Chinese offensive.
• 1953 (Hypothetical): What if peace talks had collapsed? Nuclear war?
• NOW (Hypothetical): What North Korea launches a preemptive attack?

Western Front:
Germany vs. the Allies, 1914-1945

(1994)
COMPLEXITY: Difficult
STATUS: Nearly complete

This is the "mother of all war games," covering four separate major military campaigns that were fought in Western Europe during World Wars One and Two. One player controls the armed forces of Germany, and the other plays the supreme commander of the Western Allies' forces. It is on the division / brigade level; Each turn represents about one week of real time; there are four turns every month. Each space (hex) measures 13 miles across. Logistics are a key factor in all scenarios. The game focuses on land warfare, but includes air forces as an option if more than two players participate. The rules on logistics, transporation, and command make this game very realistic, but would be quite challenging for a novice. Players may experiment with hypothetical scenarios, such as a war to save Czechoslovakia in 1938 or an early Allied invasion of France in 1943. The major historical campaign scenarios are:

• August 1914: "Guns of August": Europe is plunged into World War One.
• March 1918: "Over There": Germany tries to win before U.S. can turn the tide.
• May 1940: "Blitzkrieg in the West": Nazis unleash lightning war.
• June 1944: "Overlord": The Allies invade Hitler's Fortress Europe.

Operation Barbarossa:
The German invasion of Russia, 1941

(1993)
COMPLEXITY: Moderate
STATUS: Nearly complete

This game is derived from the first war game I ever designed, back in the mid-1970s. It was originally on the corps/division level, but that was too unwieldy, and not nearly as playable as SPI's Barbarossa game. I adapted certain modifications to that game over the years, and ultimately decided to use my Macintosh computer to completely redo the rather mediocre map. Thus, this game cannot claim to be a true original, even though the original version I did WAS original. In terms of game mechanics, the major innovation for which I claim credit is the integrated movement/combat phase, which allows mechanized units to repeatedly move and attack within a single turn. That accurately represents the sudden breakthrough attacks of German panzer forces, which Soviet tank armies gradually mastered as the war dragged on. The major historical campaign scenarios are:

• June 1941: Germany unleashes Blitzkrieg in the east, almost takes Moscow.
• July 1942: Germany tries to win before U.S. can turn the tide.
• July 1943: Germany's last major offensive in the east.
• June 1944: Red Army overwhelms German army, marches into Poland.

Germany 1985:
The War That Never Was

(1989)
COMPLEXITY: Difficult
STATUS: Semi-complete

NOTE: The map shown here has been completely redone. Also, the name has been changed from "Invasion West Germany." This attempt to anticipate a NATO vs. Warsaw Pact World War III showdown was the first original game I ever created on my Macintosh Plus computer. It became obsolete not long after I made it, however, as the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989. I used as a reference the books The Third World War by General Sir John Hackett, and Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. It is on the division/brigade level, and includes a variety of hypothetical scenarios, which thank goodness never came to pass.