Strategy & Tactics Issue #235 - Cold War Battles: Angola & Budapest
The Cold War Battles
game system is a grand tactical simulation of battles that were
fought—or could have been fought—during the Cold War. The playing
pieces represent the actual units that participated or could have
participated.
Two games included in this issue are: BUDAPEST
1956, covering the ill-fated rebellion in the Hungarian capital in late
1956; and BLITZKRIEG ANGOLA, the clashes between Cuban and South
African mechanized forces in Angola in 1987 and 1988.
There
are two players in each game. In BUDAPEST 1956 one player controls the
Hungarian Rebels and possible NATO "what-if" reinforcements, the other
controls the forces of the Warsaw Pact. In BLITZKRIEG ANGOLA one player
controls the South Africans and their UNITA allies, the other the Cuban
and MPLA forces.
In the Budapest game each
hexagon on the map represents half a kilometer across, and each game
turn represents one day. Soviet maneuver units are mostly battalions,
with regiments for their artillery and assault guns; Hungarian rebel
units are ad hoc groups; and NATO intervention, when playing that
special alternative history scenario, are represented by US "Pentomic"
battlegroups.
In the Angola game each hexagon
on the map represents eight kilometers across, while each turn
represents anywhere from one week of intensive combat to four weeks of
refitting. Units on both sides are mainly battalions or equivalent
groups of irregulars.
The game system is low-complexity
(totaling about 13,000 words) and compares to the one used in last
year's Middle East Battles: Suez '56 & El Arish '67. There are 280
NATO-style (with some iconic) half-inch counters. Playing time between
two experienced opponents of roughly equal skill levels will be about
three hours per game. Designed by Joseph Miranda.
Scale:
Players: 2
Level: Battalion
Hex: N/A
Articles
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