From: Joseph Boeke Subject: Re: Assualt >From the keyboard of YARBROUGH James L : > I recently acquired Assault and some of the supplements at a garage sale... > Can anybody tell me anything about the game... was it worth the $10 I spent. As some one already mentioned, there were two games and several supplements in the system. Chieftain was the last supplement and had elements of the BAOR and the Belgians as I remember. At any rate, the game has a strong, superficial resemblance to PanzerLeader, PanzerBlitz and Arab-Israeli Wars. When I was in college, we played it quite a bit. The consensus was that it was a good game. The main mechanic of the game, operations points (OP) forced the Sovs to play like the U.S. Army expected them to opperate -- that is, use scouts to fix the enemy positions, then drive up to the front in "road mode" and quickly switch from column to line for the assault. It worked quite well, without creating some arbitrary Sov rules like some games (especially SPI games). The U.S./NATO forces, were usually outnumbered, but had advantages in both equipment and leadership (ie more OPs and better tanks, etc...). My favorite U.S. strategy was to set up so that the Sovs would be forced "road mode" through a valley, or other terrain obstacle and then have my 155s rain down on them with the specialized anti-tank munitions. Also, the best unit in the game is the M901 ITV (Improved TOW Vehicle). Put it hull down with clear fields of fire (and no major water obstacles) in front of it, and it will decimate the Sovs nice columns of tanks as they approach your boys. Boots & Saddles added some new twists to the game (in the name of choppers and AA weapons). The Sov choppers are armor killing machines and they are tough, Their main weakness is their high turn radius/heat signiatures. Infantry armed with SAMs are the best way to kill the Mi-24 (and Mi-8's too). The U.S. was/is woefully defficient in FEBA air-defense units. The chaparal & vulcan don't have radar (where the Sov ZSUs & SAMs do), and the Sgt York vehicle is (in retrospect) way over rated. This almost forces you to use your AH-1/AH-64s & OH-58s as air-to-air fighters instead of tank killers -- which is pretty realistic (with the absence of TAC air). The "limited intelligence" nature of the game, also makes for an exciting game (unless you are the one firing at the dummies). And the build your force structure means that despite the limited number of scenarios, each game should be very different. On the minus side, this is supposed to be a game simulating operational command. However, you get to pick the ammunition type for each platoon/section as it fires, so you get bogged down in the minutae of the battle (which corespondingly slows play time). I don't think the rules are all that complicated, but there is a lot of steps per turn (making PBM/PBeM virtually impossible), and alot of things that you have to remember (both tactical and operational considerations). Overall, it is a good game, which I enjoyed playing very much (more than any other modern wargame). I think that it is at its best when multiple players are involved (like 4 per side) and a ref can be found. At this level, both the operatinal and tactical elements of the game seem to be in balance. Only in the one-on-one/head-to-head games can this get really annoying. Just my $.02 - Joe Boeke jrboeke@uci.edu