From: Francois Charton <deef@POBOX.OLEANE.COM>
Subject:      Re: SPI Compendium - Con't

D. Holte wrote:
>
> China War, The
> Brad Hessel
>

A large scale simulation of conflicts between China and its neighbours in
the 80s.

The map represents all China, with hexes about 125 km wide. It as many
terrain types and symbols, with much emphasis on economic capacity (where
the factories are) and transportation means. I personally find it a
little stuffy, but it is a matter of taste.

Units are either divisions or corps (called armies by the Chinese), and
many of them can stack together, making some hexes impregnable. Also,
populated hexes contain "militia": an intrinsic defense strength which is
not represented by a counter. To enter these hexes, the enemy has to
fight his way in, and to occupy them, he has to leave troops there (thus
depleting his combat units).

The game system is fairly simple: phasing player moves, and may overrun
enemy units, non phasing mech and first line units may react, phasing
player attacks. However, many combat shifts are possible for terrain,
unit type and nationality, etc... This requires some time to get used
to, in the first game turns, you never quite know when attacking whether
the resulting odds will be 1:3 or 3:1.

The supply rules are straightforward: units too far away from their bases
(railroads or airports) are unsupplied, and move and fight less
effectively, "isolated" units (which cannot trace a supply line) are
reduced, and may be eliminated after being so several turns.

That is about all for the game system. It takes a while to get
used to, because of the combat shift system, the very high ratings and
stacking abilities of some units, but after that, play is fairly smooth.
An 8 weekly game turns USSR vs China scenario should take about 5 hours
to complete.

Three scenarios are provided: a soviet vs chinese war, with the
possibility of Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Taiwan stepping in; a Chinese
invasion of Vietnam, and a Taiwanese attempt at amphibious landing on the
mainland. In my opinion, only the first one is worth playing. The two
others are unadapted to the scale of the game: too many units fighting in
stacks in a very small part of the map.

The game starts as an USSR vs China conflict, but other smaller countries
may enter the game due to a political events roll in the beginning of
every turn: Taiwan, Laos and Vietnam may either become neutral or ally
with the Soviets, and North Korea may fight on both sides, depending on
the roll. This introduces a lot of replayability, while not drastically
affecting play balance.

Apart from victory points given for losses inflicted to the enemy, the
Soviet player receives victory points for occupying industrial centers in
the end of the game. This means having units on these hexes, or having
"garisonned" them, by expending unit steps. The Chinese player receives
victory points every time Soviet units are involved in combat (attack or
defense), and for occupying Soviet railroads. Thus, the Soviet player
should occupy terrain, but fight as little as possible. While, the
defending Chinese player is encouraged to counterattack as much as he
can.

This provides very varied games: in the West, the Soviets usually have
little difficulty occupying China, but soon realize how big it is... In
the East, Mandchuria is the region that the Soviets must occupy to win,
but it is very well defended...

Altogether, the China War makes interesting and balanced two player
games, where both sides have something interesting to do. It lends itsef
well to solo gaming, and gives a lot of insight on the specificities of
conflicts in the theater.

Francois