Task Force, designed by Joseph M. Balkoski, was published by SPI in 1981,
and is a simulation of naval combat in the 1980's on an operational and
tactical scale, portraying key ships of a number of fleets from around the
world.  It is moderately complex but a great simulation and even a major
campaign can be played in about 6 hours.

The game contains two copies of three maps, covering the Caribbean, the GIUK
gap in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea east of Malta.  Each hex
represents 25 nautical miles and game turns are 2 hours long.

Task Force is played with 'limited intelligence' between players.  Both
players receive identical maps on which their groups operate, but your map
must not be seen by your opponent, like Yaquinto's 'CV'.

As with most naval wargames, the fleet counters are numbered and the
individual ships and subs are located on a separate holding display.
The rules are excellent, being both comprehensive and concise (only 16
pages, plus four pages of scenarios), with a programmed learning approach
that allows for a fairly rapid advancement.  Each level of rules comes with
its own scenarios.  There are 2 Introductory, 2 Basic, 4 Intermediate and 5
Tournament scenarios.  

Solitaire suitability is very low in the game as it stands, although I hope
to develop solitaire rules based on the system used in VG's 'Carrier'.
The counters for ships and subs and a nice size 1 inch x ½ inch.  They are
colour-coded (blue=US; green=NATO; red=Soviet/Cuban; and other colours for
minor nations) and have the silhouette in black on the Combat side and white
on the Electronics side.  Also on the combat side, the counters also have
ratings for ASW, AA, Gunnery, Torpedo and Jamming, as well as the type and
number anti-ship missiles they unit is carrying.  On the Electronics side
there are its ASW capability, its floatation value and the number and type
of helicopters it carries.

Task forces are in either 'Normal' or 'Emissions Controlled (EMCOM)' mode,
and subs are either 'Shallow' or 'Deep'.

Air units are represented by ½ inch square counters and represent groups of
aircraft, in Combat, Electronic Warfare, Airborne Early Warning, ASW, and
Reconnaissance.

Each player has Igo-Ugo before moving on to the next phase.  The Advanced
Game Turn goes like this:

        A.      Random Events Phase [Weather, command control loss]
        B.      Long Range Patrol Phase [Strikes by maritime B-52's and
                Backfires]
        C.      Air Operations Phase
                        1.      Airbase status segment
                        2.      CAP segment
                        3.      Strike segment
                        4.      Patrol segment
        D.      SOSUS Phase [detection of Soviet subs]
        E.      Group Status Phase [rearrange your ships and subs]
        F.      Action Phase
                        1.      Movement
                        2.      Active Search
                        3.      Active ASW Search
                        4.      Helicopter Search
                        5.      Helicopter ASW Search
                        6.      Task Force Passive Search
                        7.      Sub Passive Search
                        8.      Gunnery Combat
                        9.      SSM combat
                        10.     ASW combat
                        11.     Torpedo combat
        G.      Emission Detection Phase [Active radar/sonar task forces are
                revealed]
        H.      Terminal Phase [Land CAPs]

Each task force has a Leader counter of Rear Admiral, Commodore or Captain
with a command value of 2, 1 and zero respectively. The number of actions
that you are able to perform is limited to 1D6 plus the command value of
that particular task force's leader.

Additionally, you can only do ONE movement, gunnery, SSM, ASW and torpedo
action per task force each turn.

Movement is 2 hexes (=25knts) for a surface unit, 1 hex (=12.5knts) for a
sub unit. I believe that the movement of subs is too slow, at least for
SSNs.  Thus I have a 'house rule' that SSNs (not SS) can move 2 hexes,
provided that they are in 'Deep' mode - this gives them a more realistic
25knts without cavitating.

Like most naval games the key is to find them and hit them before they find
and hit you, and there are a wide variety of searches possible, some of
which expose you to being more easily located yourself.

There are no player aid cards in this game.  Normally, that would be a cause
for criticism but not in this case because ALL the information that you need
is already located on the ship playing pieces.  

There are no CRTs, but each ship, sub and air unit and anti-ship missile has
its own 'To Hit' and defensive die rolls already printed in them.  You
simply look at the relevant number and roll the die.  Perfect in its
simplicity.

But simple does not mean unrealistic.  This game is still an excellent
simulation of naval warfare in the 1980's, when things we now take for
granted, like Ticonderoga-Class cruisers and Tomahawk missiles, were only
just about to enter service with the US Navy.  Even after 20 years, it is
still great fun to play and if you can pick it up second-hand it is well
worth the effort.

Peter Phelps