TITLE: NORAD
PRICE: $2.50
SOURCE: Simulations Design Corp., Box 19096, San Diego, California 92119.
SUBJECT: A hypothetical Soviet nuclear attack upon the North American Continent, circa 1962 on a grand strategic scale.
PHYSICAL QUALITY: You receive a 22 x 30 inch map, 70 die-cut counters and an issue of Conflict magazine.

The mapboard is very nicely done. A polar projection of Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico, cover about two thirds of the total surface, the rest of the space being taken up by rules. Land masses are depicted in white, while cities and oceans are in black. This arrangement gives the board a very attractive appearance; it looks somewhat like a large radar screen (if you have ever seen the movie Fail Safe, you have a good idea of what Norad's board looks like).

Two disturbing points about the board are its extreme thinness and its large number of folds. It is only about as thick as two pieces of typing paper set atop one another, and when the game comes (via 3rd class mail) it's folded into 5 x 11 inch sections, making a total of six creases which must all be tediously counter-folded in order to achieve a flat playing surface.

The counters are 3/4 inch squares, which seem to fray at the edges more easily than those produced by S&T and AH. They are good looking, however, showing silhouettes of Russian bombers and missiles, and American fighters and missiles. The reverse of some of the Russian units show a mushroom cloud (indicating the unit is carrying "live" weapons, as opposed to certain decoy units). which are placed on top of American cities when they're bombed.

The issue of Conflict which comes along is a 47-page publication comparable to S&T. In fact, in two respects, it's got S&T beat:

(1) It's printed on slick paper all the way through, and,
(2.) Less space is given over to advertising.

It should be noted that S&T has more words per page, and its articles are longer and somewhat more detailed. At any rate, the issue contains articles on the Red Air Force. 1940 French armor, and the Confederate Navy. For $2.50 you can't do much complaining.

RULES: They are printed, in white, right on 0e board (a few extra rules for variants and designer's notes are located within the issue of Conflict). and can be read within 15 minutes. They are adequate. but unclear in some places. For instance, as in every other air game I've seen, bombers are required to fly their full movement factor each turn, yet no rule is included making it necessary for the bombers to fly to their targets by the most direct route. Therefore, if a bomber finds it unprofitable to move forward at some point (say, because of nearby U.S. fighters), it may simply circle. That's not the only thing amiss with-the rules. but they don!t create any problems that can't be worked out between the players.

SET UP TIME: After you have become familiar witt the game, about two or three minutes.

PLAYING TIME: Twenty to thirty minutes.

PLAY BALANCE: Good, but I maintain that the Russian has the edge.

COMPLEXITY: Very simple, the Napoleon at Waterloo of air games. It contains no charts, indices, or luck factors.

HISTORICAL ACCURACY. Of course, in a strict sence, it's impossible for a game dealing with a campaign that never happened, to be historically accurate, but NORAD isaccurate in that it gives you the "feel" of what. It must be like to be in the "war room" beneath the Pentagon, the White House, or wherever it may be buried.

CONTENTS: NORAD is on the strategic level and as such gets pretty abstract. Combat is resolved by a simple attrition system: one fighter unit taking out one bomber unit by flying into its square (both units are then removed). The fighters aren't really shot down, the designer explaines, but by the time they could return to their base, refuel and re-arm, everything would already be blown up. and the war over... one way or the other.

The attacking Russian forces are made up of 23 bomber units and five submarine-fired missiles (all of which carry "live" weapons), and seven decoy bombers (which carry no weapons and are used to try to lure U.S. fighters away from the identical looking "live" bombers). The American defends with sixteen fighter units (four of which belong to Canada's Air Force), six "live" ground-to-air missile units (the missiles destroy the bombers using the same attrition system as in air-to-air combat).

One live bomber or Russian missile can take out one American city. To win. the Russian player must destroy 100 points or more of cities. City values range between five and nine points a piece, which, in practice works out to having to bomb between 12 to 19 cities In order to win as the Russian.

Keeping in mind the combat system, and the fighter-to-bomber ratio, you can easily see that a lot is going to depend on the U.S. player's ability to guess which units are "live" and which are decoys. In that respect NORAD is a lot like poker; bluffing plays a part. The initial placement of American forces is also critical. If the West Coast is over-defended, the Russian is guaranteed a win. The points (or most of them) are East of the Rockies, and that's where the game is decided.

No, NORAD is certainly not, technically, the most accurate game out, but it plays very well, is tense, fast, great fun. and if you are getting a little tired of fighting your way up the boot, swinging through Belgium, or destroying Army Group Center, etc.. it will provide just the change of pace you need. You simply can't go wrong, here, for the price!