GDW South Atlantic War

for Harpon Game

by G. Lane

If you are interested in modern naval warfare and don't like to keep fighting a fictional WWIII, GDW has finally come out with a scenario booklet for you. South Atlantic War by Ed Kettler is a scenario booklet that covers the 1982 Faklkands/Malvinas War between England and Argentina. In its 133 pages it has all of the information you could want about the war. The book opens with a review of the situation leading up to the war. It then provides a brief but comprehensive look at the whole campaign. The Orders of Battle for both sides are provided and include all the units available.

The meat of the booklet is the scenarios. The 24 scenarios included cover every phase of the campaign from the occupation of Stanley to its recapture by the British. They cover air, surface, and submarine attacks on ships. They also cover amphibious assault, carrier launched air strikes, and shore bombardment. Each scenario has maps, orders, forces, and setup. In addition each scenario also has an historical section that tells what actually happened.

Many of the scenarios are primarily land rather than naval scenarios. These scenarios have a land order of battle in general terms and as units for use with GDW's Combined Arms modern land combat rules. The naval forces in these scenarios are only there to provide gunnery and aerial support. The only problem is with some of the smaller scenarios that represent the raids made by SAS teams. Here the large scale of the land rules recommended does not work well; what is really needed for these scenarios is a small scale skirmish rules set.

The first part of the book is of interest and use to anyone who is interested in this war. It is illustrated with maps and combat photos to place everything in context. The details of units are at a general enough level that it would be easy to translate the data needed to any rules that you already use.

The second half of the booklet is of interest to Harpoon players. It includes 61 pages of ship and aircraft data sheets. These are the standard Harpoon data sheets with notes about special situations that only applied to the Falklands war. One small problem is the absence of any performance data for the corporate jets Argentina commandeered and used as reconnaissance planes. There are also one or two typos on the forms. There are also several new rules. These are mostly concerned with nap of the earth flying and bombing. One of the Argentine Air Force's main problems in the war was that the planes had to fly so low to avoid air defense that many bombs failed to arm. Planes that fly very low have a chance of crashing and ordinary iron bombs like the Argentine Air Force used may not explode. Other rules cover interactions between land forces and ships. One new type of weapon, mounted on some British ships, is also described. This new weapon is a low power laser that when pointed at an approaching bomber would distract the pilot and foil the attack.

The booklet also includes Combined Arms stats for any units and weapons not included in that game. Tables for designing typical weather for the South Atlantic at this time of year. A chart also provides the weather at Stanley for the whole period in a condensed form. Avery good bibliography with an emphasis on Air and Naval operations conclude the book.

South Atlantic War is a very good work. It is balanced drawing on both Argentine and British sources. All the scenarios are fitted into their contexts. It is not a stand alone campaign. By linking the scenarios together a campaign can be fought through. Converting it to a true campaign only calls for the addition of supplies to the situation. Everything else needed fo ra campaign is already included. At twelve dollars this is a good buy for anyone interested in modern warfare, not just Harpoon players. It is available from local stores or direct from GDW, P.O. Box 1646, Bloomington, IL 61702 for $12 + $1.20 postage.

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