"Solidarity: the decline and fall of the Soviet Empire" is a game that is suposed to replay the events of 1989. As you can see from its tiew title "30 seconds to midnight" this is not working out the way 1989 did. The USSR is disintegrating but instead of having the inspiring events of the historical 1989 (that actually had us believing there would be a "peace" dividend), there is instead what amounts to a second Russian Civil War. November and December 1989 USSR "Gorbachev is assassinated! Confused and conflicting reports from Moscow report that President Gorbachev was assassinated by army officers while on his way to the Kremlin. Marshal Korlenov has declared martial law and sealed off the city. Troops outside Moscow, loyal to the President claim the Gorbachev is alive and with them. They state they will crush the traitors. The country appears to be in a state of civil war!" "The Baltic States declare their independence from the Soviet Union following the out break of civil war in Moscow. Red army garrisons in the three republics have either sworn loyalty to the declaration or left the country voluntarily to go fight for Moscow. The Turkic central Asian Republic becomes the first country to recognise the Baltic Republic." THE TURKISH CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLIC "Turkish troops of the newly formed central asian republic invade the Sinkiang province of the People's Republic of China, to liberate the ethnic turks living there. Reports of fighting continue to come in." HUNGARY "The Hungarian Government has responded to the threat of Invasion from Romania by moving troops to the border. There is also an increase in anti-Romanian propaganda in the media. These appeals to Magyar nationalism and example of oppression of Magyars in Transylvania appear to be unifying the nation for action." EAST GERMANY "East German troops refuse to come to full alert against the NATO "threat." The East German military appear to be unable to give orders to its troops. Yet another sign of the collapse of Soviet authority in Eastern Europe." CZECHOSLOVAKIA "A national government of Czech communist reformers has formed in Prague with the consent of Colonel Dmitry and his mutinous Red Army forces." "The newly formed Czech Government invites NATO forces to enter their country to aid it in defending from being re-invaded by Hardline Stalinist forces." POLAND "The Solidarity-led government has introduced a market economy into Poland. There are great economic privations as inflation sweeps the country. The transfer to capitalism does not look like it will be an easy one." "The government declares that Poland will remain in the Warsaw Pact despite the upheaval in Pact unity over the last six months. The Poles appear to be placating their Soviet neighbors to forestall any crackdown on their reform movement." Thankful I am thankful that the world did not come out the way this game did. Even with the crack downs and failures of reforms In the Soviet Union in 1990, nothing as drastic as the events of this game seem likely. We can be thankful that our leaders did mess up as badly as the leaders of this game have. With the next turn, the game will have reached the point when I first wrote the matrix for Solidarity. This war we are in now and the crack downs in the USSR make the Solidarity game seem old and out of place. This Is okay since I plan to wrap up the game after EGG12 so we can play something else. This next turn will be the last one for this game. I invite everyone to send in orders. It is likely that WWIII will start, but if it doesn't it likely would soon. It might be interesting for some of the modern tank war players to see what would happen in this war. The MG could act as a scenario generator for games. If anyone tries this I would love to know. Oh ... if you though what actually happened was bad, take a look at what could have happened ... Chris Engle Sends...Czechoslovikia Action: "Czech communist reformers take advantage of Dmitry's mutiny to set up a new government in Prague." Result: A democratic government arises in the country. Reasons: 1. There is a past history of democracy. 2. Dmitry and the Colonels are in mutiny to not stop the reformers. 3. The communist reform leadership was leading the non-violent protests. Chris Blair Sends...Poland The Solidarity government introduces market forces into Poland. The result is that Poland painfully enters the western world of capitalism. Because 1. Solidarity runs the government now. 2. Poland want to establish ECONOMIC independence. 3. They want to join the West's strong capitalist economy. Yes and, Poland stays loyal to the Warsaw Pact despite its reforms. Because 1. WWI and WWII used Poland as a battle field -- NEVER AGAIN. 2. The Red Army is still real. 3. Glastnost allows for economic reform. Back to Experimental Games Group # 11 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com