The Third World War

The Battle for Germany

Reviewed by Matt Costello

Designed by Frank Chadwick Game Designer's Workshop P0 Box 1646, Bloomington, EL 61702
Release Date: July, 1984 Catalog. No. 473
Price: $20,00
Complexity: Experienced
Solitaire Suitability: Good
Rating: ****

Somehow, it's hard to review this release as just another wargame, Looking at the box gives you an odd sense of discomfort. Instead of a steely-eyed infantryman searching the horizon for enemy activity, there's a modern nuclear soldier, wearing a bug-eyed face mask and protective gloves. The reason for the outfit is only too clear when you notice the puffy-white mushroom cloud in the background. Yes folks, it's The Third World War, and is everybody ready to play?

It's also a different feeling you get playing this game than from almost any World War II game.

WWII was heroes and villains. We knew who the bad guys were and we knew who had to stop them. The weapons of war, as horrible is they were, remained familiar. It's not such a great leap from the stone-in-a-slingshot to the semi-automatic rifle. And the world, people knew then, would undoubtedly go on. Can we say the same of the next world war? This game effectively explores the possibilities.

The Third World War has GDWs typical topnotch components. There's two 17 x 22 inch maps which cover all of Germany and the surrounding parts of Denmark, Yugoslavia, Italy and Poland. There are counters to represent the NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, including the various air units projected to be available circa 1990. Three extremely helpful charts are provided with all the combat tables, unit capabilities, and the effect of terrain on movement and combat.

This is a complex game but the clarity of the rules make it easy to play. The rules also include a page containing an Expanded Sequence of Play, which lists everything that happens in the game keyed to appropriate rules paragraphs. Without it, this game could be a monster With it, you can sit back and concentrate on your strategy.

The game remains, despite its grim theme, fun to play. The air war is varied and exciting, with deep strikes, plane-to-plane combat, air defense, and ground attacks. The land war offers less fastmoving action, as the two great armies lock horns on the German battlefield. While there's a variety of strategies that can be tried, I would, after a few plays, move on to another game in GM WWIII series, such as Southern Front.

As I mentioned, the mechanics of the game are complex but kept readily manageable by the Expanded Sequence of Play chart. The game is broken into segments, which are further divided into phases. The initial segment is devoted to placing new air units, repairing craters, determining air superiority and running deep strikes, The fourth phase of this segment is the Restraint Phase, where players announce restraint in the use of nuclear weapons. Of course, as the land war begins to bog down, that "restraint" may become harder to exercise.

The Warsaw Pact Segment begins with air strikes and NATO's attempt to intercept them, followed by NATO's strikes, which can in turn be intercepted. Pact forces move and declare combat, including top cover air support, followed by a sub-impulse" for units not in an enemy zone of control, The NATO forces also not in an enemy zone of control can then move or attack. A NATO segment then begins duplicating the Pact segment. The complete turn ends with the air units landing and players can roll to see if nuclear escalation occurs.

Ground forces move differently based on whether they are mechanized, motorized, air mobile, or "leg mobile." Combat is conducted against adjacent enemy units and resolved on a Combat Results Table (CRT), An important concept in combat is "proficiency" where the bettertrained units receive an odds modifier. Most results on the CRT yield disruptions and it is here that the game can bog down. There is very little chance of units being eliminated by a first blow instead, units suffer disruptions which reduce their proficiency When proficiency reaches 0, the unit is eliminated.

The game supplies nearly 150 markers to record proficiency, losses, and you'll need a good many of them. There'll be no blitzkrieg on this eastern front. In comparison 4th the air war, the ground battle is a gradual wearing down of powerful forces that should have nations either seeking the negotiating table or reaching for their respective red buttons.

All of it works, thanks to the excellent rules book. It's clear, easy-to-read-friendly one might say. An informative briefing booklet details the design decisions behind the game and the assumptions that guided the allotment of units to Pact and NATO. Play is very balanced, with NATO having the edge in the long run but the Warsaw Pact having chances for early in-roads. The research behind the projected strength of East and West gives the game an altogether realistic feel.

You'll notice I've not mentioned nuclear warfare much. There are limits in the game to the use of nuclear weapons, limits that perhaps don't reflect reality. Designer Chadwick writes, "If even tactical nuclear warfare begins, its effects tend to dominate the game, to the exclusion of the more interesting interactions created by the rest of the rules. For that reason, the nuclear rules have been made optional despite our opinions of the true probabilities."

The Third World War is enjoyable, engaging, and exciting in its examination of wars possibilities. The probabilities, depressing as they are, are left to you to imagine.

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© Copyright 1999 by Dana Lombardy.
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