Introduction

Revolt in the East (Warsaw Pact Rebellions in the 1970’s) is a corps/army level simulation of the consequences of a possible revolt of the Warsaw Pact member nations and of the reactions of the Soviet Union and the NATO allies. Also included in Revolt in the East are scenarios dealing with the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Credits
Publisher: SPI in S&T 56 May/June 1976
Designer: James F. Dunnigan
Developers: Christopher Allen and Redmond Simonsen
Graphics: Redmond A. Simonsen

Game scale

Each hexagon represents 56 kilometers. Each game-turn is the equivalent of one week of real time. The NATO and Austrian ground units are corps; the Soviet and other neutral ground units are armies. Soviet airborne units are corps, as are the airforce units of both sides.

Components

1 22"x16" half standard map
1 Counter sheet of 100 die-cut counters
1 Rules folder

Counter Manifest

NATO
1 Belgium (BE3)
1 Denmark (DN2)
3 France (FR4; FR3; FR2)
1 Greece (GK3)
1 Italy (IT4)
1 Netherlands (NE3)
1 Turkey (TU3)
3 United Kingdom (UK6; UK5; UK4)
4 United States (US6; US5; 2 x US4)
4 West Germany (3xWG8; WG7)
1 NATO (1) Berlin
5 NATO AF

USSR

6 SV8
8 SV7
6 SV6
4 SV5
3 SV2 Airborne
4 SV AF
1 Game Turn marker

Warsaw Pact

3 East Germany (2xEG3; EG1)
4 Poland (PO5; 2xPO4; PO3)
4 Czechoslovakia (3xCZ3; CZ2)
3 Hungary (HU3; 2xHU2)
3 Rumania (3xRU3)
2 Bulgaria (2xBU3; BU2)
4 Revolt markers

Player’s Value

When Revolt in the East was published in 1976, it was a hypothetical game. Today it is closer to science fiction than to future history, because there is no more Warsaw Pact and no more Soviet Union. Nevertheless, Dunnigan’s mechanisms of the game are still interesting to discover. The game pits the USSR against old allies of the Warsaw Pact, which are rebelling against big brother. At the start, depending on the scenario, all is peaceful or one country is already in rebellion, and each turn can have one or more countries in revolt. The USSR troops must rush to crush the rebellion before it spreads to other countries of the region. NATO, called by the rebels, can intervene depending on the scenario. All in all the Russian units play a game of fire brigade, while the enemies must try to survive or rush to help.

The game provides four scenarios dealing with different cases of insurrections in various countries of eastern Europe. The standard scenario is purely hypothetical, dealing with random rebellions of Warsaw Pact countries against the Soviet Union and triggering, with some delay, a NATO intervention. The intervention is based on the rebellion of East Germany, calling for a reunification of all Germany.

Czech and Hungarian scenarios are based on historical rebellions but amplified and with NATO participation. Lastly, the Yugoslavian scenario begins as a civil war between Serbs, helped by the Soviets, and other ethnic groups on the death of Tito, with limited and full NATO intervention. All scenarios are 12 turns in length and have almost identical setup, with just a few differences for some units, typically based in or around the rebelling country. The victory conditions are the same for all scenarios: the player controlling the most cities on the map wins the game.

The map covers the whole of Eastern Europe from West Germany to the USSR border, including East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, and some parts of Italy, Turkey and Greece.

Each turn begins with a die rolled on the Warsaw Pact/NATO revolt table. This table, the most important of the game, is used to determine if one or more new countries revolt, or if NATO intervention is triggered. The rebellion and their successions are totally random, which makes every game different, and a perfect strategy impossible for the Communist player. Some random configurations sound better than others and so luck is present. The row used on the table depends on the number of cities in rebellion at the beginning of the turn. So if a big country like Poland revolts, it will take certainly more than one turn to pacify. If in the next turn, Bulgaria also revolts at the opposite end of the map, it is a real nightmare for the Soviet player, trying to suppress revolts, garrisons all cities of both countries and keeping a solid line against possible NATO attacks. He certainly will have not enough troops to fight all over the map.

The game mechanism is the classic I-go, U-go, move and fight. The terrain costs are not the same depending on the state of the country: Soviet home, Soviet-friendly allies, or NATO-friendly. The ZOC are locking and the supply lines linear, back to the home land. And finally, the units destroyed can come back two turns later for NATO and four turns for the USSR.

The Soviet player has some airborne corps that can be dropped behind enemy lines ... very useful for surrounding units or helping increasing odds to suppress rebel cities.

All in all, in spite of the old and dated background, Revolt in the East provides an interesting situation with a Soviet player trying to fight two foes at the same time. He has to suppress the rebels quickly before they spread all around, and to counter a serious NATO invasion designed to liberate Eastern Europe. For his part, the WP/NATO player must temporize to hinder the Soviet Union, trying to have as many revolting cities as possible, and waiting for the NATO liberation. The game is hard to win for either side, and quite balanced.

Collector’s Value

As interesting as many S&T of the same period for the historical articles, the game is of course outdated and closer to SF than to real history, but enjoyable to play, and fast, on a situation rarely simulated. There have been two version of the game, one with the magazine and another sold in a folio.

Boone quotes low, high and average prices of 1/22/7.80 at auction and 5/48/ 12.05 for sale.

Support Material

I found three small capsule reviews of the game:

• in an article about The Games of the Next War in F&M 15
• in The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming: “fun as a game, though rather strongly luck-dependant”
• in The Complete Book of Wargames: “a lively and pleasant diversion”.

Other games of this type

There are few other games about an attack on the USSR by NATO:

• Objective Moscow (SPI) There are also few games about a future civil war in Russia:
• Moscow Option (XTR)

But there are many games about battles between the USSR, the USA and NATO, including but not limited to: