As a developer and co-designer, Doug’s been a tremendous help and force behind getting NWIP published. In this article, he profiles the orders of battle for the primary opponents and discusses the why behind some of the decisions we made. – Mitchell Land

The Armies of NWIP

Bringing the two main armies in ​Next War: India-Pakistan into the ​Next War series, the Indian and Pakistan Armies, was initially clear cut. There are many good sources on orders of battle and the types of equipment available to each side. In many ways, these two armies fit nicely into the model for the South Korean (ROK) army in ​Next War: Korea: lots of infantry with mostly independent armor/mech brigades backed by a small number of armor/mech divisions. As a result, we used the ROK army as our template for judging combat, movement, and efficiency ratings.

However, we also assumed that both of these armies have limited logistics, artillery, and command/control capability compared to the ROK army. Both armies have recent combat experience, but it is limited to light infantry / mountain infantry operations in Kashmir (for the Indian Army) and Waziristan (for the Pakistan Army). As a result, the massive logistical capabilities required to sustain high intensity mechanized combat are probably just not there. Both sides are probably ok for a few days, but after that the lack of efficient and well­trained logistics units will be felt in ammunition and fuel shortages.

Both armies also have a lot of artillery, at least on paper. However, a closer look reveals a hodgepodge mix of old Soviet, British, and American systems on both sides, with Pakistan having a bit of an edge in more modern systems. This mix of systems would be a logistical nightmare as well as a fire serious fire planning challenge.

Finally, both armies have a wide range of units, including many specialized units. The two armies must maintain, in effect, two distinct forces: one traditional mechanized “heavy” force for fighting on the plains of Pakistan and northern India, and another “light” force capable of fighting in the 10,000 foot or higher mountains of the Himalayas in Kashmir.

So, the main question was how to model those limitations and features in the NW series. We decided to reflect these limitations through four ratings: movement, support ranges, stacking points, and efficiency ratings. In addition, both sides also get several “special” unit types to represent some of the unusual capabilities these two armies field.

The Indian Army

The Indian Army is one of the largest in the world with about 1 million active­duty troops organized into 34 divisions and 13 corps. These 13 corps are grouped into five Army­level regional commands: Eastern, Northern, Southern, Southwestern, and Western. For the purposes of NWIP, we assumed that the Indian Army’s Eastern Command (3 Corps, 1 Infantry, and 9 Mountain Divisions) would be tied down defending off­map areas where China’s army would be active, in particular the disputed areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin.

That leaves the remaining 10 corps and 24 divisions of the Indian Army likely to be involved in major conflict in the Indian states of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, and Rajasthan. All of those corps and divisions, along with supporting artillery and airborne units, are represented in NWIP.

Here are some of the “basic” units for the Indian Army:

Infantry divisions come in two basic types, both with 9 infantry battalions, with the slightly stronger one assumed to have additional artillery support and an “elite” EF of 6.  Indian armor and independent mech brigades are well equipped, at least on paper, with late­ish model T­72 / BMP­2 variants backed by a limited amount of self­propelled artillery.  They get a mech movement rating of 6 (as opposed to 8 of many armor/mech units in NWK) due to the limited logistics capabilities noted above.

The Indian HQs come in two types as well, one motorized and one leg.  However, all Indian HQs have the same support rating/range of 2, as compared to 3 for most Pakistan HQs and 5 for US/PRC/Russian HQs.  That rating nicely models the limited artillery, logistics, and C2 capability of the Indian Army in high­intensity combat operations.

The Indian Army also fields a few very large armored divisions. These have tremendous combat power on the flat plains around Lahore and would be in the lead of any major offensive or counter-attack, but they are also brittle and degrade quickly once they take any losses.

Note that all Indian Army divisions remain 2 stacking points on their reduced side (armored divisions are 3 stacking points on both sides). That is intended to show how difficult it is for an army with limited logistics capabilities to mass a lot of combat power in one hex. Indian divisions will often have to spread out rather than concentrating on one narrow axis.

After designing the basic Indian Army units, we turned to the “special” units. The Indian Army has one airborne brigade, which we assumed would deployed as a reinforced unit, especially with additional artillery and special forces support as was the case during the Kargil conflict.  The ROI 50th Airborne brigade is also the only light infantry rated unit in the Indian Army.

The next decision was how to deal with the relatively new Indian Army “Reorganized Army Plains Infantry Division” (RAPID) units. In an effort to improve offensive capability, these divisions have had one infantry brigade removed and replaced by a reinforced mechanized infantry brigade with 2 x armor, 2 x mech, and 2 x artillery battalions each. After much research, we decided to show these divisions as two separate units: one reduced strength infantry division (-) and one mechanized brigade. We assumed they would be employed separately in many cases due to the very different mobility of the types of units, and we wanted to give the Indian Army player some more flexibility with how to use them.

Another major OB decision was to create a new type of infantry: “Mountain Infantry”. Both sides have decades of experience operating in the Himalayan mountains. We assumed that this institutional knowledge, backed by “mountain irregulars” available to both sides would allow some portion of each army to operate more effectively than normal infantry in high altitude terrain (Highlands, HighlandsWoods, Mountain, and HighMountain). The mountain infantry units advantages are a combat mod (+1/1), lower movement points in high altitude terrain, and the ability to trace a supply line through mountain hexes using leg MP instead of the normal
motorized MP. Most are also EF 6 rated. We also assumed both sides would operate in smaller, brigade sized units in Kashmir due to transportation and logistics limitations. The two exceptions to that are the two big Indian Army mountain infantry divisions, which are intended to give the Indian Army more offensive capabilities in Kashmir.

The final OB decisions for the Indian Army revolved around how to model engineering and artillery units beyond those represented in the units themselves. One decision was relatively easy: give the Indian Army several artillery brigades, using the same basic rules as the artillery brigades in NWK. They have the same range limitation of 2, but they were an elegant way to show the large amount of artillery units in the Indian Army and their ability, given enough time, to mass them. In the Kargil conflict in 1999, for example, the Indian Army eventually got more than 50 artillery batteries into the fight, although it took several weeks to happen and the
effectiveness may have been limited by the terrain. The Indian Army also has a growing amount of rocket artillery at the Corps and Army level. While small in number, we assume these relatively new units will continue to be upgraded to include precision guided
rockets now becoming common in many mechanized armies, and that this will magnify their impact when employed against enemy logistics, C2, and other “soft” targets. These rocket artillery brigades have a range of 4 as compared to the normal 2. To manage all that artillery, the Indian Army has three artillery division HQs. As a result, we decided to include these potentially powerful separate artillery units in the Indian OB.

We struggled with engineer units. We knew they had to be in the game in some way given the large numbers of such units on both sides and the difficult terrain on most of the map. Mitch and I decided early to introduce “major rivers” terrain in NWIP to simulate the large size and large number of rivers and canals in the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. However, we thought that individual engineer / bridging units would be used as poorman’s infantry units rather than true engineer units. As a result, we gave HQs a new ability to create “HQ bridges” and repair destroyed bridges. The HQ bridges each represent what would likely be numerous
individual bridges/ferries in operation on a major river crossing. They are represented in the game by “HQ Bridge” counters. Each Indian corps has one such bridge marker it can place at a time.

We think the ability to place these markers will give both sides a lot to think about. They can create potent flanking opportunities but are also relatively fragile and require a lot of protection.

Players may notice that there are no “reserve” Indian Army units in NWIP. While India does have a large reserve force (more than 900,000 in theory) we assume that they will be sent mostly as small unit reinforcements (company or maybe battalion sized) rather than being sent into combat as separate brigades/divisions, diverted to other fronts in India (southern Pakistan or eastern India, or used for rear area security. These units are, however, represented by high allocations of replacement points for the Indian player.

The Pakistan Army

The Pakistan Army is about ⅓ smaller than that of India, with approximately 650,000 active duty troops. It is organized into 10 corps grouped into five Army level regional commands: Punjab Holding Corps Command (IV, XXX, XXXI Corps), Punjab Strike Corps Command (I and II Corps), Kashmir Command (FCNA and X Corps), Western Command (XI and XII Corps), and finally Sindh Command (V Corps) located in southern Pakistan. For the purposes of NWIP, the Pakistan player gets the entire Pakistan Army minus the V Corps which is assumed to be held back to protect the southern half of the country.

Here are some “basic” units of the Pakistan Army in NWIP:

Players will note that the basic infantry divisions of the two armies are very similar, with the Pakistan Army divisions having slightly higher combat ratings due to better, and more, inherent artillery. The Armor brigades, however, are equipped with a mix of very old American equipment for the most part, which reduces their combat ratings compared to their Indian Army counterparts. There are more independent infantry brigades than in the Indian Army, which gives the Pakistan side a bit more flexibility to move them around with air transport while also allowing them to cover more ground in the defense. For the most part, armor units and independent infantry brigades are rated with “elite” EF6 status, while regular units have a rating of 5.

Pakistan Army HQs come in two types: motorized and infantry. The motorized ones have a 3 support rating, reflecting the better artillery capability in the Pakistan Army. The infantry HQs have a 2 rating, mostly due to their operating in the mountains of Kashmir which limits the usefulness of heavy artillery systems.

Like India, the Pakistan Army fields a few very large armored and mechanized divisions in its “strike corps” intended to lead an attack or counterattack. Due to older equipment, they are rated slightly lower in combat power and movement points, but still pack a punch in the flat terrain of the Punjab.

The portion of the Pakistan Army designed to fight in Kashmir required a different approach. Like the Indian forces in that area, they are represented by mountain infantry brigades, particularly in the Force Command Northern Areas (FCNA) corps. In addition, X Corps is somewhat of a hybrid between a heavy and light force, with a mix of armor and regular infantry units. One of its divisions, 12th Infantry, has a total of 7 brigades under its command. As a result, we show it as two separate infantry divisions (12a and 12b).

There are only two “special” units in the Pakistan Army shown in NWIP: a rocket artillery brigade and one light infantry independent brigade. The Pakistan player also gets HQ bridge units like the Indian player (one per corps).

The rocket artillery brigade represents a growing rocket arty capability in the Pakistan Army, and also allows the Pakistan player to counter some of the Indian Army’s artillery brigades. The 5th Brigade / I Corps is rated as a light infantry unit and is intended to model an aggregation of various smaller Pakistan Army “Ranger” and special forces units that could be grouped for airmobile or other light infantry missions.

Like the Indian Army, there are no “reserve” units in the OB for Pakistan. That is primarily because there is no such organized reserve force in Pakistan. Instead, in wartime basically the entire male population that previously served in the army would be subject to mobilization. In NWIP we reflect those troops in replacement points, which are provided in higher numbers than in NWK and NWT where the armies had separate reserve units.

The People’s Liberation Army

The PLA is already wellrepresented in the first two games in the NW series, so the main decision we had to make was how much of the PLA to include in the game. We assumed that in a war with India China would have many priorities outside the scope of NWIP. In particular, long-running India/China border disputes with India in Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin would likely take precedence over operations in Kashmir or the Punjab regions. We do, however, assume that China would commit significant light forces (3 Airborne Divisions) and one motorized infantry corps (3 infantry and 1 armored brigade) from its western military district. While supporting this many forces in an “expeditionary” logistics environment would be a challenge for the PLA, we assume that improving relations between the two countries would allow for the training and other preparations necessary to get these PLA units into combat fairly quickly.

The PRC contributes three very high quality (EF6) airborne divisions to helping Pakistan. All three have 3 x light infantry brigades and powerful HQs (5 support ratings) that are also airborne/airmobile movement capable. That movement capability is a huge advantage in the mountains of Kashmir, where they will probably see a lot of action in NWIP. Note also that one airborne division can now get “airborne supply” from a captured enemy airbase, which will allow the PRC divisions to operate better behind enemy lines as long as they have air superiority.

The PLA also commits one motorized army corps (47th Group Army) to this theater, along with one Mobile Supply Unit. The size of this force is limited due to the long trip through the mountains it would have to take to reach the front, but could make a big difference late in a game. Not being integrated fully with the Pakistan Army, they depend on one MSU for supply.

Unsurprisingly, the PRC airborne and other units are very fragile. Once lost, the flow of replacement points is very limited and thus it will prove difficult to rebuild these units. That reflects both the elite nature of these units and the serious logistical difficulties the PLA would be dealing with with operating far from its main bases and in challenging terrain.

The US Army and US Marine Corps

For NWIP, we assume a potential US Army commitment of the US XVIII Airborne Corps (82nd Airborne, 101st Air Assault, and 10th Mountain Divisions). The 82nd and 101st will look familiar to players of NWT. The 10th Mountain is new to the series and is treated here as a “mountain” division as we assume that improved India/US cooperation in the future would lead to the 10th Mountain doing more, well, mountain training than it might have done in the recent past. We also include the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Compared to Korea, where US forces have spent decades building a mature and robust logistical infrastructure, we assume that is not the case in India. Instead, the US Army units are essentially tethered to the reach of their Mobile Supply Unit. The 82nd Airborne can, however, use “Airborne Supply” from a captured air base or airfield, which provides it unique flexibility.

The American units, with their powerful HQs and 7 EF ratings, can make a big difference for the allied player. The mobility of the 101st and 82nd allow for deep operations that will be difficult for the Pakistan player to counter. In Kashmir US paratroopers and air assault troops are likely to go toe-to-toe with their elite PRC counterparts.

We also assume a limited US Marine Corps commitment to the theater, with elements of one Marine Expeditionary Brigade eventually flowing into the Punjab area of the map. Like in other games in the series, the Marines may be used in light infantry and armor/recon battalion formations, which provide a lot of flexibility and mobility. They may also aggregate into one USMC brigade-sized task force that packs a lot of offensive punch when combined with the MEF HQ. Like US Army units, USMC units are somewhat limited by having to rely on their own MSU.

The numerous rivers and areas of intense agriculture (rice paddies) in the Punjab region increases the value of the USMC’s highly mobile light infantry battalions, which can maneuver far better than the Indian or Pakistani units.

The Russian Army

The Russian Army may also make an appearance in NWIP with a small expeditionary force of two airborne divisions (the 98th and 103rd) sent to support India. Like their American counterparts, these units are elite formations with powerful HQs backing them up. They are also extremely mobile and well-suited for deep strike operations to cut off supply lines or isolate Pakistani units. We assume they are able to integrate a bit better with the Indian Army in terms of logistics, but they are still limited to using airborne supply or operating in the Lahore area of the map.

The Commonwealth (UK and Australia)

The NWIP OB includes some new units for the United Kingdom and Australia Armies that we assume could deploy to support India in a large scale conflict. They rely on the United States for logistical support in the game, and are somewhat limited to where they can operate. However, they are high quality units that can hold their own with air and helicopter support that is usually available by the time they join the fight.

The UK Army addition is the 16th Airmobile Brigade. With its inherent airmobile movement it can operate like the US 101st deep into enemy rear areas. The Australian Army is represented by the 1st Infantry division with a strong HQ and high quality infantry and motorized infantry brigades.

The French Army

NWIP introduces French forces to the NW series. Like the CW, the French units depend on the United States for supply. The two units, while small, are high quality marine and motorized infantry, with the marine unit also being light infantry and airmobile capable.

Overall

Next War: India-Pakistan provides an interesting and robust addition to the Next War Series with a wide variety of new units and features. The widely ranging terrain from the plains in the south to the high mountains in the north all of which are criss-crossed with various major and minor rivers and canals make for an interesting dilemma for both sides especially when combined with the limited logistics available. We hope you enjoy the game!