The Map

Baltic Approaches will come
with two 22” x 34” maps, giving players a 78 x 52 hex play area just like the
base Red Storm game. In choosing the playing area, I initially focused
on Denmark, including enough of Germany (both East and West) to enable scenarios
in those areas as well. I later adjusted the map area to add a larger portion
of Sweden, allowing for scenarios covering its participation in the conflict.

Here is the playtest map area as of now:

The playtest map at present is overlaid on a portion of an excellent 1994 joint operational graphic. So, it is only “off” by a few years from 1987, which isn’t much. Not to worry: the final game map will use the same style and colors as Red Storm.

One major difference between the Red Storm and Baltic Approaches maps is the altitude of the terrain: there isn’t
any! The highest “terrain” features on this entire map area are some radio
towers that reach up to 1,500 feet – well under what would be considered
“rough” terrain in Red Storm. There are also some large urban areas,
especially Copenhagen, Kiel, and Malmö, that will come into play a bit more
than the Ruhr cities in Red Storm.

As you can see, Denmark is front and center, but there’s a fair bit of Germany as well. I wanted to include several airbases from both sides since they are targets of NATO and Warsaw Pact counter-air efforts throughout the war. Southern Sweden also make a conspicuous appearance in the upper right of the map. The other reason to choose this particular map area is that it provides enough water. Naval units are the major new feature of Baltic Approaches, so there needed to be sufficient room for them to be deployed in a realistic way. The area shown would feature intense anti-submarine and mining operations early in the conflict, with the focus shifting to amphibious warfare later on as the Soviets try to land in Denmark and Sweden to secure the exits from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea.

Air Orders of Battle

Like Red Storm, one of the most enjoyable parts of the design is researching the likely orders of battle (OOB). In Baltic Approaches that includes the naval OOB adding even more interesting machines to research. Baltic Approaches will add three new countries to the Red Storm series: Denmark, Sweden, and Poland. Other air forces receive new aircraft such as the P-3C Orion for the Dutch and the naval version of the Tornado IDS for West Germany. A US Marine Corps air wing also appears in the game flying AV-8B Harriers, A-6E Intruders, F/A-18A Hornets, and EA-6B Prowlers.

Denmark and its coastal waters form the center of much of the action in the game, so its fleet of F-16A and Draken fighters feature in many scenarios. Danish F-16s were almost entirely tasked with air superiority missions where they excel with their superior radars and maneuver ratings. Their Drakens were tasked with anti-ship and ground support having received some significant mid-1980s upgrades. Recon variants (RF-35XD) will appear in the game as well.

I really wanted Baltic Approaches to include Sweden, so I adjusted the initial map and worked out how Sweden would participate in the conflict portrayed in Red Storm. I have received incredible research assistance so far from a Swedish gamer with extensive knowledge of Sweden’s Cold War force structure. As a result, I think Baltic Approaches will do justice to the large and high-tech Swedish Air Force. Players will get to employ three different versions of the Viggen fighter: the air-to-air JA-37, the ground/surface attack AJ-37, and the recon SH-37. The game will also include upgraded models of the Swedish Draken (the J-35F2) and even the old J-32E Lansen, which soldiered on as an electronic warfare bird into the late 1980s.

The Polish Air Force would constitute a major element of Warsaw Pact operations in this sector of the war. Numerous Polish armor and mech divisions would move through northern East Germany to hit the northern edge of the NATO line, requiring large-scale ground support operations. Polish naval and amphibious units would also be involved in any operations against Denmark or Sweden also requiring air cover and even anti-ship missions. However, its air fleet of mostly older model MiG-21s (Fishbed F and Fishbed J) and export versions of the MiG-23 confront a difficult challenge going up against superior NATO aircraft. Polish ground attack and anti-ship duties would fall on its large number of Su-20 and Su-22 aircraft both of which have good payloads given the relatively short ranges involved on this front.

While obviously not a new country, the US Marine Corps makes its first appearance in the Red Storm series. To include it, I assume the Marine Air Wing intended for northern Norway is instead redirected to southern Norway placing it in range to support amphibious operations in the western Baltic. The USMC had a wide variety of aircraft in 1987, with modernization programs underway across the force. While hard to nail down, for now I’ve decided that a likely composition for this wing would be AV-8B Harriers, A-6E Intruders, and F/A-18A Hornets with recon Phantoms (RF-4Bs) and Prowler EW aircraft (EA-6B) in support. The Intruders and Hornets bring a lot of firepower including potent anti-ship capability. All will make appearances in scenarios set toward the end of the time period covered in Baltic Approaches.

West Germany, the Netherlands, and in particular the Soviet Union all receive new aircraft models in Baltic Approaches. West Germany adds the naval strike variant of the Tornado IDS armed with Kormoran anti-ship missiles and the BR.1150 Atlantic 2 maritime patrol aircraft. The Dutch Air Force also adds a maritime patrol aircraft in the form of the P-3C Orion. The Soviets add several naval aircraft as well: the Tu-95 Bear D, IL-38 May, Ka-25T Hormone helicopter, and the famous Tu-22M2 Backfire bomber. The Soviets also field the AS-4 (Kh-22) anti-ship missile and Su-17M3 Fitter H strike aircraft.

Ground Forces

Compared to the area of Central
Germany depicted in Red Storm, this northern part of the NATO-WP front
features smaller numbers of ground troops and less dense air defense coverage.
On the NATO side the I-HAWK missile is the dominant air defense system, backed
up by Roland 2 SAMs in West Germany. However, the coverage in Denmark in
particular is not comprehensive, as it is concentrated to protect Copenhagen
and the airbases in southern Jutland. In comparison, the West German network in
Schleswig-Holstein is more extensive and has some depth to it. The major WP air
defenses are provided by East Germany, with SA-2 and SA-3 fixed sites along the
Baltic coast. East German Army SAMs (SA-6s) are backed up by some Soviet SA-4
systems operating in support of the East German 5^th Army’s push
along the coast to take Lubeck and Kiel.

Players will also see two new
types of Army Ground Units in Baltic Approaches: Infantry and Towed
Artillery. These are being added to the game to provide more realistic
representation of the lighter forces likely engaged in this area, especially
airborne, marine, and West German and Danish reserve units.

Naval Units

Adding naval units to the Red Storm rules has taken the most effort thus far. When I started the process, I had a mantra: “This is not Harpoon.” The Red Storm series is an air combat series with a lot of rules already, one-minute turns, and units moving at Mach speeds, so I wanted to ensure I added naval units in a way that doesn’t overburden players. To the extent possible, I used existing rules. New rules did have to be added to account for detection of naval units, how they take damage, and operate their radars. The rules are not yet “locked” as testing proceeds, but I think I have them at 90% at this point.

So, how to integrate ships into an air game? In terms of data, players will receive “Naval Data Charts” similar in format to the Air Data Charts for aircraft. Here are a couple samples from the playtest versions of the NDCs:

Naval units have, in Red Storm
terms, early warning radars (EWR), SAMs, and AAA of various kinds. To the
extent possible, I use existing rules to handle those functions. SAM data is
displayed in a format similar to what players are familiar with on Player Aid
Card 2 in Red Storm. AAA is listed by type. I did add one new kind of
AAA, “Close Defense” AAA, to represent the anti-sea skimming missile AAA like
the US Phalanx and Soviet AK-630 systems. Otherwise, the SAM and AAA rules will
seem very familiar.

Naval units will appear on the map
as “Task Forces” with the individual ships tracked off-map on a new naval
display. Depending on how they are detected, the owning player will be required
to provide some, but usually not all, details on the content of the Task
Forces. This approach will avoid too much map clutter and fits nicely in the
deep “fog of war” underlying all the games in the Downtown series.

In terms of naval OOBs, compared
to a lot of North Atlantic Cold War naval games, this is largely a “small ship”
war, with DDGs and FFGs dominating the forces of both sides’ surface fleets.
The vast majority of ships engage in mine warfare, anti-submarine operations,
and amphibious operations. While not depicted directly in the game, there would
also be a large number of submarines fighting on both sides.

Scenarios

The addition of naval units and
the likelihood for airborne and amphibious operations opens up lots of new
options for my favorite part of game design – scenarios! Like Red Storm,
the goal is to have a mix of standard, campaign, and solo scenarios for players
to choose from. While Red Storm had only four solo scenarios, I hope to include
more in Baltic Approaches. Overall, I’m aiming for around twenty
standard scenarios, two campaigns, and six solo scenarios.

Scenario design and testing is still underway, but at this point I can offer this sneak peek of some early war scenarios to illustrate the wide range of types possible in this area of operations:

Number	Name	Description
BA1	Target Practice	Intro Scenario for Naval Unit Attack
BA2	Scramble Takeoff	WP Fighter Sweep/Recon
BA3	Clean Sweep	WP Naval Raid on DN Minelayers
BA4	Onslaught	WP Raids on Airfields/SAMs
BA5	Pact Attack	GDR/POL Raids on Naval Bases
BA6	Flight of the Valkiriya	WP Air Assault Operation
BA7	Lakefront Property	WP Raid on Reserve Ground Troops
BA8	Low and Fast	NATO Naval Raid on ASW group
BA9	Waterways	WP Raid on Ports/Canal
BA10	Baltic Flag	NATO Raid on SAMs

As you can see, there’s a lot to
choose from. Naval Strikes feature prominently in the early going. Other likely
scenarios will include WP and NATO airborne operations, attacks on amphibious
operations, convoy raids, and toward the end of the game’s timeline, some
nuclear strikes.

Summary

Overall, Red Storm: Baltic Approaches is moving along well. The rules are tight, counter-sheet layout is close to final, and the scenarios are firming up. At this point it’s mostly about playtesting to further refine things and to be prepared for GMT’s crack group of artists to finalize the look of the game.

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