Tag Archives: Next War Series

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Next War: India-Pakistan – Pakistani Strategic Choices, Part 2

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Doug Bush continues his Next War: India-Pakistan strategy series with this examination of the Pakistani Order of Battle and the various options they provide. See Part 1 of this series for a discussion of the overall strategic choices faced by the Pakistan player.

Pakistan starts with six front line Army Corps with three more that enter as reinforcements.  Each provides the player with different challenges and opportunities on the attack.  In this article, I’ll go into some of the choices available to a Pakistan player for each one.

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Next War: Poland Progress Update

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I think that I’ve mentioned this before, but I was a little surprised by just how quickly Next War: Poland (NWP) vaulted up the P500 ladder. I had a rough Operational Map and a Strategic Display, and I had made a start on the Game Specific Rules. Based on the performance of the prior games in the Next War Series, GMT put the game on the list while I was still in the middle of working on Silver Bayonet. Now that the latter game is off to the printer, I’ve had some time to focus on NWP, and I thought I’d give a quick update on where we’re at.

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Next War: India-Pakistan – Pakistani Strategic Choices, Part 1

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Next War: India-Pakistan (NWIP) is unusual in the Next War series in that it involves scenarios where both of the main nations (India and Pakistan) are on the offense. As a result, there isn’t one “playbook” for the each side since, depending on the scenario in question, they must look at the map, their armies, and potential allies from a different perspective. In this series of articles, I’ll take a look at the situation for both sides from both angles (offense and defense) to try to help players think through some of the early decisions they are confronted with in the scenarios of NWIP.

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Next War India-Pakistan: An After-Action Review

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Pakistan started it. It was supposed to be a short, sharp push over the border into the disputed territory. Pakistan had prepared well, both militarily and diplomatically. Initially, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (IROP) gained tactical surprise over the armed forces of the Republic of India (ROI). Diplomatically, Pakistan secured the support of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

That was three weeks ago. Now? Well, it’s all over now. As radioactive clouds still hover over the war zone, a new regime is being established in Islamabad. Beijing is facing the most severe diplomatic pressure it has faced since the Korean War, and an international team of soldiers and specialists are preparing to move into the region to help with the ecological disaster now unfolding.

How did it come to this?

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Next War: India-Pakistan Design Notes – Air Forces, Part 2

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In this article, Doug continues the air force orders of battle discussion by focusing on the air forces for the secondary or intervention nations and discusses the why of some of the decisions which were made. This is part two of a two part series. – Mitchell Land

The Air Forces of NWIP, Part 2

In Part 1 of “The Air Forces of NWIP” we covered the two main protagonists, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). Here we cover the outside nations that we assume may intervene in the air war: the PRC People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), the United States Air Force (USAF), the Russian Air Force, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the French Air Force.

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Next War: India-Pakistan Design Notes – Air Forces, Part 1

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C&CNapoleonicsbn1(RBM)

In this article, Doug continues the orders of battle discussion by focusing on the air forces for the primary opponents and discusses the why of some of the decisions which were made. This is part one which details the air forces of the two protagonists, India and Pakistan. – Mitchell Land

The Air Forces of NWIP, Part 1

The advanced air system in the Next War series consists of individual aircraft units of approximately squadron size. So, generating a baseline order of battle simply requires knowing approximately how many of a given type of aircraft a country has in its inventory. However, most militaries only consider about 70% of any given type of aircraft in their inventory as “combat coded” and fully capable for combat, with the other 30% being used for training, backup inventory, or testing activities.

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Next War: India-Pakistan Design Notes – The Armies

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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.

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Next War Series Supplement #1

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I’d like to announce the availability of the first supplement for the Next War Series.

This supplement will contain the following items:

  • Cyber Warfare Capabilities
  • Alternate Advanced Air Game
  • Submarines
  • Random Events
  • Optional Rules
  • One and a half counter sheets (containing the counters necessary for Cyber Warfare, Alternate Air Game, and Submarine Markers, as well as some useful game state markers)
  • One new Advanced Game Sequence of Play (incorporating necessary changes for the new rules)
  • One Player Aid Card
Cyber Warfare Capabilities
Although for the most part, cyber warfare will take place in the shadows and behind the scenes, the very real possibility exists that some fleeting advantage can be gained when targeting enemy warfighting systems. These rules attempt to provide an abstract framework within which this electronic conflict can be gamed to affect the battlefield.
In general, each nation involved in the conflict depicted by the particular game will receive a number of Cyber Warfare Markers each game turn. During the game turn, at various points, players will be able to use the markers to affect things like Air Defense detection, combat, or the enemy’s Cyber Warfare ability itself. These rules are intended to be used with the Advanced Game only.
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Next War Series Design Notes

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This article started as an attempt at some design notes for Next War: Taiwan (NWT), but it quickly also became somewhat of an essay on my general take on game design with the bits of how it affected the Next War games woven in. It’s long and a little rambling at times. Hopefully, you get your money’s worth…

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Next War: Korea – Scenario – Modified Tactical Surprise

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Dan Stueber has been a long time proofreader, playtester, and supporter of the Next War series. He has completed and posted several solitaire game session reports on Boardgamegeek including one for the scenario he’s designed for Next War: Korea which is presented for your use below. Hope you enjoy! – Mitch

This scenario postulates a slow buildup of DPRK forces through the use of war games, training, and other deception means. Assume the North Koreans, with the PRC assisting, conduct massive training and war games over a six to eight week period. Each time the training is completed a few units don’t make it back to their home areas. A tank battalion or two has some “maintenance problems” and has to stay in their forward deployed areas. An infantry division disappears into some tunnel complexes. A forward deployed artillery unit does not fire off all of its live ammunition. A local emergency requires an infantry division (or three) to help out the population. Now, the Allies are not blind to what is going on, so over the eight weeks or so that this is occurring they constantly call up their troops and ready their aircraft and then nothing happens. This occurs so many times over the eight (or maybe longer) weeks that some politicians and military leaders begin to think the North Koreans are just blustering as usual. Soon some Allied units become complacent to what is happening across the border. When the balloon does finally go up the ROK troops are caught somewhat by surprise, thus they are slow off the mark in deploying. The good news is the ROK replacement system is up and running and their air force is ready to go. The bad news is any forward troops are going get hurt by the tunnels and infiltration, and they will probably be destroyed. The PRC is assumed to want to solve the South Korean problem before taking care of Taiwan. To do so they commit a large portion of their air force, with most of their new hi-tech units, in this battle. The forward PRC air units that were taking part in the “training exercises” are used to help maintain air superiority over Korea until additional air units can be shifted into the theater. The Chinese mobilize several Group Armies and all of their marine and airborne troops for commitment to the battlefield. At Daegu Airbase the Captain of the Watch is stunned when the airbase is hit by several SCUD missiles. He hits the warning klaxon just as the door is kicked open by a North Korean Special Operations commando…