Scheuer

Germany 1985 is a TacOps MBX that takes place during a hypothetical all-out conventional war between the Warsaw Pact and NATO in 1985. It depicts the attack of the right flank of the Soviet 8th Guards Army against parts of the US Fifth Corps in the Fulda Gap. The MBX can be viewed as a very large and long TacOps-game, lasting twelve hours and being played on three geomorphic maps simultaneously. It will be played via e-mail, with players sending written instructions to an umpire who executes the orders. Players will then be sent .tac-files to run the Combat Phases and view the situation for themselves. Each turn will last five minutes, instead of the ordinary one-minute TacOps-turn. With three turns played per week the game will last about twelve months. Players will command regiments and battalions, with some higher-ranking players acting as brigade, division and army commanders. Workload will be about similar to commanding a force of the same size in an ordinary PBM game, but with the added stress of keeping deadlines and communicating with team-mates. Recruitment will be open for two weeks, and after that the planning phase will begin. Preliminary date for STARTEX is May 9. To download the initial information, and to sign up, please visit http://e-bostad.net/scheuer/ Hope to see you there! Fredrik Scheuer, game master

True. But that´s not a subject that should be discussed in this forum.

I have just finished play testing a 2p cold war scenario for map 505c. I can mail it to you if you want.

Thank you for your quick and clarifying answers. Don´t get me wrong, from a hobby user point of view I think flamethrowers and termobaric rounds would disrupt gameplay, but here´s an account of russian troops using flamethrowers in the battle for Grozny 2000: http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/fmsopubs/issues/fuelair/fuelair.htm

I have been thinking about three things regarding TacOps lately. First question: Tank Guns rely on laser range finders to measure distance to target. Will this laser beam be blocked by smoke? If so, the gunner will then need to manually figure out the range (provided he sees the target in his thermal sight), and the tank will suffer from reduced accuracy and rate of fire. Is this assumption right? (Real tankers are welcome to answer) And is it reflected in TacOps? Next question: According to the documentation that comes along with TacOps, as well as other sources, OPFOR infantry is liberally equipped with flamethrowers (about one per platoon). This would in modern units be the devastating RPO, capable of firing thermobaric (fuel/air explosive) rounds. Certainly this would have a great impact in a TacOps scenario, and actually I think I´m glad it isn´t included, but what is the exact reason flamethrowers are not included? Last queastion: When a full-strength squad is reduced to just one man, this solitary soldier manages to fire, in fifteen seconds: his assault rifle; the attached grenade launcher; the squad automatic weapon; a disposable anti-tank weapon; and the squad´s rocket launcher. Pretty impressive. Does a squad always have the same fire power regardless of how many casualties it has taken?

The ICC has´nt been built? Where does Carla del Ponte go when she goes to work? And where is Milosevic held on trial? Anyway, a scenario like the one described is much too hot and painful be played. It could theorethically happen, and then American and European TacOps-players would kill each other for real. War is only fun as long as it is a game.

I vaguely suspected that an attack against the ICC was the reason behind the map. What a depressing scenario. Did you ever run that CPX? Is there an AAR or replay?

I just assume that the tanks carry different rounds for their main guns, but this is only second hand knowledge, I´m not a professional. The penetration figure is also taken from publicly available sources. HEAT would surely have lower hit propability, but it would sometimes be worth it. Some tanks in TacOps fire missiles through their main guns, and I suppose the game engine makes the choice of what ammunition to fire based on an overall kill chance. Why not make the same with HEAT rounds?

I´ll let you know when and if they are finished. Do you have something against the Swedish?

Why can´t tanks fire HEAT ammunition? For example, the T55 main gun ammunition in the game only has 300mm of armor penetration at point blank range, and this then drops off. In reality it also has a HEAT round with 380mm penetration at all ranges. Why is this not represented in the game? It certainly would give the T55 a better chance in the fight against the M60A1.

TacOps is a kind of science fiction-game, with a what-if-glasnost-didn´t-happen theme. The NATO and OPFOR armies depicted are bred for fighting each other in a central European environment. All the more strange that almost none of the real world maps in TacOps cover this terrain. Or am I missing something? Before I throw myself into the project of making four huge TacOps-maps of the Fulda Gap I would appreciate if someone told me if such maps already exist. And Matt Ohlmer, if you read this, can you please explain why you did that beautiful map 105 of Hague, one of the places in the world that is least likely to see armed conflict? And finally, Ralf Pichocki, you seem to be on the right track with a series of German maps. Your project sounds very exciting, and I would be very glad if you told me how I could find out more about it.

The better penetration in the"old" missiles you are referring to actually concerns the AT4i, AT5i and so forth versions, where "i" stands for improved. The original missiles have much poorer penetration, and you can watch this by not checking the Improved OPFOR Warheads option before beginning play. Actually, I´m not even sure there is any hard proof that these "i"-versions even exists.

umm, ok... Do you consider the M1A1D and M1A2 to be identical in game terms as each tank is not represented?

Hi This probably has been addressed before but I have really searched the forum without finding any notice of it: Where is the M1A2 tank in TacOps 4? There is a jump between the M1A1D and the M1A2SEP. If a scenario calls for M1A2 tanks, what should you use?