''Strike Force One'', subtitled "The Cold War Heats Up — 1975", is a

board wargame A board wargame is a wargame with a set playing surface or board, as opposed to being played on a computer or in a more free-form playing area as in miniatures games. The modern, commercial wargaming hobby (as distinct from military exercises, o ...

published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

in 1975 that simulates a hypothetical clash in West Germany between Soviet Union invaders, and American defenders. The short and simple game was designed as an introduction to the hobby of wargaming, and was given away as a free promotional item.

Description

''Strike Force One'' is a two-player board wargame where one player controls Soviet invasion forces and the other player controls the American defenders.

Setting

The small hex grid map, only 8 hexes by 9 hexes, is set in a rural section of West Germany. The only terrain on the map are three town hexes and five impassable forest hexes. The setup positions of the counters are marked on the map.

Gameplay

With only 10 counters (6 Soviet, 4 American), and a basic "I Go, You Go" alternating system of turns where one player moves and attacks followed by the other player, ''Strike Force One'' has been characterized as "a very basic game" that only requires 5–10 minutes to play. All units have the same movement and attack/defense strength. Units cannot move from one hex of an enemy unit's

zone of control In board wargames, a zone of control (ZOC) is the area directly adjacent to certain combat forces that affects the movement and actions of enemy combat units. In hexagonal tiled maps, a combat unit's zone of control is the six hexagons adjacent ...

to another hex of the same zone of control, but can leave the zone of control without penalty. Combat is not mandatory for units adjacent to one another. Combat results in either retreat or elimination for the loser.

Advanced rules

Advanced rules allow for stacking of units, for movement through the forested hexes with a penalty, the addition of a West German counter, and the addition of an "Exchange" result to the Combat Results Table, where both sides lose a counter.

Victory conditions

The game lasts for four turns. The Soviets must occupy two of the three towns by the end of the game to win. The Americans win by preventing this.

Publication history

In 1971, Jim Dunnigan, co-founder of SPI, designed ''

Napoleon at Waterloo ''Napoleon at Waterloo'' is a 1984 video game published by Krentek Software. Gameplay ''Napoleon at Waterloo'' is a game in which the player controls Napoleon while the computer commands the forces of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo. Rec ...

'', a small and simple Napoleonic wargame that was given free to new subscribers of SPI's house magazine ''

Strategy & Tactics ''Strategy & Tactics'' (''S&T'') is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue. Beginnings ''Strategy & Tactics'' was first published in January 1967 under its original edit ...

''. But as critic John Kula noted, "According to SPI, testing showed that the two concepts that were the most difficult for newcomers to grasp were sequence of play, and zones of control." Accordingly, Dunnigan and

Redmond A. Simonsen Redmond Aksel Simonsen (June 18, 1942 – March 9, 2005) was an American graphic artist and game designer best known for his work at the board wargame company Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in the 1970s and early 1980s. Simonsen was consi ...

designed ''Strike Force One'', a new promotional game. The small game, packaged in an envelope, replaced ''Napoleon at Waterloo'' as the free game given to new ''Strategy & Tactics'' subscribers, and was also given away at conventions. A copy of the game was included in Nicky Palmer's 1977 book '' The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming''. In 2007, Victory Point Games published a second edition of the game.

Reception

In the 1980 book '' The Complete Book of Wargames'', game designer Jon Freeman rated the presentation of the game and the clarity of the rules as Very Good, and the playability as Excellent. Nonetheless, Freeman didn't like the game, commenting "it's flawed as an introduction, and it can hardly be considered a wargame. It's too simple to by anything but a short die-rolling contest; there's no opportunity for skillful play." Freeman didn't think anyone would play this game more than once, and concluded by giving the game an Overall Evaluation of "Marginal, for utter novices; for anyone else, forget it." In ''The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training'', Martin Campion recommended the game as a classroom tool for high school and college students, noting "The main point of the game is that it introduces some of the most common mechanics of wargames to the novice player." Campion also commented that despite "the small number of pieces on the board, the game offers several choices of strategy." In a retrospective review in Issue 19 of ''Simulacrum'', John Kula noted "''Strike Force One'' is perhaps too simple a game, and has little replay value once it has been mastered. On the other hand, SPI never claimed it to be anything more than an introduction for non-wargamers, and as such, it worked admirably."

References

{{reflist Board games introduced in 1975 Board wargames set in Modern history Cold War board wargames Jim Dunnigan games Simulations Publications games Wargames introduced in the 1970s