The Falklands War: 1982

The Falkland conflict of 1982 was a strange conflict. Argentina, primarily for domestic reasons, overwhelmed the garrison of thirty-five Royal Marines on the almost worthless group of islands at the tip of South America. Britain, roused to Churchillian action by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, put together an ad hoc flotilla to reclaim the disputed islands. Although the most interesting part of the conflict from a military aspect was the Argentinean threat to the Royal Navy, the British land operations were a good study of how a small but professional force could deal with a larger conscript army.

ProSIM Company and Shrapnel Games' The Falklands War: 1982 is also a bit unusual. The game represents infantry battles using an engine developed for armor, Armored Task Force. Designer Gary Bezant recognized that the company/platoon/team scale of the engine fit the engagements on the islands. The question remains if the mechanics work as well.

Turn Left at Brazil

Any variant of the Armored Task Force engines requires clear instructions and The Falklands War: 1982 doesn't fail in that respect. The 127-page manual uses a proven method of a tutorial hitting the basics followed by a detailed explanation of every command. The last two chapters are devoted to equipment and situations unique to the Falklands.

The maps come in three flavors: contour, color and a combination of both. The contour map does a fine job of depicting the islands in blue and black on white and does justice to the survey maps that are their genesis at any of the six zoom levels. The color maps in the out of the box version come off bland compared to the faux 3D shades found in its counterparts in The Star and the Crescent; fortunately, patch 1.23 brings these graphics up to the standards of the recent projects. The jump/overview map is positively murky but this problem is largely offset by the animated HTML presentations at the beginning of each scenario. No scenario is big enough to make the use of the overview mandatory.

Unit graphics are also shown two ways. The infantry and artillery units are always shown in the operational mode with NATO symbols. The graphics icons have silhouettes of men, planes and vehicles present. Flags mark the different hierarchies of teams, platoons and companies. Unit status is indicated by a superimposed character of a colored "X". Fine pictures of units and vehicles along with their specifications and game values can be seen by pulling up "Unit Info" from the Vehicle Specs item on the View menu. A colorful and useful graphic is the Line of Sight fan that shows what can be seen from a given spot.

Sound effects are limited to audio confirmations of clicks and sounds of combat. Combat sounds are well done with very loud impacts and the rattle of small arms fire.

Gamers new to wargames or coming from lighter games may find The Falklands War: 1982's mechanics cumbersome. Indeed, a certain rhythm is required to make moves comfortably. I have already described the mechanics of the Armored Task Force engine in my review of The Star and The Crescent. Suffice it here to give a brief overview of the three main activities. Ordering units can be a combination of toolbars, global menus and unit menus brought up by right clicks. The first level of menus includes orders, SOP, formations, missions and TACSOP. The second level of menus further divides these topics: orders tell units how to move, SOP delineates how units react to enemies, formations include column, wedge, etc, missions include assault and breaching while TACSOP has the same tasks as missions but assign them permanently to units. Many of the choices are grafted from the original armor-oriented template and so won't be used too much.

Movement can be done through the Path Edit tool bar icon or the path edit choice in the unit menu. Paths are marked with triangular waypoints called "nodes". Nodes are placed by clicking and dragging and are in either green "go" or red inverted "stop" modes, colored coded - as are path lines - according to the level of hierarchy commanded. Movement can be affected by formation, terrain and enemy activity.

Artillery and air strikes are called in through a three-step routine. First, a fire mission is called either from the "Action" menu or a toolbar icon. Batteries and aircraft able to fire will be highlighted for selection. With units selected, a fire order menu is used to choose ammunition type, salvo type and impact time. A target is then clicked on.

Various other actions and abilities are available such as placing obstacles and engineer activity but are not often used in the Falkland game scenarios. Players are encouraged to experiment with these functions when designing their own scenarios.

Battle in a Very Small Place

The Falklands War: 1982 has eight historical scenarios and ten hypothetical scenarios. The historical scenarios cover the entire conflict from the initial Argentine "snatch and grab" of Port Stanley to the meticulous British riposte. The historical scenarios pose an interesting set of problems. The truly tense part of the conflict was the Argentine Air Force's attacks on the Royal Navy; the land battles tended to be one-sided. The Argentine attack had the British garrison vastly outnumbered and surprised. The British operations were undertaken by professional forces against ill-equipped and ill-motivated draftees. The only real question was the body count. Such scenarios can be made exciting in two ways: putting tight time limits on taking objectives and changing troop quality. Designer Bezant certainly did the former but the latter problem has problems of its own. Changing troop quality should require more finesse than switching from recruits to Delta Force with one click. Bezant accomplishes this by holding most quality variables steady but increasing Argentinean training levels using the training tool component of the scenario builder. Therefore the British still have an edge when players select equal skill level, e.g. both "veteran", at the beginning of a scenario but Argentine troops are no longer chumps..

Most of the battles were small affairs with the British attacking with two or three companies in pincer or flanking operations. British casualties were relatively low with the Argentineans suffering more. An exception to this was the Battle of Goose Green which deserves a close look in terms of play.

Goose Greens involves a British battalion supported by artillery going against four layers of Argentine fortifications stacked along a narrow isthmus. The objective is to occupy an area past the last layer of entrenchments. In such a confined space, attacking with all four companies isn't possible so I will use two waves of two companies as per the OpOrds. One initial company, A, starts at the flank of the isthmus and can move west for a while. Company B will attack due south and link up with A. Both companies are formed into line and ordered to engage on contact at march speed. I switch from company to platoon hierarchy and see that the platoons are in line. I start the clock at 4/1 time. Four unidentified enemy units in Company A's front are spotted. Mortar fire is called. Ineffectual enemy artillery fire is noticed. Company A destroys one enemy unit with machine gun fire as the report log shows no friendly casualties. The Argentineans fall back.

With the defenders withdrawing, I order both A and B companies into sprint to keep the pressure up. Companies D and C begin to come forward into support positions. Company A spots more enemy units in entrenchments. I stop the clock, call in 155 mm artillery fire, and give Companies A and B "assault" missions on designated spots in the line. I also have Companies C and D give "support by fire" to an expandable circle covering the entrenchments. More mortar and machine gun fire from behind the Argentinean first line come at the two assault companies which slow down slightly. The heavy artillery fire disrupts the left of the entrenchments.

As the British close, Argentine fire becomes more effective. Mortar and machinegun fie hit platoons in the open and causes the platoons either to go to ground or retreat. New paths have to be set and troops rested. Superior training would break the Goose Green positions but at a casualty rate that would lose the scenario.

The hypothetic scenarios are wild and wooly. Some of them "flip" the historical scenarios, e.g., the Argentine landings are opposed while others see well-timed Argentinean counter attacks. A set of these scenarios include maps where the topography has been rearranged to allow deployment of heavy armor units. The combat results mechanism for the games allows for exciting replay with a very tough AI. When playing the original scenarios isn't enough, a powerful scenario builder and LAN –TCP/IP features will provide new gaming opportunities with new situations and human opponents.