Tactical operations
Tactical operations Rules you need to know are on this page. To understand better them, read the next page . A. Object of the Game: You are Colonel of a Brigade Combat Team (BCT). Your object is to become a General. You can be promoted by showing your prowess at Tactical Operations by successfully completing military missions. This war is your big chance. Your current mission is to clear a path through an enemy DTG (Division Tactical Group). You have only 20 (game) hours do to so. The faster you accomplish the mission, the greater the chance of promotion to General. B. Game Setup: 1. Shuffle the OPFOR Defense Cards. Draw nine at random and place them facedown in a 3 X 3 pattern. Place the remaining cards facedown to one side. 2. Sort through the BLUFOR FRAGO cards and place the CAS (Close Air Support) card to one side. 3. You will need a pen/pencil and a small piece of paper to record your game hours used. C. Game Play: 1. Select any FRAGO card. The card lists the amount of game hours it will take to complete the action and the results of that selection. 2. Select which Defense card you wish to apply the FRAGO to and expose that card if it is not already exposed. The Defense card you select may be exposed (faceup) or unexposed (facedown). You must start with a card in the front row (nearest you). Exception: The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) card may reveal any 2 facedown cards in any row. 3. Once exposed, apply the effect of the FRAGO. If you defeat the enemy force in that sector, the sector is cleared and the Defense Card removed from play. You defeat the Defense if your attack strength is higher than the defense strength. The FRAGO, except the UAV card, is returned to your hand to use again. If the defensive strength equals or exceeds the final adjusted attack strength, the sector is not cleared. 4. Mark how many hours the FRAGO required for that action. You may not exceed 20 total hours to complete the mission or you lose. 5. You may now apply FRAGOs to other defense
Colonel Colonel (P) General
sectors. Those sectors may be in the front row or adjacent to the left, right, or rear of an exposed sector. D. How to Win: 1. If you complete the mission with 4 or more hours to spare, your superiors promote you instantly to General and give you the use of CAS (Close Air Support) for any future missions. 2. If you complete the mission with 2-3 hours to spare, your superiors notice and you are a Colonel (P) promotable. You retain command, may complete more missions and, if you win your next mission with 2-3 hours to spare, you are promoted to General. 3. If you complete the mission with only 0-1 hours to spare, you retain your command and may continue to do missions, but you are not promoted. 4. If you can not complete the mission within 20 game turns, you lose. You lose any (P) promotable status or Generals rank and return to Colonel. 5. If you quit playing the game, you return to Colonel when you play again. You do not keep your rank. E. CARD NOTES: 1. The UAV FRAGO card reveals any 2 Defense cards and can only be used once. 2. You are not authorized to use the CAS card until you are promoted to General ( ). 3. You may add Artillery and CAS at any time to any attack but must pay the extra time cost in hours. 4. The Engineer card can only be used to clear a Barrier sector and a Screening Force if any. If there is a Covering Force, you must add artillery or air to the attack to clear the enemy. 5. Beware of special notes on the OPEN Defense and “Bull Thru” cards. Two Person Play: This game is designed to be solitaire but may be played 2 person. The other person becomes the OPFOR player and randomly draws 9 cards but choses in what order to lay them down in the 9 X 9 pattern. Check out all of the OPFOR Series Games at
Warcoachgames.com OPFOR Tactical Operations OPFOR Full Spectrum War OPFOR Steel on Steel OPFOR Insurgency
Why we did what we did
Army Explanation (FM 3-9) The operational-level headquarters sets the terms of battle and provides resources for tactical operations. Tactical success is measured by the contribution of an action to the achievement of operationally significant results.
Simple Explanation “The art of war is simple enough. Find out where the enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can and as often as you can, and keep moving on.” -General U.S. Grant
Definitions ADA: Anti-air Defense Artillery. BCT: Brigade Combat Team (US).
ADA Preventing C.A.S: No Close Air Support is allowed when ADA is present to prevent loses to expensive and hard to replace, aircraft. Bull Thru Attack: Bull Thru attacks order units to charge though opposition without regard for light losses, thus if you hit a heavily defended position, your units would be wiped out and you would be demoted and probably lose your command. C.A.S. Close Air Support: is limited to General officers. Air power is very expensive and limited, thus only the highest ranking officers can get such support easily. This is the BLUFORs “Magic Bullet”. When your butts in a sling, use BLUE AIR. Hours Required: This figure represents the time it takes to process, staff, plan, distribute, and execute a FRAGO. Contrary to popular belief, it is a very time consuming procedure. OPEN Sector: If you attack an OPEN Sector with a Flank, Deliberate, or Coordinated attack, you have wasted time and resources (Economy of Force). You would seen as a fool for not scouting the area first to see what was there. UAV Flights: The UAV card is limited to 2 sectors and then discarded to improve game play. In real life, UAVs are not actually ‘see-all’ and ‘eyes on the ground’ are more accurate, thus you must ‘Recon’ with a ground unit for a full picture. Why 3 Rows and Columns of OPFOR?: A battle is generally divided into the center, left and right flanks, thus 3 columns. OPFOR defenses are generally divided into a Disruption Zone, Battle Zone, and Support Zone, thus 3 rows deep. Actually Battle Zones are often at least twice as deep as a Disruption Zone so you could consider this layout as a Disruption and 2 Battle Zones. Support Zones are the enemy ‘rear’ and have few defensive forces except local security and the division reserve.
BLUFOR: The “good guys,” US forces. DTG: Division Tactical Group, an OPFOR formation similar to a US Division.
The Principles of War (and game application)
Objective (Remember your objective. Don’t be distracted)
FRAGO: Fragmentary Order, changes or sub-missions to an OPORD.
Offensive (Keep the enemy on his heels and retain initiative.)
Mass (Have enough power to overcome opposition.)
OPFOR: Opposing Force, the “bad guys”.
Economy of force (Don’t waste resources, conserve your strength.)
OPORD: Operations Order, an overall mission order in detail.
Maneuver (Avoiding the enemy is less costly than overpowering it.)
Unity of command (There is only one person to blame-you!)
PDP: Prepared Defensive Positions usually dug-in positions with camouflage and concealment.
Security (Don’t be surprised by what you are facing.)
Surprise (Hit them where they least expect it and are weakest.)
Simplicity (K.I.S.S.-Keep It Simple, Stupid)
Colonel Colonel (P) General
sectors. Those sectors may be in the front row or adjacent to the left, right, or rear of an exposed sector. D. How to Win: 1. If you complete the mission with 4 or more hours to spare, your superiors promote you instantly to General and give you the use of CAS (Close Air Support) for any future missions. 2. If you complete the mission with 2-3 hours to spare, your superiors notice and you are a Colonel (P) promotable. You retain command, may complete more missions and, if you win your next mission with 2-3 hours to spare, you are promoted to General. 3. If you complete the mission with only 0-1 hours to spare, you retain your command and may continue to do missions, but you are not promoted. 4. If you can not complete the mission within 20 game turns, you lose. You lose any (P) promotable status or Generals rank and return to Colonel. 5. If you quit playing the game, you return to Colonel when you play again. You do not keep your rank. E. CARD NOTES: 1. The UAV FRAGO card reveals any 2 Defense cards and can only be used once. 2. You are not authorized to use the CAS card until you are promoted to General ( ). 3. You may add Artillery and CAS at any time to any attack but must pay the extra time cost in hours. 4. The Engineer card can only be used to clear a Barrier sector and a Screening Force if any. If there is a Covering Force, you must add artillery or air to the attack to clear the enemy. 5. Beware of special notes on the OPEN Defense and “Bull Thru” cards. Two Person Play: This game is designed to be solitaire but may be played 2 person. The other person becomes the OPFOR player and randomly draws 9 cards but choses in what order to lay them down in the 9 X 9 pattern. Check out all of the OPFOR Series Games at
Warcoachgames.com OPFOR Tactical Operations OPFOR Full Spectrum War OPFOR Steel on Steel OPFOR Insurgency
Why we did what we did
Army Explanation (FM 3-9) The operational-level headquarters sets the terms of battle and provides resources for tactical operations. Tactical success is measured by the contribution of an action to the achievement of operationally significant results.
Simple Explanation “The art of war is simple enough. Find out where the enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can and as often as you can, and keep moving on.” -General U.S. Grant
Definitions ADA: Anti-air Defense Artillery. BCT: Brigade Combat Team (US).
ADA Preventing C.A.S: No Close Air Support is allowed when ADA is present to prevent loses to expensive and hard to replace, aircraft. Bull Thru Attack: Bull Thru attacks order units to charge though opposition without regard for light losses, thus if you hit a heavily defended position, your units would be wiped out and you would be demoted and probably lose your command. C.A.S. Close Air Support: is limited to General officers. Air power is very expensive and limited, thus only the highest ranking officers can get such support easily. This is the BLUFORs “Magic Bullet”. When your butts in a sling, use BLUE AIR. Hours Required: This figure represents the time it takes to process, staff, plan, distribute, and execute a FRAGO. Contrary to popular belief, it is a very time consuming procedure. OPEN Sector: If you attack an OPEN Sector with a Flank, Deliberate, or Coordinated attack, you have wasted time and resources (Economy of Force). You would seen as a fool for not scouting the area first to see what was there. UAV Flights: The UAV card is limited to 2 sectors and then discarded to improve game play. In real life, UAVs are not actually ‘see-all’ and ‘eyes on the ground’ are more accurate, thus you must ‘Recon’ with a ground unit for a full picture. Why 3 Rows and Columns of OPFOR?: A battle is generally divided into the center, left and right flanks, thus 3 columns. OPFOR defenses are generally divided into a Disruption Zone, Battle Zone, and Support Zone, thus 3 rows deep. Actually Battle Zones are often at least twice as deep as a Disruption Zone so you could consider this layout as a Disruption and 2 Battle Zones. Support Zones are the enemy ‘rear’ and have few defensive forces except local security and the division reserve.
BLUFOR: The “good guys,” US forces. DTG: Division Tactical Group, an OPFOR formation similar to a US Division.
The Principles of War (and game application)
Objective (Remember your objective. Don’t be distracted)
FRAGO: Fragmentary Order, changes or sub-missions to an OPORD.
Offensive (Keep the enemy on his heels and retain initiative.)
Mass (Have enough power to overcome opposition.)
OPFOR: Opposing Force, the “bad guys”.
Economy of force (Don’t waste resources, conserve your strength.)
OPORD: Operations Order, an overall mission order in detail.
Maneuver (Avoiding the enemy is less costly than overpowering it.)
Unity of command (There is only one person to blame-you!)
PDP: Prepared Defensive Positions usually dug-in positions with camouflage and concealment.
Security (Don’t be surprised by what you are facing.)
Surprise (Hit them where they least expect it and are weakest.)
Simplicity (K.I.S.S.-Keep It Simple, Stupid)
