Less Than 60 Miles – 2nd Echelon

“The goal is to collapse adversary’s system into confusion and disorder causing him to over and under react to activity that appears simultaneously menacing as well as ambiguous, chaotic, or misleading.”

John R. Boyd, “Patterns of Conflict”

At 0400 Zulu Time, July 24 1985, three Warsaw Pact Armies cross the Inner German Border and advance at full speed into the Fulda Gap.

US V Corps, supported by West German 5 Panzer Division, executes OPLAN 33001 – the CENTAG Defense Plan prepared and refined for decades – to accomplish the apparently impossible task of stopping 4000 Soviet Tanks before they reach the Rhine.

Taking its roots from SPI’s Central Front and NATO: Division Commander, Less Than 60 Miles is the first module of the C3 operational series, focused on Command, Control and Communication. All the elements of modern mechanized warfare are covered: Chemical and Nuclear Weapons, Attack Helicopters, Engineers, Electronic Warfare, Counter-battery Fire, Ribbon Bridges, Army Doctrines, Reconnaissance units, Close Air Support coordination and more.

Several typical wargame mechanics have been reinterpreted, and both sides will fight three equally dangerous foes: the enemy, their own plan and time. Even a simple action can quickly turn into a disaster when facing an opponent using more efficiently the real key to victory: the OODA Loop theorized by John Boyd in the early ‘80s and used today as the basis for several military doctrines.

This second echelon is more an update than a simple reprint. Here’s a summary of the main changes:

  • Rules updated with the most recent features introduced by The Dogs of War and Die Festung Hamburg.
  • Counters with the most used Posture on the back side, minimizing the need for Posture markers.
  • Revised NATO OOB, representing West German III Corps as a separate high-level Command.
  • Revised mobilisation rules for West German Teilaktiv battalions and Heimatschutz brigades.
  • Update of several US battalion designations, more exactly pinning the transition from the Combat Arms Regimental System to the US Army Regimental System.
  • Several changes to the Warsaw Pact OOB, from Soviet Army-level independent tank regiments to East German pure tank regiments.
  • Several small but significant changes to the map and scenarios.
  • An expanded Field Manual 02-002 Battlefield Operations, covering Operational Procedures and Operational Planning. Start reading it immediately, before it’s too late.

Moreover, the five modules of the C3 Series are going to cover the whole NATO – Warsaw Pact conflict in Central Europe. Yes, in the end we will have the whole Central Front playable in a gigantic, unmanageable, mind-blowing campaign.

Components

  • 98×55 cm matte plasticized map, covering US V Corps area of responsibility
  • 1000+ 5/8″ matte plasticized counters
  • 40 Action and Event Cards
  • 24 pages Rules Booklet
  • 24 pages Scenarios & Designer’s Notes Booklet
  • 8 pages Field Manual
  • 2x Charts & Tables booklets
  • 5x Player Aid Charts
  • 2x 10-sided dice
  • 10x zipbags
Components Overview
US V Corps AoR and surrounding areas
Countersheets
Action and Event Cards Sample
Central Front Sector 1 OOB
Map Detail of Fulda Area
CENTAG Sector 1 OOB
FM 02-002 Battlefield Operations
Charts & Tables Booklet
US Counters Sample
Soviet Counters Sample
East German Counters Sample
West German Counters Sample
Box and Map, fresh out of print

Game Highlights

  • 5 km per hex, 3 hours per game turn
  • Regiment / Battalion sized ground units
  • Detailed Order of Battle set in July, 1985
  • Close Air Support and Attack Helicopters
  • Command, Control & Communication related problems
  • Electronic and Intelligence Warfare
  • Combat Engineers Operations
  • Artillery interdiction and Counter-Battery fire
  • Chemical and Nuclear warfare
  • Specific events for Warsaw Pact and NATO
  • Random events to further increase battlefield chaos
  • 2019 Charles S. Roberts Awards Nominee, Best Post-WW2, Cold War, & Hypothetical Era Board Wargame!
  • Bronze Medal in the European Wargames category, 2020 Open Paris Jeux d’Histoire!

Scenarios

  • The Eleventh Hour: The first desperate hours of US 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
  • Steps of Our Fathers: West German 5th Panzer Division finds itself on the main attack axis.
  • Spearhead: US 3rd Armored Division must stop 8th Guards Army and send reinforcements North.
  • The Day That Never Comes: Three Warsaw Pact Armies against US V Corps.
  • One Minute to Midnight: All-out chemical and nuclear warfare after several weeks of tension and build-up.

Price and Availability

91.5 Euros (VAT included for EU).

North America POMCUS has been overrun –  Troops for US and Canada will be airlifted from FRANCE.
Europe and Rest of the World POMCUS still resisting with the last reserve troops.
Get your equipment and move to the FEBA here!

Additional Contents