The Balloon Goes Up! is a series which simulates hypothetical armored warfare in Western Europe, the Middle East and Asia from the mid 1980’s to the present day, all using a consistent core set of rules coupled with a situation-specific playbook that allows for a variety of situations to be portrayed. The first game in the series, Spearhead, represents a summer 1986 conflict between elements of the Soviet and East German armies and United States, West German, and French armies. The game emphasizes how long-range detection and firepower technologies dramatically increased the depth of the theater of operations in modem warfare. This “Deep Engagement” waged far behind the front lines can determine the outcome of a campaign even before the opposing ground forces truly come to grips. Players must learn how to fight and win the Deep Engagement to achieve overall victory, taking into account the different ways the forces of the two sides were prepared to fight.
Spearhead scenarios range from smaller battle scenarios that deal with specific situations, locations, and forces, and the larger campaign style scenarios that portray the wider battle between Warsaw Pact and NATO forces. Battle scenarios depict Warsaw Pact drives into the province of Hesse, with objectives of Kassel, the Fulda Gap, Frankfurt, and ultimately the Rhine River.
The game provides players with accurate accurate orders of battle for the participants down to battalion level (based on 1986 force levels)—the US V Corps, West German III Korps, French 1st Army, Soviet 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies, and East German 3rd Army. Spearhead is based on Mark Herman’s Flashpoint: Golan system, which has been updated and refined. The game uses a chit-pull activation system, with divisions being the primary formations. Game scale is 4km per hex, turns are 1 day (12-hour activation impulses).
Components:
Two 22” x 34” map sheets that combine to form a 34” x 44” map
Five counter sheets containing 1170 double-sided 9/16” counters
Twelve 8.5” x 11” Player Aid Cards
One 10-sided die
One Rules Booklet
One Playbook
Players:
2 but the game is well-suited to team play
-description from publisher
Modern Warfare, Wargame · Chit-Pull System, Hexagon Grid, Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game, Simulation, Team-Based Game, Zone of Control
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