By Michael K. Robel

  You can play on several types of terrain. The scenarios included with the game are all fought on generalized terrain ranging from essentially European to desert, but also included are maps of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, Germany - near the Fulda Gap, Canadian Army Training Areas, an area in Kentucky used by the Armor School for terrain walks, and an Australian Army Training Area. These maps provide TACOPS terrain overlaid over actual 1:50,000 scale maps.

Order of Battle Report showing the survivors of the carnage to date.

TACOPS supports several different types of play. There is of course solitaire play against the computer. The AI and tactics in this version are pretty tough and they have varying degrees of difficulty. At the starting level, for instance, you might command an M1-M2 Battalion Task Force defending against the attack of an OPFOR Motorized Rifle Regiment equipped with BTR-80 APCs and T-72 tanks which arrives on the battlefield fairly spaced out, but well within doctrinal time limits.

At the higher levels of difficulty, however, the OPFOR regiment is equipped with BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicles and T-80 tanks and arrives in a very compressed time. This method of difficulty allows the player to gain confidence as well as skill as the scenarios progress.

Preexisting scenarios are centered on the US Army, US Marines, and Canadian Army. Scenarios are not linked and there is no campaign version. However, players can approach these type games by printing out reports at the end of a game, and then crafting a scenario that uses the remaining friendly force against the next arriving echelon of the OPFOR.

For instance, if you successfully defend against an attacking BTR regiment, the next threat you would face would be a combined attack by the Motorized Rifle Division's BMP and tank regiments - an exciting prospect indeed if you have been reduced to 40% strength!

Large stylized icons for the bifocal brigade.

A scenario editor is also included. In this case, the games are not suitable for solitaire play against the computer. These type games primarily support play by mail or Command Post Exercise games, although you can also play in a hot seat manner or in solitaire where the player controls both sides. As an alternative, you can use the scenario editor to modify one of the pre-existing scenarios by changing the forces involved and then saving the modified game that makes use of the game's AI.

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An overlay product, useful for the Command Post Exercise Crowd and magazine articles.

A Command Post Exercise (CPX) involves several people playing together on two different sides. Two players usually serve as the commander for each side and others serve as various subordinates and communicate via the Internet. One player controls the game and passes information to each side as the game progresses. The players in this case do not actually play the game, but attempt to follow the progress of their side through the reports and printable maps (also provided in the game) on which they plot the reports.

Of all the ways to play TACOPS, this is the most realistic and close to the way the Army and the Marine Corps currently control that battles. (However, with the advent of digital systems, this method of controlling battles is starting to fade into the past.)

A Canadian Battle Group moving through the desert and the Situation Map, showing the "Big Picture."

Most scenarios are rather short, requiring about an hour of game time and up to two hours of real time, depending on how fast you issue orders. CPX games can take rather longer, as much as 8 hours to resolve.

TACOPS is semi-real time in that it progresses with an orders phase which can last as long as the player likes which is followed by a execution phases of about a minute where both sides execute their orders. (There is a feature that allows the players to set a time limit on orders.)

As such, you can see opportunities missed and taken, but be unable to immediately take advantage of them as they unfold. A variable fog of war, which can provide you full information or almost none through different menu combinations, can also add to the pressure of the game.

The Bottom Line

AT $20.00 a copy it is an excellent deal and well worth adding to or updating your library and still far above many of the game out on the market today. Unlike some other games, it is not a download; you send your money and get a CD. Highly recommended.

By buying this game, you will be showing that wargames are still a popular force, supporting this new and more responsive distribution method, and provide encouragement for more advanced versions of wargames.

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