Remember those choose your own adventure books you may have read as a kid? You know, the ones in which you could explore a dungeon and then at the end of the chapter a number of decisions are offered up? Pick one and turn to page such and such? Well it seems John F. Antal remembers those days and it's a good thing he does. Thanks to him we have a kind of choose your own adventure for wargamers. Actually, the books were meant to assist enlisted men such that they might learn how to implement better strategic decision making, but it works for wargamers too.
During the 1960's, programmed instruction was voguish in commercial and
institutional as well as educational circles. Antal, a major in the US
Army, makes a martial equivalent of this technique the centerpiece of a
gimmicky text that's as much manual as novel. Following detailed
briefings on the Abrams tank and allied matters, the author introduces
young Second Lieutenant Sam Jaeger. Posted to the Middle East, where
America is engaged in desert warfare with an unidentified foe, Jaeger is
given command of an armor platoon that's a key element in a battalion
opposed by a motorized rifle division. In due course, our hero's outfit
is assigned to attack hostile forces whose position is uncertain, and
Jaeger must draft operational orders for his troops. At this point,
Antal's narrative begins to fragment, taking on the character of a
decision tree. At various stages, readers must exercise one of the
several options open to the rookie officer and proceed to the sections
disclosing the outcomes of their joint decision. Those who pick the
correct passages through the author's tactical thicket are rewarded by
the intelligence that their choices as proxies helped Jaeger win the day
and earn a battlefield promotion to captain, plus a Silver Star. By
contrast, failure to show initiative and to heed a superior's intent
results not only in suppositious death or capture but also an invitation
to try again. As Antal makes abundantly clear in his twisty,
hard-boiled plotlines, armed conflict can prove terribly unforgiving of
mistakes.
Sound interesting? It doesn't stop here.
In this one, you play the part of a 2nd Lieutenant, recently graduated from a Military Academy. Your commanding your first Platoon and face the
same challenges that all small unit leaders face. At the end of each
chapter, not unlike the previous book, it gives you several choices to make and you go to the chapter
that matches your choice. The choices are not always easy or clear
cut and in some chapters you actually roll dice too decide what course of action to
follow.
He also has one called Combat Team.
So if your needing a break from wargaming but still want to "wargame", or you just wanna relive the old choose your own adventure days albeit with a grown up bent, then test drive one of these books!
Thank for reading.
