From: "David A. Vandenbroucke" <davanden@CAPACCESS.ORG>
Subject:      Re: Light Division(was The Good and Bad of 3W) (fwd)

On Tue, 13 May 1997, Pete Varney wrote:

> As a former member of the 7th ID (motto-Fight light, Freeze at night) I
> have picked this one up a couple of times but never purchased it, general
> comments on 3W games have scared me away.  Could someone give me some
> comments on this games, how does it play, what is the setting, etc.  The
> only thing on Web-Grognards I found was extensive map errata.

Light Division (LD) is a batallion/company level game about the
much-discussed fight for control of the Straights of Hormuz.  Scenarios
depict U.S. troops trying to seize Bandar Abbas and the surrounding area
from either the Iranians or the Soviets (who, in their scenarios, have
just seized the area themselves).  The U.S. starts with the 82nd
airborne, some Marines, a few Ranger companies, and air and sea support.
They have to grab airfields and ports in order to bring in more Marines
and one other division (exactly which depends on the die roll--either the
101st or [I think] the 7th, with an optional rule allowing a brigade of
the 10th, IIRC.)  The opposition is either Republican Guards or a Soviet
airborne division, but heavy units are on their way overland.  In the
advanced warning scenarios, you also get to bring in the 24th mech
division by sea.  Reinforcements on both sides are heavily variable.

The most interesting part of the design is the sequence of play. You roll
D10 and get to conduct that number of operations, each of which involves
one unit or stack.  Then the other player does the same.  This continues
until everyone has activated all of their units.  But if you roll a zero,
you have to flip a unit to its inactive side and not do anything.  You
then roll immediately again.  If you roll another zero, all of your units
become inactive.  Thus, you're never sure when/if you'll have the
operations points available for a big multiunit attack.

Artillery, helicopter, naval, and air support all cost operations points,
and are limited in availability, depending one whether you choose a
hasty, [the middle one whose name I can't remember], or deliberate
attack.  There are also special forces which the US and Soviet can use
for long range actions or tactical advantages.

I thought it was a lot of fun to play.  There are enough scenarios and
random variation to make it replayable, and the sequence of play is nice
for solitaire.

--Dav
davanden@capaccess.org