Author: Peter Mitchell

Developer: ProSIM Company
Publisher: Shrapnel Games

Brigade Combat Team is the first software release from ProSIM Company, and its designer/owner, Captain Patrick Proctor, US Army. Brigade Combat Team (version 1.25A) models tactics for small armor and air-mobile units in contemporary and modern land warfare. A formidable array of combat vehicles and aircraft, drawn mostly from the inventories of the US and former USSR, deploy and fight in near real-time on a detailed three-dimensional landscape, seen exclusively from overhead. Although "legs" infantry are included, the game’s primary focus is on highly-mobile formations capable of rapid movement. Brigade Combat Team is about maneuver and concentrated firepower, or, in the memorable words of a US Civil War general, about "being firstest with the mostest."

The game is exactingly accurate, almost profoundly so: Brigade Combat Team was inspired by Captain Proctor’s experience with the US Army’s JANUS wargame system, and reflects lessons learned during his career as an active duty artillery officer. According to a handbook released by the National Simulations Center:

"JANUS is a low-cost, flexible, interactive, event-driven wargaming simulation used for training platoon and company-level commanders, as well as battalion and brigade staffs.

When used for training at the platoon and company level, players must consider all aspects of employing their forces just as they would in combat. JANUS accurately models both friendly and enemy weapons systems with resolution down to the individual platform (i.e., T-80, M2, or individual soldier weapons). These systems have distinct properties, such as dimension, weight, carrying capacity, weapons, and weapons capabilities. All the above can be effected by terrain and weather."

Like JANUS, Brigade Combat Team commits battalions and brigades to combat, with units representing individual vehicles and aircraft, infantry fire teams, and, most typically, armor platoons. And like JANUS, Brigade Combat Team uses a complex digital elevation model (DEM) that accounts for every random bump and fold in the landscape.

Brigade Combat Team’s maps each cover 50,000 square meters. Fortunately for this overextended armchair commander, the combat arena is only a fraction of the available map. The maps themselves are contour interval topographics, well-marked with area grids, boundary and phase line overlays, and fixed with latitude/longitude referents using the US Army’s universal coordinate system. Four levels of scale are available, from an extremely small-scale shaded relief view, to what visually approximates 1:500,000, 1:100,000 and 1:25,000 scale map sheets. Terrain cover, buildings, and roads are indicated where appropriate. The effect is simple, understated, and stunning: Move the cursor and each map pixel yields latitude, longitude, and elevation data. The precision of the maps subtly suggests that Brigade Combat Team has taken an important step forward in modeling and presenting real-world data for civilian consumer wargaming.

Eleven scenarios ship with the game, with additional scenarios available in two expansion sets. The scenarios mostly come straight from exercises at the US Army’s National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, or the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk. Other scenarios are from the eerie speculative universes of military preparedness: combat in Korea, a Marine Corps amphibious invasion of Cuba, and actions in the territory of the former USSR. Only one scenario depicts an actual historical event: H-Hour on the Saudi Arabia/Iraq border during the (Second) Gulf War. (Note: one expansion scenario set also includes a battle from the ’73 Arab/Israeli War.).

Play begins by selecting a scenario and skill level for the player- and computer-controlled forces. The player then receives orders. The following excerpt is from the "ScnKiev: Armored Cavalry Squadron Screen" scenario:

OPORD 04-98

3 ACR (BRAVE RIFLES)

1. SITUATION:

A. ENEMY FORCES:

1. The 3 and 1 CAA have completed reconstitution and are preparing to begin offensive operations. They are currently at approximately 80 percent with three MRD's each at a combat power of 120 / 300 / 72 and DAG's of 2 BN's of BM21's and 2 BN's of 2S5's. The AAG's have 1 BN 2S7's and 1 BN BM21's.

2. The most likely course of action is that the enemy will attack in zone NLT 180800JUL04 to destroy III Corps and facilitate the continued attack to seize Zhitomir and key Ural passes. He will attack with two CAA's abreast, the 3rd in the southwest and the 1CAA in the northeast. These CAA's will attack with two MRD's up and one back. One CAA, the 2CAA, will form the second strategic echelon of the Army and be committed to support the CAA which encounters the least resistance. The 1st CAA will be the main effort and will receive priority of fires from the AAG. MRD's will employ Forward Detachments which may attack NET 172000JUL04 to seize key passes to facilitate the attack. His SOKOL and fixed wing assets have not been seen yet. If the enemy considers this a last ditch attack, they might be a threat. Expect rotary wing aircraft to deliver dismounted company size elements deep within our sector.

B. FRIENDLY FORCES:

1. Higher Mission. III Corps attacks in zone, NLT 180800JUL04, to reestablish contact with the 1 and 3 CAA and seize key terrain west of Kiev. o/o prepare a hasty defense. o/o continue the attack into Kiev.

The OPORD’s conventions of format and language are those used in today’s Army, and like the map overlay symbols, require the player to become conversant with the attributes of a highly specialized lexicon. It is possible to play Brigade Combat Team without knowing much or anything about "milspeak," but much would be missed – the orders convey information necessary for the successful execution of the mission. Chapter 6 of the Brigade Combat Team manual (downloadable in MS Word ’97 format from the ProSIM website) provides a glossary and symbol key, but gamers may want to download and read FM 101-5-1 MCRP 5-2A: Operational Terms and Graphics for a more complete description of symbols, acronyms, and usage. This obeisance to contemporary military procedure is more than a nod toward authenticity; Brigade Combat Team is informing the player that this game intends to be as close to "real" as possible.

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