First Strike

This is a DTP game, with a sticky back counter sheet to mount. It is a two-player game set in 1983, with one person playing the U.S., and the other person playing the Soviet Union. The game comes with two programmed scenarios, Bolt from the Blue (a one turn scenario) and First Strike (standard ten turn scenario) and instructions for varying the First Strike scenario if desired.

As would be expected in a game featuring nuclear war, it is quite possible for both players to lose utterly. Also, one side can lose utterly, while the other side may not achieve "victory conditions" in game terms. All involved in the design and production of this game make it clear that if this hypothetical situation had played out, incredible horrors would have been unleashed upon the world and there would not have been any winners in any real sense.

From the designer: "First Strike is a game about thermonuclear war between the superpowers during the Cold War, in November 1983. This is based on actual historic incidents and persons wishing to become acquainted with them can read 'Comrade Kryuchov's Instructions', about Operation Ryan, or 'War Scare: Russia and America on the Nuclear Brink'"