Yesterday I picked up Article 5, from the company behind the Sabresquadron Cold War/Modern Wargame Rules.
In short, it's a book I've been wishing existed for over 10 years, since I first got into Cold War gaming. A book of organizational information for NATO forces in Central Europe during the 1980s, specifically Belgium, France, the Netherlands, German, the UK, and the USA. Each nation has a brief one page intro describing which divisions/corps/etc were deployed to Central Europe, and perhaps talking about any major restructuring that occurred during the time period. Then it dives into the details.
For each nation, you first get the basic Armored, Mechanized, and regular Infantry companies, described down to the individual vehicle and fire team level, in a series of easy to understand diagrams. For each company, the various support options that are available are described, starting with battalion-level command units, and then detailing recon, anti-tank, and other units that could have been cross-attached. The higher level command options mean that this book, while nominally describing company level forces, works just as well for building battalion sized units.
Each nation also includes a variety of other units beyond the "standard" Armored and Mechanized companies that would have been deployed in Central Europe, covered to the same level of detail.
Some cool bits from the book:
* The British, Canadian and US chapters include rules for creating a Combined Arms Combat Team, combining platoons from various sources.
* The French chapter covers the various changing organizations in a pretty clear manner, making sense of a situation that I'd never really understood.
* The British chapter includes Gurkhas and RAF Airbase defenders, neither of which I would have thought of playing in a Cold War game.
Cost is 8 gbp for a PDF, and details (including the Table of Contents) can be found here. link They also have a companion book detailing Soviet/WP forces that I expect will be just as informative.
My only negative is that it's only in PDF format, wished they put out a hardcover or coil bound version, I'd like to have it on my shelf next to other reference books. I get the impression that Armies of NATO's Central Front is the pinnacle of reference books on the subject matter, but considering it's well over $200 USD to get a copy, if all you need is the organization details for gaming purposes, this is probably the book for you.
struggles to complete his SISI truck force.
