Learning GMT's Next War Series - Part 0.5: Counter Information

Welcome to learning GMT's Next War series (Standard Rules). I'm going to be using the first in the series - Next War: Korea (2nd ed) from GMT for examples and such. That being said, the rules books for all the games in the series are the same (really, only the title page of the rules is different). Whichever has been published the most recently is the current standard for the series. Each game comes with a standard and advanced series rules book, and then a game specific rules book for that box's specific differences.

Currently, you can download the rules from GMT's Next War Google Drive location (links from the GMT site and any of their Next War game listings). The "current version" of the rules will always be whatever the latest game to get printed, so if you want to get the current ruleset, it will be the Next War: Iran "version".

Again, each Next War game has a rule book specific to that conflict and terrain etc. THAT rulebook is also broken into Standard and Advanced rules. Now, while I'll be using NWK (and that game's counters), I'm going to try and keep this series as generic as I can - the goal is to learn the core concepts. I'm also using Vassal for images (the Next War modules are very well done).

I may add informative bits (or designer notes from the rules - highlighted like this block. These aren't always rules or "gameplay important" per se.  Images are taken from the publicly available rules, charts etc and screen grabs from the Vassal module for Next War: Korea. If it seems like I skip a chart or other important piece of information, its because it doesn't appear to be publicly available (which I know GMT does purposefully, so I'm trying not to post anything you can't easily find from GMT already). 

The Next War series is a series of hex-and-counter games with a fair bit of complexity (GMT rated the advanced version of the rules as an 8 out of 9 on their complexity scale - making it one of the most complex of all their games). 

The Next War series map scale is 7.5 miles (12 km) per hex. Unit scale is generally divisions and brigades, although battalions and regiments are used to represent some units. Each game turn represents roughly 3.5 days. 

If you are new (like I am) to hex and counter games, you may find the counters themselves are fairly detailed, so we are going to start there. Being new to war games like this, I find that the counters can be a little overwhelming (plus, there are over 1000 counters in NW:K). As I understand it, the iconography is based on standards from - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_Joint_Military_Symbology, and while not always an exact match for everything, a lot of the symbols match the standard and should be more or less familiar to other war games.

Here are the id charts and counter identification diagrams from the NW:Korea rule book:

As I understand it, unit sizes and makeups can vary from country to country, but to give a rough idea of the sizes of the above (based on the US unit sizes) - a battalion is roughly 1000 soldiers, brigade 3000-5000, a division is 10k-15k soldiers, a corps about 45k soldiers, and an army roughly 90k soldiers. 

Here is a real example of pieces on the map:

 (items in bold are important game-wise, the rest is largely flavor/descriptive):

• Upper left part of the counter indicates its actual real-world designation. A question mark indicates lack of real world knowledge as to the unit's real designation within its parent formation, which is interesting, but not game important per se
• The color of the image in the middle designates counters that are part of the same parent formation
• The upper right of the counter indicates the counter's starting location on the map (for help during setup)
• The label above the symbol in the middle of the counter indicates the unit size (see chart at the top describing unit sizes) - some games use dots, others tick marks, this game uses 'X's
• The image in the middle indicates what kind of unit it is (see chart at the top). The type a unit is does matter in game play (for example marine units can be transported by ship)

So, for the upper left counter on the map, this counter is an infantry unit - the 26th division of the IV Corps (as a Division it is roughly 10k+ soldiers). The unknown brigade to the south of it is no more than half as large.

• The number to the left of the type symbol is the Stacking Points (size) - this is largely used for determining stacking limits of counters on a hex
• The number to the right of the symbol is the Efficiency Rating (ER) - used for various checks. A unit with an ER of 6 or more is considered "elite"
• The bottom of the ground counters show 3 numbers: Attack - Defense - Movement Rating

That explains pretty much all your ground units (except HQs, which are not used in the Standard rule set).

Air units (planes) are not used nor setup in the Standard game, so we aren't going into explaining any of the chits with planes on them. Naval units will be explained as they are introduced.

Helicopters are not "air" units but considered part of the ground forces. Helicopters are fairly simple with just a unit type in the upper left of the counter and then two numbers on the bottom: Combat Support and Range.

Lastly, some of the chits have silhouettes on them above the type icon and will be explained as we go. They are not typical of the bulk of forces.  

For reference, here are all the Nationalities through the first 5 games (Korea, India-Pakistan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Poland). That should cover enough of the basics of the counters to get started with the standard game concepts (and the rules governing those).

Next up - basic combat concepts.