This is a small survey of the publicly available US warplans and
wargames that cover aspects of each one. The list of games is not meant
to be exhaustive, but merely a listing of popular and generally
available games and those in the author?s possession.

Unlike earlier plans that were based on target countries, these
are based on the combatant commands and are generally allocated numbers
for identification. Again, these listings are from public sources and
are not intended to be exhaustive. However, the discerning
reader/wargamer could make reasonable assumptions about potential
targets and plans and develop gaming scenarios to model them.

The map below shows the major combatant commands and their areas of responsibility:

• NORTHCOM, Peterson AFB, CO
  
• SOUTHCOM, Miami, FL
  
• PACCOM, Honolulu, HI
  
• CENTCOM, Mac Dill AFB, FL
  
• EUCOM, Stuttgart-Vahningan, Germany

Unified Command Missions

Not shown below are four other commands:

• JOINT FORCES COMMAND, Norfolk, VA. Responsible for training forces located within the Continental United States and providing them to the combatant commands.
  
• STRATEGIC COMMAND, Offutt AFB, NB. Controls nuclear and space forces.
  
• SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND, Mac Dill AFB, FL. Controls all Special Forces units and allocates them to other combatant commands.
  
• TRANSCOM, Scott AFB, IL. Responsible for the sea and air transport of forces and material to combatant commands.
  

No forces area permanently assigned to the combatant commands, so warplans likely make use of the same units, making it difficult for the US to responds to more than 1 or 2 threats at a time, as can be seen by current events in Central Command which is managing two fights in Afghanistan and Iraq which are essentially sucking the Army dry, making responding militarily to a crisis in Korea or Iran would be extremely difficult.

Warplans and Wargames

CENTRAL COMMAND

• OPLAN
  1002: Defense of the Arabian
  Peninsula


• OPLAN
  1003: Major Theater War ? East


• OPLAN
  1019: Arabian Gauntlet




• Comment: Various plans for the defense of the
  Arabian Peninsula by Iraq and or the Soviet Union. Current events have superceded much of
  this, but these plans were the basis for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and
  could be modified to protect Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula against
  operations from Iran, Syria, Jordan, or other states in the area.


• Board
  War Games




• 5^th
  Fleet, Victory Games


• 7^th
  Fleet, Victory Games


• Arabian
  Nightmare, 3W


• Back
  to Iraq, Command/XTR/SPI


• Central
  Command, SPI


• Desert
  Strom, Command


• Gulf
  Strike, Victory Games


• Harpoon
  Series, GDW, Clash of Arms


• Oil
  War, SPI


• Phase
  Line Smash, GDW


• RDF,
  SPI


• Third
  World War Series: Persian Gulf, GDW




• Computer
  War Games




• Harpoon
  Series, 360 Pacific/Advanced Gaming Systems, Inc.


• Patriot,
  360 Pacific (Much maligned, but one of the ground breaking games of the
  entertainment industry.)


• The
  Operational Art of War II, Talonsoft

SOUTHERN COMMAND

• OPLAN
  2370/2380: Operation Uphold
  Democracy




• Comment: US invasion of Haiti to restore
  President Aristide to office. Subsequently
  became a UN peacekeeping mission that, like so many others in Haiti and
  around the world, appears to have failed.


• Board
  War Games




• 3rd
  Fleet, Victory Games


• Central
  America, Victory Games




• Computer
  War Games - None Noted

EUROPEAN COMMAND

• OPLAN
  4102/31001: Conventional Invasion
  of Western Europe by the Soviet Union.




• Comment: This served as the plan for the
  defense of Western Europe for most of the Cold War. Compromised several times, it was
  never tested except in wargames and in the deployment of US Troops to
  Germany during annual REFORGER exercises, in which thousands of soldiers
  and vehicles roamed the roads and fields of the Federal Republic of
  Germany. Probably the most gamed
  hypothetical conflict of all time.


• Board
  War Games




• 2nd
  Fleet, Victory Games


• 3rd
  Fleet, Victory Games


• 6th
  Fleet, Victory Games


• Aegean
  Strike, Victory Games


• Central
  Front, SPI


• NATO
  Division Commander, SPI


• NATO: The Next War in Europe, Victory
  Games


• TacAir,
  Avalon Hill


• The
  Next War, SPI


• Third
  World War Series: Central Front, Northern Front, Southern Front, GDW




• Computer
  War Games




• Fulda
  Gap 85, HPS Simulations
  


• North German Plain
  85, HPS Simulations


• The
  Operational Art of War II, Talonsoft






• OPLAN
  10413/10414/10415: Joint Guardian,
  et al.




• Comment: Operations in Albania and Kosovo


• Board
  War Games




• 6^th
  Fleet, Victory Games


• Aegean
  Strike, Victory Games


• Third
  World War Series: Southern Front, GDW




• Computer
  War Games


• The Operational Art of War II, Talonsoft

PACIFIC COMMAND

• OPLAN
  5026: Air Strikes against North
  Korea


• OPLAN
  5027: Combined US Forces
  Korea/Republic of Korea Warplan


• OPLAN
  5029: Collapse of North Korea


• OPLAN
  5030: Operations against North
  Korea




• Comment: War Plans ranging from limited strikes
  against North Korea to take out their nuclear industry, to general war
  between North and South, to operations to promote stability in the event
  of a collapse of North Korea.


• Board
  War Games




• Crisis
  Korea, GMT


• Seventh
  Fleet, Victory Games




• Computer
  War Games




• Korea 85, HPS Simulations


• Raging Tiger, Shrapnel Games

Current computer wargames germane to any theatre

• TacOp


• Brigade Combat Team


• Armored Task Force


• 
  
Decisive Action

• The Operational Art of War


• Harpoon 3,


• Harpoon Classic


• Point of Attack 2