Getting Started

This file contains instructions on how to get started with the Fulda Gap ’85 software.
If it is not already running, you should run the Main Program by clicking on the Main
Program entry in the JTS Fulda Gap '85 program group (The JTS Fulda Gap '85
program group can be found under the Programs list from the Start button). If you
prefer, you can print these instructions using the Print button above. You will get
about 9 pages of text and graphics if you do this. You can get more detailed
information in the instructions below by clicking on the links displayed in the text.
Doing so will display the associated help file for this topic. You can return to this help
information by clicking on the Back button above. Note: the Modern Campaigns
software is designed to run on displays with screen areas up to 1280 by 1024 pixels
and with color settings of 16-bit or higher.

By default, after the introduction,

the Main Program begins by
prompting you for the name of
the file to open using the File
Selection Dialog. These
instructions will get you started
using #10_00_Started.scn. In
the list of files displayed by the
File Selection Dialog, this should
already be selected. Notice that
a short description of the battle
will appear at the bottom of the
dialog. Then click on the OK
button.
Next, the A/I Selection Dialog will appear.
Since you are going to play as NATO,
select Automatic with FOW in the Warsaw
Pact A/I group on the right hand side of
the dialog. This will cause the computer to
play as the Warsaw Pact side. If you want
to give the computer an advantage, you
could move the Advantage slider towards
NATO side, but leave it in the middle for
now. Later on, you can also use this
dialog to experiment with Optional Rules
by clicking on the Rules button. For now,
click on the OK button.

The battlefield will be drawn on

the screen and in the lower
right-hand corner of the screen,
the A/I Action Dialog will be
drawn. Since you are the
defending side in this scenario,
the Warsaw Pact side will be the
first side in each turn. The A/I
Action Dialog will appear when the
computer is controlling the turn
indicating what actions are being
performed. Since you have
chosen Fog of War (FOW), you won’t see the action of enemy units outside of our
Line of Sight (LOS) and the description you see in the AI Action Dialog will be
vague. Click the Step button to advance the A/I or, to speed up the A/I, click the Run
button.

When the A/I completes its

turn, your Command Report
will appear in the lower
right-hand corner. This will
appear at the beginning of
each of your turns to provide
you with information about the
status of your forces. Notice
in particular that in this
scenario, you have the ability
to fire Artillery Mines three
times. This ability will be
useful in your attempt to slow
down the Warsaw Pact advance. When there are reports that indicate a specific
location on the map, clicking on the report will scroll the map to that location. Click
on OK to close the dialog.

In this scenario, you will play the part of the 11th

Armored Cavalry, attempting to defend the town of
Fulda from the advancing Warsaw Pact forces.
You have a variety of forces, including armor,
infantry, and helicopters, but will be facing a much
larger Warsaw Pact force and will have to fight a
delaying action in an attempt to slow their
advance. If you press and hold the Shift key, then
you will see some labels appear on the map
indicating some geographical features on the
map. In the middle of Fulda, you will see an oval
with the value 100 in it. This indicates an Objective worth 100 points, which you
currently own, but if taken by the Warsaw Pact, will give their side 100 points.

If you click on the map, then units in that location

(hex) will be displayed on the left-hand side of the
screen in the Unit List. The location on the map
surrounded by the flashing square is called the Hot
Spot and the Unit List shows you the units in that
location. Click on the location with the 100 point
Objective in it, and notice that in that location, you
have a Helicopter unit and the HQ of the 11th
Armored Cavalry. Both of these units are Fixed,
indicating that they are currently not allowed to
move. This state reflects the fact that the Warsaw
Pact has attempted a surprise attack and we have
not had time to react. But the state will be
automatically removed during the scenario allowing
you to move these forces.
 If you click on a picture in the Unit List, then the unit
becomes Selected and is shown with a brighter
picture. If you click on the picture again, it becomes
un-Selected. Most actions in the game require that
your first Select units. Notice that if you double-click
on a map location, then all units in that location are
automatically Selected.

It is important that you understand how to move Helicopters in

the Fulda Gap ’85 game as they will be an important part of your
force. In general, all units have two modes they can be in;
normal Deployed mode and a special Travel mode. For ground
units, Travel mode indicates that they are in column formation and can use
movement by roads. However, for helicopters, Travel mode indicates that the unit is
flying. Normally a helicopter unit must be in Travel mode to move. You can use the
Travel Mode button on the toolbar to toggle the state of selected units between
Deployed and Travel modes.

Click on the map location just to the lower left of the 100 point
Objective. Look in the Unit List and you will see that this unit is a
scout helicopter unit and that it is not Fixed. You can use this unit
in an attempt to determine what the enemy is up to.

Select the helicopter unit and press the Travel Mode

button. You should notice that the Movement value in
the unit picture is now followed by the letter T indicating
the unit is in Travel Mode. Likewise, on the map, you
see that the unit counter has a white bar along the
bottom indicating Travel Mode. At this point, the
helicopter unit is flying and is able to move.
To move a Selected unit, click with the right
mouse button in an adjacent location to the unit
on the map. If you do this correctly, the unit should
move and a red arrow should appear on the map
indicating the movement. If you don’t click in an
adjacent location or if the unit is prevented from
moving for some reason, then the program will
beep and an error message will appear in the
message area at the bottom of the program
window. Notice that you can continue to right click
in adjacent locations and the unit will continue to
move. Move the scout helicopter unit to the upper right hand area of the map where
we expect the enemy to be attacking from.

As you move the scout helicopter unit about the map, you
may encounter Warsaw Pact forces. But since you only have
a scout helicopter unit, you should not attempt to attack the
enemy, but determine their location and withdraw.

If you click on other units you have in the town of

Fulda, you’ll notice that you have two other non-Fixed
units. In particular, just to the lower right of the 100
point Objective, you have a mechanized infantry unit
that can move.

Notice that if you click in the unit picture using the

right mouse button and hold the button down, then
the picture will change to an alternative display
showing you additional information about the unit.
Here you can see that the unit consists of Abrams
tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. The various
values displayed tell you information about the combat
ability of the unit and the list of names shows you the
command hierarchy associated with this unit.
Select the unit, toggle it to Travel mode, and then move the
unit to the upper right of the map. You can send this unit out
to perform recon on the advancing enemy units. As you
move, notice that the Movement value in the unit picture
changes color from white, indicating full value, to green,
indicating 2/3 value remaining, to yellow, indicating only 1/3
value remaining, to red, indicating less than 1/3 value
remaining. It is important to note that movement points are
needed to toggle out of Travel mode and if you move too far with this unit, you will be
unable to toggle out of Travel mode in that turn. Units in Travel mode, except for
Helicopters, are more vulnerable to enemy fire and so you do not want to leave your
units in Travel mode when they encounter the enemy.

When you are ready, click on the Next Turn button to advance the
turn. You will be prompted to save the current battle in a file. Then
the A/I will perform actions for the Warsaw Pact side.

During this turn, enemy units should appear. Once it is

your turn again, you can click on the enemy units and
get partial information about them. You will see that
you are being attacked by a force of armor, infantry,
and helicopters.

There are two important actions you can take in fighting the enemy:
firing and assaulting. Most units have a range of 1 and can only fire
into an adjacent location. Some units will have longer range or have
guided missiles and will be able to fire at a distance of 2 hexes.
Artillery units will have an even longer range. The range value against Hard
(armored) and Soft (non-armored) targets is shown when you right click as the value
after the slash (/). In this case, the unit can fire at armored targets at a range of 2,
but non-armored targets only at a range of 1. Note that you will use your AA value
and range when firing at either enemy air attacks or flying enemy helicopters.

To fire at an enemy unit using direct fire, it must be within range and
be in the Line of Sight (LOS) of the firing unit. If you click on the
Visible Hexes button in the toolbar, then all hexes outside of the LOS
of the current location will be darkened. Clicking on the Visible Hex
button again will restore the normal map display.
 In this example, an enemy unit has moved next to our mech
infantry unit and we can fire on it. To fire, the program must be
in Fire mode instead of the normal Move mode. To toggle from
Move mode to Fire mode, hold down the Control (Ctrl) key. In
Move mode, the cursor on the map will be a cross while in
Fire mode, it will be an aiming circle . To fire on the enemy
unit, you Select your unit, hold down the Control key, and right click on the target
unit.

When you fire on enemy units, you

will get a Fire Report indicating the
damage you did to the target unit. In
general, each unit can fire 3 times
during one turn, although artillery
units are limited to firing twice.
Moving in the same turn will reduce
the number of times you can fire
however. To Assault enemy units,
you need 2/3 of your movement
allowance remaining (a green
value). Since this introduction will
show you how to assault, take care only to fire once with any unit adjacent to the
enemy during this turn so you have the option of assaulting later.

One aspect of modern warfare is the specialized weapons

that are available. In particular, artillery units can fire
Chemical weapons and Artillery Mines. In this game, to
enable the use of these weapons, you must first select the
Use Alternative Fire option in the Command menu.

After you do that, click on the Artillery Dialog button on the toolbar.
This will display the Artillery Dialog
showing you all of the artillery units
that you have available. Notice that
if you click on the Find button, the
Hot Spot will be located at the unit’s
location. Also notice that displaying
the Artillery Dialog automatically puts
you in Fire mode. Enemy units that
you can fire on have a red highlight
around them. When using normal
firing, these are your valid targets.
But in this example, you will fire
Artillery Mines in an attempt to slow the enemy advance.

Right click on the map in a location

that you can see near enemy units.
This will display the Alternative Fire
Dialog indicating your fire options.
This is where you will specify
alternative weapons such as Chemical
and Artillery Mines. Select the Artillery
Mines option to fire Artillery Mines into
the target hex.

This will cause a Mine marker to appear on the map indicating that the
location now contains mines. These mines will affect the movement of
ground forces moving into that location, but will have no effect on flying
helicopters. In other scenarios, you can use Chemical weapons to
disrupt enemy forces.

Finally, this introduction will show you how to assault enemy

units. For this, you need a unit which has 2/3 of its movement
allowance remaining (a green value), which is un-Disrupted (this
is indicated in the unit picture), and it must be adjacent to an
enemy unit. To assault, select the unit and right click in the
enemy location just as you would to move into that location. If
successful, this will indicate that an assault is pending with a
graphic in the defending location.

You can combine several units in an assault on the same defending

location, but when you are through assigning attacking units, click on
the Resolve Assault button on the toolbar. This will calculate the
combat results and display them. If successful, your attacking units
will enter the defending location and any remaining defending units will retreat.
At this point, you know the basics of how to conduct your battle to defend Fulda.
Since the Warsaw Pact forces will appear in large numbers, you will probably have to
withdraw to preserve your units. Your goal in this scenario is to delay the Warsaw
Pact forces as long as you can. At any time, you can check on the status of the
battle by using the Victory option of the Info menu. This will tell you the losses in
the battle and the current Objective point value. Feel free to continue the battle or
save the game at this point and return to it later.

To get more information, see the following help files:

 User Manual
 Main Program Help File
 Scenario Editor Help File
 Order of Battle Editor Help File