Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
I intend to take a multifaceted approach with this blog. Primarily, I want to construct a detailed narrative, and timeline centered on a US/NATO-Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact conflict set in 1987. Attached to that will be a comprehensive account of the global military picture as it was in 1987.
Independent of the world war scenario and narrative, I plan to include a broad look at pop culture references, computer and board games, non-fiction books, novels, short stories, and alternate history timelines based on the premise of a NATO-Warsaw Pact war in the mid to late 1980s. A Soviet invasion of Western Europe in that time frame is one of the more popular ‘what if’ questions in recent years.
Having said that, this blog will not be a far-fetched alien space bats sort of alternative history endeavor. Instead, I hope to make it an objective look at how such a war potentially could have played out.
It is my fervent hope that this blog will be informative and entertaining. Feedback is always desired and welcomed.
Mike
Third World War 1987 
Cool idea, looking forward to following, Cold war and Gulf War One vet myself…have a few insights on the topic ….
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Hi Donald! Welcome aboard. Good to have you here. Cold War and Desert Storm vet, eh? Your insights and opinions are quite welcome here. A lot of other Cold War vets chime in regularly and we get some very interesting conversations going. I learn a lot from you guys.
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Cold War vet and a fan of many books on the subject. I just discovered this tonight and i am looking forward to following along
(I was active duty at this time setting)
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Hi Charles. Welcome aboard! Good to have you. Feel free to make any observations or ask questions as you see fit. There are a lot of readers here who were also active duty around the time setting too. I rely on you guys sometimes to get the details just right. –Mike
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Hi Mike,
Great blog! Some seriously in depth and exciting stuff here! I’ve only begun to scratch the surface, but I was hooked by the plight of the Polish paratroopers. Really entertaining stuff you’ve created here.
I have a quick question for you. Are you using computer/table top/board games to help simulate all of this and generate the results of battles, or is this completely a narrative of your own making? If the latter, then you have a seriously impressive imagination, and extremely in depth knowledge of this period of military/political history!
Love the blog and am excited for future entries!
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Hi Miller! Thank you very much for the kind words. I used a lot of computer and table top games in modeling the conflict, but not for everything. In some areas I had to use my own personal knowledge to make the narrative fit comfortably. Not sure if that makes complete sense but if it doesn’t I can maybe give you an example.
Welcome aboard and I hope you continue to enjoy the blog!
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Thanks very much for the reply Mike!
I’d love to know some of the computer/table top games you use to simulate some of the action. I’m a huge Cold War buff myself and I am always looking to expand my own catalogue! No worries if you intend to keep most of those subsystems under wraps. I can understand the approach of not wanting to tell people who the sausage is made, so to speak.
If you don’t mind a follow up question, do you have a set end game planned, or are you allowing the strategic scenario to play out more organically based on the results of the wargames used behind the scenes?
I also just wanted to say that the sheer amount of content here is staggering (in a good way of course!) If it were tallied up, there must be at least two books worth of writing so far. Can’t wait to dig more deeply into it all!
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No problem. Miller. There are no state secrets involved in the planning and modeling so I’m happy to share the game info.
On the computer side of things, the most valuable titles were The Operational Art of War Vol.4, Command: Modern Air & Naval Operations, and its successor Command: Modern Operations. Quite honestly, I couldn’t have modeled the war so accurately without these titles. A few other computer titles used were Steel Panthers: Brigade Command, Steel Panthers: MBT, and of course Harpoon.
Table top titles were numerous. I was able to get a good feel for certain theaters from some. Third World War: Battle for Germany, Fifth Corps, and Tac Air are just a few. Check out the Wargames section of the blog if you have time. I talked about the tabletop titles I used in the Conflict Model entries, in detail.
Yeah, the entire conflict has been modeled from start to finish. Big picture through the use of TOAW 4 and Command. Other games sort of filled in the blanks where needed. So the conflict is moving along the model timeline, and the narratives written up are a combination of the game results, research, and personal knowledge.
This blog has taken on a life of its own and I’m thrilled. I came into the project with zero expectations. I was originally just going to lay out the war in very broad terms but that changed a couple of months in. Suffice to say, I’m enjoying the project tremendously and yeah, there’s probably at least two books worth of material written up so far! 🙂
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I read through those blog posts last night. Great stuff! I’m not surprised in the slightest by the use of CMANO and CMO. Fantastic sim that I play a ton of myself. I’ve even done a few “hybrid” AARs, using CMO to simulate the naval and air action. I never played Steel Panthers, but I have seen a few examples of what it can do and I may give it a try.
Cudos to you for figuring out how to play TOAW 4! I tried my hand at it but couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. Though to be fair to the wargame, I never sat down and gave it the proper time and attention it likely deserves. I may have to revisit this one as well now and check out some of the Cold War scenario’s it provides.
Also excited to hear that there is a narrative plan! I think that will help keep things on track and avoid some of the more highly unlikely but possible outcomes of a conventional Cold War. Very excited to see how it ends up playing out!
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my questions, and for the blog overall! Its been a ton of fun to read so far, and now that I know a bit how the whole thing is put together it adds a new layer of depth to everything. Can’t wait to read more!
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Mike, I look forward to reading your WWIII blog, having just found it. Do you have a completion on-line somewhere to make reading it easier, instead of clicking to each entry? thanks
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Hi, Andrew. I’m glad you check in. I’m actually in the process of working on a better system to access entries by day. On the right under Categories, there’s a category labeled Days. I’m in the process of dividing the entries by day and make it easier to access. I’m only up to D+5 but will be making more progress this week
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