Bear Trap: The Soviet-Afghan War, 1979-1989

Available for Pre-Order. Made the Cut.

Bear Trap is a quick-playing, low-complexity 2-player block wargame covering the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989).

In the Soviet–Afghan war, Insurgent groups—including the mujahideen—fought a guerrilla war against the Soviet 40th Army and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) government. The game begins shortly after “Operation Storm-333” was executed at the end of 1979—in this coup, Hafizullah Amin (General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan) was killed, and Babrak Karmal, a Soviet loyalist, replaced him. By putting the Brezhnev Doctrine into practice, the Soviets sought to prop up the sympathetic local government and “solve the Russian Ice-lock Problem” while the Insurgents sought to expel the secularist government and foreign invaders.

Although the two sides in this conflict were fundamentally different in a variety of ways, they also faced some parallel challenges. For instance, they struggled to maintain loyalty. For the Soviets and the DRA, the DRA armed forces merely offered an opportunity for a paycheck, and there were cases where conscripts in the Soviet Army defected to the Mujahideen (e.g. Kazbek Hudalov). For the Insurgents, propaganda, threats, and promises to family drew would-be combatants away, as did injuries suffered from landmines and attacks on villages. Both sides also struggled to puncture the fog of war, not being able to secure reliable intel about force deployment and strength. And both faced various challenges around supply, communication, and coordination. Both sides needed to react to shifting strategies and developments over this decade long Cold War proxy war, where the landscape upon which it was fought presented many unique challenges.

Components

• 1 mounted gameboard
• 114 Cards
• 62 Wooden Blocks (32 Insurgent, 30 Soviet)
• 1 Sticker sheet
• 1 Sheet of Counters
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Playbook (incl. tournament rules, optional rules, strategy guides, designer notes)
• 2 double-sided player aids (identical, 1 for each player)
• 3 double-sided solo aids (3 flowcharts and 1 board)

Time Scale: 16-20 months per Reshuffle

Unit Scale: 1 Block = 500 - 8,000 soldiers

Number of Players: 1 to 2

Play Time: 2 to 3 hours

Game Designer: P.R. Daniels, PhD

Game Developer: Joe Dewhurst