US2464819A - Game board for war games - Google Patents

Description

March 22, 1949. |EBERMAN 2,464,819

GAME BOARD FOR WAR GAMES Filed Oct. 50, 1945 8 UNITS EACH ARMY 6 UNITS EACH AIR I FIG. 4 4UN|TS EACH 20 TANKERS F G. 6 PER "DAY" 26 J. B. LIEBERMAN.

FIG 5 o Patented Mar. 22, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 3'70 0. G. 757) This invention relates to a war game to be played on a. game board and has for an object to provide an improved game board, on which the players may simulate substantially all the features of modern warfare.

The general idea of this invention is that each player actually simulates a commander in chief fighting a war in playing this game. At his command are all the forces of modern warsea, air and land (and he may form amphibious or paratroop forces); he may have colonies to protect or capture; resources control his activity; neutral territory can be respected or violated; his battle zones are glob-a1. His forces move the same way they would in actual warfare. (For instance, Army units travel on land, and do not go across oceans except on Navy units.) If he wishes, he may talk propaganda to deceive the enemy; kibitzers may act as spies or fifth columnists or a general staff. Each player starts off even and luck has nothing to do with it; if one player is a better strategist (arm-chair or professional) than his opponent, this game provides a chance for him to prove it.

With this and other objects in view, this invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth, claimed and disclosed in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the game board on which the war game of this invention is played;

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are detailed views of the playing pieces on a larger scale than Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the game board with the pieces set up for one version of the game; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a poker chip or counter.

There is shown at 1B the map or playing board, which in actual size may be approximately 12" x 24" divided into squares ll being thirtyfour squares long and ninteen squares wide. If desired, alternate squares may have light and dark shadings as on a chess board for convenience in counting and determining diagonal lines; however, play takes place on all squares alike, not as in checkers. The longitude and latitude lines are similarly for counting and determining the horizontal and vertical lines and have no other significance. The numbers 12 and letters I3 along the two sides of the board I!) are to identify moves when the game is played by mail, telephone, semaphore, etc.

Each player has one belligerent country as his own land and such is represented-by a number of squares as Greenland at M and Redland at I5. Greenland I4 and Redland l5 are separated from each other by neutral countries consisting of Yellowland l6, Purpleland l1 and Brownland 18. It will be observed that the belligerent countries each consist of forty-eight squares while neutral countries Yellowland I6 and Brownland l8 consist of nine squares each and Purpleland I1 consists of six squares. The countries are considered as being otherwise surrounded by water as at l9.

Each belligerent country [4 and I5 has an island colony 20 and 2| and off the shore of each colony are two blockade bases 22 and 23 which control the waterways between the mainland and the colonies, and in enemy hands deprive the mother country of resources and supplies. You are the commander in chief of the combined forces of one or the other of these two belligerent countries and its colonies.

Your forces.-Each player has eight Army units 24 which may become paratroops or amphibs, six Air units 25 which may become troop transports or paratroop carriers, and four Navy units 26 which may become aircraft carriers, amphibious landing craft or troop transports. These units are all considered tactically equal, the side with the element of surprise or offensive having the advantage. As commander-in-chief of your forces, each player is concerned with strategywith whether you want to fight a land or air war, for instance, where and when to invade, when to risk a sea battle, etc. The players pieces will be each colored to correspond to their home lands; that is, red for Redland.

three brown Army units for Brownland I8.

Your resources.0ne of the prime consider- 'ations of strategy being logistics, you will have the problem of allocating your resources and supplies, symbolized by tankers of oil. The tankers are symbolized by poker chips or similar counters 2'! of various denominations. You get twenty tankers each time it is your turn to play, or each day. It costs you one tanker of oil to move any one piece one square. You can burn up your oil as you like (move one piece twenty squares, or two pieces ten squares each, etc.), use it all that day, or save some or all of it for future days for instance if you are planning a large-scale amphibious invasion which requires moving a large number of units a great many squares at one time. (You take twenty chips from the stack at the beginning of your day, and when your day is finished, put back on the stack as many chips as you have burned up by your moves.) If you keep your left-over chips hidden from the enemy, he probably will soon lose track of what resources you have and thus not be as capable of anticipating your future moves. (But, of course, if your intelligence is any good, you will keep track of What resources he has.)

An incident.-You roll dice or flip a coin, and the winner gets the choice of the first move. If you fight more than one war, the loser of the previous war starts the next one; losers of wars notoriously begin the next one.

To win-You can win the war three difierent waysby invasion, by seizing resources or by attrition, and part of your strategy is to figure out which way is best under changing circumstances as you go along. If you can get four of your Army units 24 into the squares 28 of the enemy capital at the same time, the war is over by invasion, even if your opponent could have knocked you out in his next move. If you can capture the enemys colony by getting an Army unit into his colonial capital 30 and also place a Navy unit at each of his blockade points 23 and 23, all at the same time, the war is over by seizing resources, even if your opponent could have knocked you out in his next move. However, if your opponent has an Army unit in your colonial capital at that time, he is getting your resources; therefore, you must also control your own colony to win by this method.

When you have reduced the enemy forces to such an extent that he cannot defeat you by the above methods, you have won the war by attrition. With less than four Army units and less than two Navy units, the enemy is defeated, no matter how many Air units he has.

The basic rules.--While the basic rules which follow may seem long and complicated, actually they are fairly simple once it is seen that they are devised to give the pieces the same capabilities and limitations as the comparable units in actual war, and also to take into consideration the time factor involved. Since speed, distance and mobility are calculable factors in war, there is a similar element here; by the rules, Army and Navy units cannot change course during one move. Since planes cannot fly indefinitely, the rules provide a maximum flying range for Air units.

To move your units.It costs one tanker to move any one piece one square. Pieces move as follows:

Army units 24 can move as many squares as desired (if you have enough oil or tanker chips 21) anywhere on land, in any one straight line in any direction including the diagonal, except that they cannot change directions in the same move.

Navy units 26 move exactly as Army units ex cept that Navy units move only at sea.

Air units 25 move either 2, 4, 6, 8 or squares. (This is to represent the limitations of aircraftweather, need for airstrips or flying range, etc.) Unlike Army and Navy units, Air units can change direction in flight as desired, so long as they make such changes on the even square; they cannot turn on the third or fifth square, etc. Air units 25 must come to rest on land or on ships at sea (thus becoming aircraft carriers). If an Air unit 25 lands on water otherwise, it is lost. Air units 25 cannot land on the blockade bases 22 or 23. In addition to these regular flights, Air units may be "crated" by moving one square in any direction. (This puts the Air unit in a difierent range; a target which was inaccessible because it was five squares away is now four squares away and thus within range.) However, an Air unit cannot engage in any flight during the same day it is crated nor can it crate onto an enemy-occupied square.

You get twenty tankers of oil 21 at the start of each of your turns. You can move one piece, or as many pieces as you like, or no pieces, depending upon your strategic plan.

To take enemy units-Your Army or Navy unit simply moves onto the square occupied by the enemy unit, and the enemy unit is taken from the board 10. Your unit must stop in that square and cannot be moved again until another day (other units may still be moved that same day, of course).

Your Air unit can bomb an enemy unit out of existence and fly onbut the enemy unit must be in the even square (2nd, 4th, etc.). Air units 25 can also destroy by landing on the square 06-.- cupied by the enemy unit but they cannot then take off again until another turn. However, if an Air unit 25 chooses (and if it can do it within its flying range and oil supply) it may make a suicide dive" to destroy two enemy units-the first by bombing one enemy unit and flying on to the second, and destroying the second by landing on the square occupied by it. If it does this, the two enemy units and the suicide" air unit are all removed from the board I0. Air units need not necessarily return to original bases. They can fly from land to sea, or sea to land (it they have the range.) If they do not have range enough to fly to safety, they sufier the consequences of enemy attack or loss at sea, as the case may be.

Units on the same square.-Air units 25 can fly over any units on the board, but Army or Navy units 24, 26 cannot move through another unit in their course. You cannot drive your army into the sea, or fly air units into the sea, etc simply to get them out of the way. The jam-up is considered a tactical logistics problem of snarled movement, etc. Except for pieces placed on top of others to form a new type of unit (this is explained later) no two units can occupy the same square. 4

Length of your day.0nce you have moved a unit, that particular unit cannot be moved again in that turn; however, if you have enough oil 21, you can move as many units as you wish in any combination of moves, so long as each unit is moved in accordance with the rules gov? erning its particular type of unit. Or if you wish, you do not have to move any pieces during that particular day. Simply take the twenty tank.- ers of oil and save them. When you have made all the moves you wish or when you have run out of oil. it is the enemy's turn-his clay".

Battlin for resources-Although you normally receive twenty tankers of oil 21 during each day," this amount may be more or less depending upon who controls the colonies and blockade points. If, at the beginning of your turn, you have an Army unit 24 in the capital 30 of the enemys colony 2|, you receive ten extra tankers of oil for that turn (and for every turn in which your Army unit 24 remains there) on the presumption that you are getting that colonys production. If, at the gi n g vour'wm,

the enemy has an Army unit 24 in the capital 36 of your colony 26, you receive ten tankers 21 less during that turn and every turn in which the Army unit 24 remains there. If you control each others colony in that manner, it balances outyou get ten extra and lost ten, so that you get your usual twenty. If the enemy has a Navy unit 26 in either of the blockade points 22 off your colony 26 at the start of your turn, you lose five tankers of oil for each turn it so remains. If he has both blockade points 22, you lose ten. (Of course if he has both points 22 and the colonys capital 36 as well, the war is over.) However, while the blockaded belligerent loses tankers21, the one who is doing the blockading does not get any extra tankers 21 as a result: a'blockade deprives the enemy of supplies but does not give supplies to the blockader,

Making carriers, amphibious units and transports.Army units 24 may be moved over water by being placed on Navy units 26, and they thus can be utilized either as amphibious units or troop transports. To get them on, the Navy unit 26 must be touching shore, and the Army unit 24 then moves on in the same way it would move if the Navy unit 26 square were land. The Navy unit 26 must also be touching land for the Army unit 24 to get off.

Army units 24 can be loaded aboard air units 25 for paratroop operations. However, Air units serving as paratroop transports in this way cannot serve as bombers at the same time (i. e., they cannot destroy enemy units and fiy on.) A paratroop unit may, however, land on any unit (or double unit) ashore and destroy it. In such a move, the Army unit cannot move off during that turn, it being presumed that the Army unit participated in the taking of the piece and has thus already moved. If the paratroop unit lands in an unoccupied square, the Army unit may move in accordance with note (4) below.

Air units 25 can be placed on Navy units 26 by fiight or by crating to make aircraft carriers. However, carrier-based air units have a total flying range of only four squares instead of ten. If your Air unit takes oif from a ship and cannot bomb and either fly on to land or return to the carrier within the four squares of flight (two going and two returning), it crashes into the sea and is lost. If an aircraft carrier unit takes another Navy unit by moving onto its square, the Air unit cannot move oif its Navy unit during that turn.

Note: (1) A unit can carry only one other unit at a time.

(2) When the two units are moved together, two tankers of oil are expended for each square moved.

(3) When a double unit is destroyed by enemy action, both places are removed from the board.

(4) The unit which is being carried is not considered to have moved just because the carrier has moved. If it moves onto the carrier in one turn, it cannot move off until a later turn; but if it was on the carrier when the day started, even though both pieces are moved together, the top piece can then still be moved off during the same day.

(5) When the bottom piece is moved and stops to let the top piece move off, the bottom piece cannot move again that day.

Shore defenses and ofishore bombardments.-- If an enemy Navy unit 26 touches against the shore, your Army unit 24 can destroy it if it is in a straight line with it, by moving to the shore and expending an additional tanker of oil for the out Army units touching the shore (and thus considered shore installations) by moving to the shore and expending an additional tanker of oil for the bombardmentagain, if it is in a straight line with the shore unit.

Neutralias role.The three little countries 16, I! and I8 between the two belligerent countries l4 and I5 unhappily are at the whim of the two big enemies but they maintain their neutrality if possible. They have standing armies as shown in Fig. 5, which serve as a sort of Maginot line between the belligerents. If a belligerent piece enters within the boundaries of one of the neutral countries, that countrys army piece may be moved to intern the invading piece (that is to say, the other belligerent must play for the neutral country and use his own oil to move the neutral piece to take the enemy piece 01f the board). But if a belligerent piece moves into a neutral country to capture or destroy one of the neutral units, the remaining units (if any) of that particular country join with the forces of the non-aggressor belligerent and are henceforth allies and used by that belligerent just as he uses any other of his land forces.

Note: not all three neutral countries are involved in interning an invader or joining the enemy after an attack; just the one particular little country invaded or attacked.

Using the same basic rules, you can fight any kind of war you wish:

Declared war.The standard, quickest version of the game is a declared war. To play declared war, both sides first mobilize according to the plan shown in Fig. 5. It is presumed that each side is thus at total strength, and that each belligerent has deployed his war machine to best advantage, awaiting only an incident to begin actual fighting. Roll the dice or flip the coin, and start fighting by the basic rules.

War of nerves-Instead of beginning the game by placing the pieces according to plan (declared war), a war of nerves" may be played as follows:

Put the neutralian standing armies in place. Then, while the board still has no belligerent pieces on it, create an incident (i. e., flip a coin or roll the dice) to determine who begins arming first. Then, each side taking turns, put two of your pieces at a time on the board. Army and Air units may be placed anywhere on your mainland or colony, or on your Navy units 26; the Navy units must be placed touching the shoreline of either your mainland or your colony 26. (Once a piece is placed on the board, it cannot be moved until the fighting actually starts.) You also store away ten tankers of oil each turn. Then, when all pieces have thus been placed, create another incident to see who makes the first overt act, i.'e., who gets the regular twenty tankers of oil first and has the first day. (If you have deployed your forces planning on the first move, and are attacked instead, the results maybe disastrous.) Then fight the war according to .the basic rules. Unless it has been specifically agreed at the beginning not to play the undeclared war, atomic war and/or blitzkrieg (below) variations, either player may change the war of nerves variation into the undeclared war, "atomic war and/or blitzkrieg variation at any time he wishes.

Undeclared war.-Begin as though you were playing the "war of nerves" variation. Then, at

any point while the pieces are being. put on the board, you may start fighting by taking one or more enemy pieces and moving your own pieces according to the basic rules. Your enemy is likewise free to take overt action any time he wishes. You continue arming until all of your pieces are put on the board, two at a time (but pieces once destroyed in action can not be put'back on). And, unless the enemy has your colonial capital, you continue-receiving ten tankers of oil 21 each turn. If he has your colonial capital, you get none and must fight on with what you have accumulated; if you have his, you get twenty. When finally all of your pieces have been placed on the board, you begin receiving twenty tankers of oil each turn (unless, of course, the colonial capitals are occupied or the colonies blockaded) (Note: because there is a training period involved, a piece cannot be moved during the turn in which it is placed on the board.)

Atomic war.-At any time when a belligerent has stored up 100 tankers of oil 21, he may precipitate an atomic war by taking overt action. An atomic bomb capable of destroying any unit or double unit in any square anywhere on the board is the equivalent of twenty tankers of oil 21; thus, the first 100 tankers used can destroy any units 24, 25 and/or 26 on five squares II on the board but these five squares l I must touch upon one another, in any pattern. Concurrently with or after the first IOU-tanker atomic bomb, separate twenty-tanker atomic bombs may be dropped singly or together on any squares ll whether they are adjacent or not. One twentytanker bomb destroys the unit or units on any one square. Victory through atomic war comes as a victory of attrition (see above). That is, when five Army units 24 and three Navy units 26 are destroyed, by atomic bombs or otherwise, the war is over.

Note: There is no such counter as an atomic bomb. You simply pay out the tankers of oil 21 necessary, designate which squares H you are obliterating, and remove the pieces 24, 25 and/or 26 thus destroyed.

Blitzkrieg-This is exactly the same as undeclared war, except that you must Win the war in the very first turn in which you take overt action.

AZlz'es.--Where more than two persons (or two general staffs) desire to play in the same game, all the participants divide into two sides and then all take turns playing according to the rules of any of the variations above. For instance, A and B as Redland oppose you, C and D as Greenland. A wins the incident and plays first for Redland; C then plays for Greenland; B plays for Redland; D plays for Greenland, etc.

A and B can tell each other (provided they speak so their opponents can hear) what they have in mind, so they wont try to run the same forces on a split strategy; but of coursethe enemy can hear and act accordingly. Of course, too, the conversation might be propaganda to deceive the enemy. On the other hand, if the Allies do not know what the other is doing, they may (as in Bridge) in efiect trump their partners ace, or otherwise ruin a perfectly good strategy.

War of conquest.Since wars are not necessarily fought only for revenge, but for simple spoils, any of the variations above may be turned into a war of spoils by applying the following point system, with the player accumulating the most points during a period of play being the winner and receiving whatever prize is provided.

ten turns 500 For winning in any other way Q. .Q... 200 For each of his units left on board ....1... 20

For each of his tankers of oil left unexpended ;..L.. 1

The loser of each war receives:

Points For each of his units left on the board 20 For each of his tankers of oil left unexpended Other modifications and changes in the number and arrangement of the parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the nature of this invention, within the scope of what is hereinafter claimed.

The invention herein described and claimed may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

What is claimed is:

For use in a war-simulating game, a rectangular game board divided into squares, a mainland area at the center of said game board representing two belligerent mother countries separated from each other by neutral countries, a sea area surrounding said mainland area, a colony area adjacent each end of the board, each colony area being entirely surrounded by sea area, .one colony area belonging to one belligerent mother country and the other colony area belonging to the other belligerent mother country, ,each mother land and colony having a capital area, and blockade areas located between the colony areas and the mainland area, each area comprising a plurality of appropriately designated squares distinguishable from the squares of the other areas.

JAY BENJAMIN HEBERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,023,375 Hammond April 16, 1912 1,713,455 Stickney May 14, 1929 2,277,301 Channer Mar. 24, 1942 2,282,128 Gubbins May 5, 1942 2,310,686 Freer Feb. 9, 1943 2,414,165 Paschal Jan. 1 4, 1947

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