Modern Battles: Four Contemporary Conflicts
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Modern Battles: Four Contemporary Conflicts is a collection of four board wargames published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates four modern-day battles set in the early 1970s.
Components
Modern Battles is a "quadrigame" — a game box that contains four separate wargames that use a common set of rules. Two of the games are based on battles during the Yom Kippur War that had occurred less than two years before publication of the game:[1]
- Chinese Farm: The cross-canal Battle of The Chinese Farm
- Golan: Syria's attempt to retake the Golan Heights
The other two games are based on hypothetical scenarios:
- Mukden: A Soviet incursion into Manchuria centers on the strategic Chinese city of Mukden
- Wurzburg: A hypothetical invasion of West Germany by Warsaw Pact forces.
The game box contains:[2]
- four 17" x 22" paper hex grid maps, one for each game, scaled at 1 mi (1.6 km) per hex
- 400 double-sided die-cut counters (100 per game)
- two rulebooks describing the rules common to all four games
- four rulebooks (one for each game) describing the rules unique to each game
- various charts and players' aids
- a small six-sided die
The individual games released as "folio games" packaged in a ziplock bag did not include the six-sided die.
Gameplay
Each turn, which represents 12 hours of game time, consists of five phases:
- Special Weapons Fire (both players)
- First Player Movement
- First Player Combat
- Second Player Movement
- Second Player Combat
Each game also has some rules only used in that game, e.g. Wurzburg had a few special rules for helicopters, river crossings, and nuclear weapons.
Publication history
In 1975, SPI published their first "quadrigame", Blue and Gray, a set of four American Civil War battles. The format proved very popular, and SPI quickly produced more quadrigames, the first being Modern Battles. It consisted of Chinese Farm, designed by Howard Barasch; Golan, designed by Irad B. Hardy; Mukden, designed by David Isby; and Wurzburg, designed by Jim Dunnigan. The graphic design for all four games was created by Redmond A. Simonsen. Modern Battles initially sold well, rising to #3 on SPI's Top Ten Bestselling Games list after its release, and staying in the Top Ten for four months.[3]
The four games were also released as individual games, packaged as "folio games" (games enclosed in a cardstock folder within a ziplock bag.) None of the individual games sold well enough to crack SPI's Top Ten list.[3]
In 1977, SPI released a sequel, the quadrigame Modern Battles II, that included battles set in the Six Day War, Yugoslavia, West Germany and South Korea.[4]