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This Isn’t Your Momma’s Cold War: Nuklear Winter ’68 Reviewed

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Game Name: Nuklear Winter ’68

Publisher: Lock ‘n Load Publishing

Designer: Petre Tutunea

Artist: Petre Tutunea

Year: 2012

Players: One to three players

Ages: 12+

Playing Time: 60 minutes

Genre: Hex and counter wargame in a fictional post-apocalyptic setting

MSRP: $54.99

Nuklear Winter ’68 is a new wargame from Lock ‘n’ Load designed by Petre Tutunea. I should point out this was originally offered as a desk top published title under the name Nuclear Winter ’78. Set in an alternate history in which Operation Valkerie succeeds and Adolph Hitler is assassinated. Following Hitler’s death Hienrich Himmler, another lunatic of extreme proportions takes control of Germany and becomes Fuhrer.  Himmler understands the importance of the race for the atomic bomb and renews efforts for Reich research. Near the same time, in 1945, Himmler learns of plans to drop “the big one” on Germany and begins production of massive underground shelters to hold many of the Fatherland’s elite units for years on end. In April of 1946 the Allied finally land in France but are repulsed by the Axis forces leading U.S. President Harry S. Truman to drop the first atomic bomb in history on April 17th; not on Hiroshima but Frankfort. This leads Himmler to issue orders for the predetermined elite units to disengage the enemy and begin entering the newly constructed bunkers throughout Germany. The Fuhrer does so as well and his final order on the surface is to put Operation Clasewitz into action: The V2 atomic bombing of London and Paris. The US responds by dropping nuclear bombs on Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Dusseldorf. Germany collapses and becomes a nuclear wasteland.

In 1947 the Allies are unable to control the flood of refugees fleeing Germany and decide to build a wall around the ‘nuclear zone’ by early 1948. At this same time the world’s ecosystem is thrown into turmoil as Nuclear Winter sets in. 1952 sees the first attempts of a break out of the nuclear zone. Strange reports come back from the soldiers that the enemy fighters took multiple direct hits before dying. In the morning all dead bodies had disappeared. NATO is formed to combat the growing threat from within the nuclear zone. NATO is made up of the US, all the Western European countries and Russia.

In 1955 low level reconnaissance of the zone reveals shocking information: human settlements dot the landscape and strange creatures roam the wasteland. By 1960, environmental specialist estimate the Earth is beginning to see the ebb of nuclear winter as temperatures around the globe begin to increase while new recon of the Zone show a blighted landscape of ruin, marked by dead vegetation and dried up toxic rivers.

It’s into this landscape of devastation that an aged Himmler and the remnants of the Third Reich emerge from their hidden bunkers in 1968. Determined to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire, Himmler finds himself facing the strange creatures that now inhabit the nuclear zone as well as a US-Russian NATO task force sent to investigate.

This is a situation you find yourself in as Nuklear Winter ’68 opens.

Opening the box you’ll find the components are up to the usual Lock ‘n’ Loads standards, with nice glossy counters and mounted map. Unlike many of the LnL titles, the map isn’t modular in which to arrange in various ways but one set area of the Zone. The 40 page rulebook is nicely put together and presented in a way in which it all makes sense. One thing I will point out about the rules though is they are not the easiest to read. As in visual not easy! The color palatte of the game uses a lot of drab browns and the rulebook background is the same olive/browninsh color with black text so it takes your eyes a lot of time getting adjusted; I found myself rereading large portions of the rules because my brain just wasn’t processing the information properly. I’m not sure what Mark Walker was thinking with this color selection but hopefully that’s a graphic decision that will not be present in future print runs or other games in the line.

If you have any experience with almost any of LnL’s wargames (especially the Forgotten Heroes series) you shouldn’t have any problem settling right into Nuklear Winter ’68 as it share many mechanics with other titles. Various infantry, armor, air, and support units are organized by formations and activation is by chit pull although one side can never activate more than two formations in a row. This creates a good deal of tension as you can never be sure when you’ll be able to get a particular formation into gear, unless it’s the last chit waiting to be pulled that is.

Spotting rules don’t exist so if something is in your line of sight and range you can shoot at it. Combat is pretty straight forward and formations can have command units which provide additional benefits in combat or in rallying shaken units. The fighting is fast and furious and there’s a good mix of real and imagined units with which to whoop your opponent! Nuklear Winter ’68 isn’t a difficult game to play by any stretch either and makes a great introduction into the LnL line of titles. There are tanks, APVs, airplanes, helicopters, offboard artillery, weird mutant units, fanatical Nazis, and a plethora of wild goings on.

The big selling point of the game, I have to say, is the scenarios. There are fifteen played in chronological order to create a narrative as the Germans emerge from their bunkers. The scenarios can also be linked together into separate campaigns, one for each of the factions. Some of the scenarios even showcase all three factions so you can have three player games as well. The game also solos nicely as there is no hidden information and the random activation keeps things tense. Most of the battles start the action off nearly right off the bat too as there isn’t a whole lot of inching up to get the festivities started.

I highly recommend Nuklear Winter ’68 as it’s a departure in theme for LnL. If you’re a fan of other LnL games, you’ll really dig this one too. If you’ve never given LnL a try, this is a great title to make your acquaintance. There’s loads of theme, great scenarios, well balanced factions, and an excellent time to be had by all! I’m really looking forward to what may come next in the series (if it will even be a series that is…)

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