Decisive Action Interview: Joseph Chacon

 

DECISIVE ACTION is a game of tactical level warfare between modern American and Russian forces. Players are in the role of the battalion commander and must decide how to order subordinate units to fire and maneuver, how to allocate assets like helicopters and drones, and how to choose the best battle plan each turn via selection of activation cards.

The rules and images shown here are not final.

You can find it in P500

1-Who are you and your favorite wargame/s?

I am a retired U.S. Army officer, retiring in 2010 after 25 years of service. I served as an
armored cavalry officer and tactical military intelligence officer from platoon through Joint
Task Force level with tactical experience in the 1st Cavalry Division, 82nd Airborne Division, and
as a tactical trainer at a U.S Army Combat Training Center. Besides the United States Military
Academy and Command, and General Staff College, I attended the Naval Post Graduate School
to study Modeling and Simulations. Since retiring, I work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff on military
system interoperability between the U.S. military services and Partner Nations. I plan and run a
joint tactical level interoperability exercises a couple of times a year.

I started gaming when I was 11 years old with SPI’s MechWar 77, my first war game. I enjoying
playing most any scale and period but I am most fond of tactical games. I think those early
modern tactical games, (modern in the late 70’s and early 80’s) drove my choice to attend the
United States Military Academy and ultimate become an officer and armored cavalry officer in
the Army.

I’ve published a few games with Multi-man Publishing: GTS games Operation Mercury and
Race for Bastogne as well as the tactical Vietnam game, Front Toward Enemy. I am excited to
be publishing with the great team at GMT Games.

2-Why did you decide to do this game?

I’ve been working on DECISIVE ACTION since early 2020 but the concepts go back to my days as an Observer/Training at the Combat Training Center in Hohenfels, German. There I watched
about 20 different battalions go through training rotations, fighting similar battles to those in
DECISIVE ACTION against a competent peer level opposing force enemy. Observing all those
training battles and in particular, the actions of the commanders and staff to manage the
battle, gave me the idea for what to include in DECISIVE ACTION to give a player that same
feeling of decision-making.

There are several games, great games like GMT’s MBT series or Lock-n-load’s World at War’85,
that address hypothetical “modern” combat, but those are all rooted back in the cold war of
the 1980s. That is 30 – 40 years ago. A lot of modern warfare remains the same but a lot has
changed and is changing quickly. I wanted the challenge of addressing truly modern, present
day, potential conflict. I hope DECISIVE ACTION does that to an extent.

3-Can you talk about the mechanics?

Like most tactical level games, there are familiar mechanics for movement, line-of-sight,
sighting ranges, and opportunity fire. Like several of the games I have designed, it uses a color
dot to indicate the terrain in a hex and facilitate line-of-sight.

A couple of unique things I am trying are unit data cards and resolving fire combat. Like many
gamers, as I age, I find it increasingly difficult to take in lots of information from cluttered
counters. The counters in DECISIVE ACTION primarily represent platoons and display the
number of vehicles or squads, the unit designation, the Troop Quality, and the unit’s combat
system. As a unit takes casualties, the counter is flipped or replaced showing fewer vehicles or
squads and a lower Troop Quality, until it is eliminated. An easy-to-read playing card for each combat system contains the detailed data for the combat systems, the fire values, ranges,
movement, and defense, as well as any notes.

Fire combat is resolved by comparing the fire value of the attacking combat system with the
defensive value of the target combat system to get a “to hit number”. The “to hit” number is
modified by a quick list of modifiers like terrain, weather, range, etc., to give a modified to hit
number. One twenty sided die is rolled for each vehicle or squad in the firing unit with a roll
less than or equal to the modified to hit number causing a casualty. As an example, if an M1A2
has a probability of hit/ probability of kill (Ph/Pk) of 65% against a T-90M, the “to hit” value
would be 13 (M1A2 firepower of 18 and T-90M defense of 5). A full M1A2 tank platoon of four
tanks (one full strength counter) would roll four twenty sided dice. By conducting combat by
platoons, DECISIVE ACTION portrays the common tactics of platoon-level fire commands and
massing of fire as opposed to individual tank-on-tank combat resolution.

That's how DECISIVE ACTION implements some game basics. I think what is unique is how
DECISIVE ACTION address some of the battalion level decision-making. Besides unit counters
for the Battalion Commander and Tactical Operations Centers, the commander and staff are
also represented by command points and operations points. Players have to make decisions
each turn on when and how to expend points to change formation activation cards (orders to
the company level formations) affecting the actions the units can perform, and to “request”
and commit assets during the battle. Assets represent the combat multipliers outside of the
battalion organization that a commander uses to influence the battle like Close Air Support,
Attack Helicopters, UAVs, Reinforcing Artillery, and Electronic Warfare.

The focus of the game is really at the tactical level so some of the other battlefield influences
that might be outside the scope of the game like logistics, maintenance, and medical are
brought into the game with random battlefield events.

4-How do the different factions work?

One player will play a U.S. Army Combined Arms Battalion (CAB) with 1 or 2 M1A2 SEP4 tank
companies and 1- 2 M2A3 Bradley Mechanized Infantry companies along with units normally in
the CAB like Scouts and Mortars. There are also some attachments like short-range air defense
and an artillery battery. Additionally, the CAB may be reinforced by an ally or partner nation's
motorized infantry company.

The other player plays a Russian based force built from a Battalion Tactical Group (BTG) with
BMP-2M Motorized Infantry Companies, T90M Tank companies, and normal battalion assets
like Reconnaissance, Mortars, Weapons Platoons, SAM platoon, and an Artillery Battery. The
size of the Russian force depends on the mission (scenario):

• Movement to Contact = Reinforced Motorized Rifle or Tank Battalion Tactical Group
• Russian Attack = Reinforced Motorized Rifle Brigade (-)
• Russian Defense = Reinforced Motorized Rifle Company or Tank Company in a Covering
Force Defense

As I mentioned, my time observing and teaching U.S. Army battalions at a Combat Training
Center heavily influenced my concepts for this design. The opposition the Army units face at
those CTCs is modeled off perceived Russian capabilities and is extremely capable. This leads to
tougher and better training. I’ve carried this model forward in DECISIVE ACTION to present a
peer or near-peer opponent against the forces based on the U.S. Army to make a better game
and allow both players to plan and control company maneuvers, engagement areas, and what type of higher-level assets to use and when to employ them. Both players make these decisions to achieve the objectives as a Combined Arms Battalion or Battalion Tactical Group.

5-Scenarios and/or length of the game?

Right now DECISIVE ACTION has two small learning scenarios and three main scenarios. That
really does not sound like a lot but each of the five scenarios can be played on any of the four
maps. There is an open desert map based on Syrian terrain; a hilly European map based on
terrain in the Suwalki Gap area; a hilly desert map based on the National Training Center in
Fort Irwin, California; and a wooded European map based on the Joint Multination Training
Center at Hohenfels, Germany.

With the four maps and the ability to conduct scenarios in both directions on the maps, that
gives 40 possible replays without really duplicating a previous game. This does not include the
variations in order of battle or forces available to the players.

We are still in the playtesting stage so we can expect to adjust the scenarios to an extent, but I
would estimate the learning scenarios could take 1 – 3 hours and the main scenario 4 – 7
hours, depending on the scenario picked.

6-Do you have another game/project in mind?

I would really like to see DECISIVE ACTION accepted as a sandbox for ultra-modern (current)
day tactical war gaming. I think there is a lot of room to add to and tweak the game as new
capabilities are developed, fielded, and demonstrated.

A lot of armed UAVs or UAV swarms or tactical cyber actions are thought to be utilized deeper
and outside the 7km x 10.5 km play area and 2 – 4 hour time frame of DECISIVE ACTION. If this changes, those types of elements can easily be incorporated into future iterations of DECISIVE ACTION.

DECISIVE ACTION is limited to a U.S. Army tank/mechanized infantry battalion and Russian
tank/motorized rifle battalion. I think there is room to portray other U.S Army formations
based on a Stryker Battalion or Airborne/Airmobile/Infantry battalions. The same is possible
for Russian forces based on BTR-equipped motorized or airborne infantry battalions.
I definitely want to incorporate a U.S. Marine Corps Battalion Landing Team for a Marine
Expeditionary Unit or Ground Combat Element for a Marine Air-Ground Task Force and partner nation's; battalion-sized Battle Group formation. Future opposing forces could be based on Chinese, North Korean, or Iranian forces.

All these could be included in supplements or additional games that add additional missions
(scenarios) and other maps covering jungle, island, or more urban environments.
The possibilities are endless but first, we need to finish the playtesting and refining of DECISIVE
ACTION to provide another fine GMT game that players enjoy playing.