The Black Effect

[mikeCK]

Any of you guys read "Arc Light"? Written in 1991 where Russia and China to to war. China launches a tactical nuclear strike on Russia but Russia thinks it's from the US and launches a limited ICBM strike against the US. The US then launches against Russia. It's all about a conventional war taking place Round the world after a massive nuclear exchange

[TheWombat_matrixforum]

ORIGINAL: mikeCK

Any of you guys read "Arc Light"? Written in 1991 where Russia and China to to war. China launches a tactical nuclear strike on Russia but Russia thinks it's from the US and launches a limited ICBM strike against the US. The US then launches against Russia. It's all about a conventional war taking place Round the world after a massive nuclear exchange

Man that sounds like a scarily believeable CF of epic proportions, doesn't it? I'll have to look this one up.

[JohnOs]

ORIGINAL: mikeCK

Any of you guys read "Arc Light"? Written in 1991 where Russia and China to to war. China launches a tactical nuclear strike on Russia but Russia thinks it's from the US and launches a limited ICBM strike against the US. The US then launches against Russia. It's all about a conventional war taking place Round the world after a massive nuclear exchange

Just bought it for my Kindle Fire.

[daferg]

I just finished Black/Red Effect books. My complaints have already been mentioned. The ending of the second book has set up the third book in the series. I think they get better as it goes along. I read the three released Armageddons Song series. The forth one will be released this year. I have enjoyed it and am anxious for the next release. The author, Andy Farman, is a good guy. He has a Facebook page and its the first time I've ever been able to talk to an author. Team Yankee by Harold Coyle is one of my favorites. It has not been released in Kindle format yet. The land combat in Tom Clancys Redstorm Rising is another great one. Someone mentioned Arclight and I would recommend this as well. The focus in the beginning is on the strategic nuclear forces but switches to land combat in Europe. I bought the hard cover and Kindle versions. Another good find is 'The Bear Went Over The Mountain'. It is a collection of battles from several books already mentioned in this thread. There are maps and OOB of each battle. Its not a big book but is made for war gamers who recreate those battles. There is another computer game I play that I was able to recreate these battles on. So many good books and games and so little time.

[jenrick]

"The Bear Went Over The Mountain" is also the title of an study if the Soviet Operations in Afghanistan written by the Soviet military. Interesting reading.

-Jenrick

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: ferg1234

So many good books and games and so little time.

You got that right. I was told a long time ago, by my Grandfather, that you shouldn't turn your hobby into a job.

He was 100% correct. For those of you that think that sitting on our side of the table is AWESOME, well, it is (VBG) but in a different way. Gone are the free hours to play games. Those have been replaced by hours of working on ONE GAME! It helps that it's ours, but still, the WORK that goes into creating and producing what you guys get is far more than most would imagine.

Good Hunting.

MR

[mikmykWS]

Tell me about it[;)]

[CapnDarwin]

Hang tough Mike!

[daferg]

I read the version of 'The Bear Went Over The Mountain' a few months back along with 'Afgansty'. I can honestly say I was surprised to read about the Soviet tactics that were employed. When I think of the Russian Hoard in the 80's I didn't imagine the tactics that were described in those books. There was a lot more finesse and strategy employed.

I watched a documentary the other day on the Mi-24 Hind. It said that there were Hind pilots that spent 7 years in country(Afghanistan) without returning home. Given the high number of casualties taken by pilots during that conflict I was very impressed.

[daferg]

Jenrick and others-I made a mistake in a book title. 'The Bear Went Over The Mountain' is a real book but isn't the book I was thinking of. The correct title is 'The Bear Marches West' by Russell Phillips. I got the bear part right but failed on the rest of the title. I bought a digital copy from Amazon for my Kindle. Sorry about that. The book covers the battles that were fought in the books Red Army(Ralph Peters), Team Yankee(Harold Coyle), and Red Storm Rising(Tom Clancy-May he rest in peace). It list the OOBs for both sides, deployment information, weather, and objectives. I used it a few times for miniature war gaming.

[mikeCK]

Just bought it

[schaefsky]

Liked the "Effect" series so far, but one reason is simply that alternatives are few.
One thing that really bugged me are the russians, do they have to drink wodka every single time the story switches to them? And of course they will occasionaly threaten to shoot one of their own... in regard to describing russians it is almost as bad as "Red Storm Rising" IMO.

Is there any Cold War / WW3 book from NATO perspective that can go head to head with the IMO excellent "Red Army" by Ralph Peters? That one is one of my all time favorites.

[Tazak]

Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising

[CaptCarnage]

Just bought Red Army

[mikeCK]

Try armageddons song series

[daferg]

I would recommend 'Team Yankee' by Coyle and 'Chieftains' by Forrest-Webb. I love the 'Armageddons Song' series by Farman. 'Arclight' by Eric Harry is a great read. The first half of the book is focused on nuclear weapons and leadership. The last half of the book follows a US Army officer who gets called up from the IRR. The story follows him as he is in ground combat against the Russians. It is nowhere close to 'Red Army' by Peters but books that cover ground combat in WW3 are few and far between.

[JohnOs]

I found that "Red Thrust" is a good book to read from the Soviet side of things.

[daferg]

'Red Thrust' has been on my Amazon wish list forever. I guess its time for me to order it.

[Mad Russian]

'Red Army' and 'Red Thrust' are both good.

Good Hunting.

MR

[smithcorp]

Ralph Peters' Red Army is excellent for the way it portrays the WP folk as fleshed-out characters, not one-dimensional baddies. Another Cold War gone hot book I have enjoyed is The War That Never Was (Michael Palmer). It uses the conceit of a review of a post-cold war electronic wargame between NATO and Warsaw Pact to present a non-fiction style telling of how a global hot war would play out. It's pretty good and shows human Russians.