The Operational Art of War, Volume I: 1939-1955

The Military Art: The theory and practice of combat.
The Operational Scale: A view of the battlefield on a scale just exceeding that at which differing ranges of various direct fire weapons are significant.
The Operational Art: The theory and practice of combat on an operational scale.

The Operational Art of War, Volume I (TalonSoft, Inc.-1998) is a turn based operational level game with a complete scenario editor. Map, unit, and time scales are variable. Individual units are generally regiments, brigades or divisions detailed to the level of individual vehicles, major crew served weapons, and infantry squads. The weapon database includes roughly 700 specific weapon and vehicle types, including aircraft, tanks, guns, ships, and several varieties of infantry squads. A scenario designer using this database can create scenarios modeled on just about any conflict from 1939 to 1955. A programmable event engine is used to simulate a wide range of political, environmental and "out of theater" events. Special rules include atomic weapons, war gas, and seasonal weather.

Scale: Operational, 2.5km to 50km per hex/12 hours to 1 week per turn.

Topic: Campaigns from 1939 to 1955.

Systems: Windows 95/98, Playable on Windows NT and 2000.

Scenarios Included in The Operational Art of War, Volume I

Arracourt 44 SHOWDOWN AT ARRACOURT - CCA/4th Armored Division's defense against the LVIII Panzer Corps.
Crete 41 OPERATION MERCURY - Germany's largest airborne operation to capture the strategically important Mediterranean island of Crete.
Crusader 41 OPERATION CRUSADER - The British 8th Army's winter offensive against the Afrika Korps.
France 40 BLITZKRIEG IN THE WEST - German blitzkrieg offensive against France, Belgium and Holland.
Fulda 55 RED STORM AT FULDA - Hypothetical attack by the newly formed Warsaw Pact against NATO forces to seize Frankfurt.
Israel 48 ISRAEL'S COUNTEROFFENSIVE - The IDF's attempt to consolidate the Jewish settlements.
Italy 43 UP THE BLOODY BOOT - The Allied attempt to Liberate Rome.
Kasserine 43 TRIAL BY FIRE - Axis thrust by the 5th Panzer Army and Panzerarmee Afrika against the US II Corps in Tunisia.
Kharkov 42 PRELUDE TO STALINGRAD - The Soviet 1942 spring offensive from the Izyum Bulge.
Korea 50-51 POLICE ACTION - The Communist invasion of South Korea.
Korsun 44 DISASTER ON THE SOUTHERN WING - German counteroffensive to relieve the Korsun Pocket.
Luzon 41-42 FALL OF BATAAN - Japanese Invasion of the Philippines.
Normandy 44 OPERATION OVERLORD - The Allied invasion of Normandy to establish the second front.
Patton 45 PATTON'S NIGHTMARE - Soviet offensive against the US Third Army from Czechoslovakia, to seize portions of southern Germany.
Sicily 43 OPERATION HUSKY - The Allied landing in Sicily.
South Front 42 SOUTH FRONT - The Soviet Winter Offensive of 1942: Operation Uranus.
Typhoon 41 OPERATION TYPHOON - The German attack to capture Moscow.

Unlike other recent or planned wargames The Operational Art of War was heavily optimized for solitaire play, with significant development effort devoted to simulation elements and programmed opponent algorithms rather than network or internet play. I didn't want to alienate new gamers, but where design compromises were necessary I optimized this title for serious wargamers. This was the game I had wanted to do for years, and I enjoyed creating it.

What Some Folks Are Saying About The Operational Art of War

Reviews
(Many of the original reviews are still archived on their parent sites, but most are no longer available at their original url's.)

C|net
ABCNEWS.com
Computer Games Online
Computer Gaming World
The Gamers Net (Volume I), The Gamers Net (Wargame of the Year Edition)
Games Domain
Gamespot
Imagine Games Network PC
Online Gaming Review
PC Gamer
The Wargamer

Awards

Computer Games Online - The Best of 1998: Wargame of the Year
Computer Gaming World- The Best of 1998: Best Wargame
E3 1998 Best of Show Nominee (Turn Based Strategy)
Gamespot - Best & Worst of 1998: Wargame of the Year
PC Gamer - 1998 Annual PC Gamer Awards: Best Wargame
PC Games - 1998 Editor's Choice Awards: Best Strategy Game
Strategy Gaming Online - Best and Worst of 1998: Best Wargame
The Gamers Net - Game of the Year, 1998
WarZone - 1998 Editor's Choice Awards: Best Wargame of 1998

Designer's Notes and FAQ Documents

Designer's Notes#1, July 30th 1998
Designer's Update Notes, v1.03.15, August 14th 1998
Rebuttal to The Wargamer's "Grognard's Review" of TOAW

The Operational Art of War Trophy Shelf

What's going on right now with The Operational Art of War?

The game was released on June 1st, 1998.

A substantially improved version of this game, using the TOAW II game engine and significantly expanded equipment database was released as TOAW:Wargame of the Year Edition. Matrix Games released a slightly reworked version of the game in July of 2006.

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