Aviation / Flight · Modern Warfare

Red Storm: The Air War Over Central Germany, 1987

"Red Storm" is the second sequel to the Charles S. Roberts Award-winning game Downtown. Red Storm is a standalone game that utilizes the Downtown game system to depict a hypothetical air war in May/June 1987 over the central portion of the NATO/Warsaw Pact front in central Germany. Like Downtown and Elusive Victory before it, Red Storm is an “operational” level air warfare game where players manage large strike packages and numerous combat air patrols in an effort to strike enemy targets, protect their own ground troops, and secure control of the air over the land battle raging below. Both sides have highly advanced all-weather aircraft, long-range missiles, precision bombs, sophisticated electronic warfare assets, and dense air defense networks of surface-to-air missiles and radar-guided AAA. The game features aircraft from the United States, United Kingdom, West Germany, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Soviet Union, and East Germany.

1–2 players720 minages 14expert difficulty

Save to my collection Log a play

About the game

What is Red Storm: The Air War Over Central Germany, 1987

As the NATO player, you fight outnumbered in the air, but with a qualitative edge in technology and better-trained pilots. NATO faces the daunting task of contesting the air in the face of the initial onslaught from the WP air forces while also getting bombs onto targets on the ground both on the frontline and rear echelon forces of the Soviet and East German armies. As the Warsaw Pact player, you must push your numerous but less flexible forces to the absolute limit in an effort to overwhelm NATO forces in the air and destroy them on the ground, all while supporting advancing ground forces. Both players also have to manage their air defense networks consisting of overlapping layers of SAM and AAA.

Units

Like earlier games in the series, units in Red Storm are flights of 1 to 4 aircraft, each tasked with different roles such as bombing, combat air patrol, close escort, or jamming support. Red Storm features more than 50 types of aircraft, including both older “3rd Generation” workhorses like the F-4E Phantom II and MiG-23 Flogger as well as advanced “4th Generation” fighters including the US F-15 Eagle, the UK/West German Tornado, and the Soviet MiG-29 Fulcrum. Aircraft from the air forces of Belgium, West Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and East Germany are provided. Ground units depict various types of troop concentrations, SAMs, and AAA assets. The SAM network on both sides is both more numerous and more dangerous than ever, with low-altitude SAMs like the UK Rapier, US Chaparral, and Soviet SA-13 Gopher joining a daunting array of medium/high altitude SAMs like the US Patriot and Soviet SA-12.

Specs