No, I don't remember any fortified line, but the game did have reduced stacking for mountains and passes, and there were quite a few choke points along the coast.
I remember the NATO player could roll for mobilization, getting more Norwegians into action sooner. If the Soviets tried for a flat-footed attack, it helped them a lot.
Soviet air and amphibious lift in the game was maybe 5 regimental-equivalents, but I'm not sure about that anymore. If you played the combined games, the Pact got something more than 12 Regiments' worth of airlift, which could be directed to any theater. {Seeing a whole corps' worth of desant was pretty impressive. My favorite plan was to drop them all over the US ReForGer sites along the Rhine, and negate 3+ divisions of Americans.} I think the game designated 1 Soviet MRD as amphibious-capable, and allocated 1 desant division to the northern theater. There was also an airmobile brigade, which was really, really useful.
The Soviets had an option to allocate a "strategic reserve force," which I think was 1 or 2 armies of Cat 2 divisions, which cost the Pact player VPs to send to the theater. I don't remember it as being worth sending, except there might have been a second airmobile brigade.
I remember the games usually wound up in a stalemate around Narvik or Tromso, with the Pact running out of assault-worthy forces, and NATO building up light troops. Victory keyed on the Pact capture of airfields to allow the Northern Fleet to sortie, and I don't remember too many victories for the Pact.
FWIW, I remember the Norwegian forces as being pretty important, since they were there, obviously, and rated at proficiency equal to the US and West Germans.
Dag, now you've got me wanting to dig it out again!
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Originally Posted by headquarters
When I was in they told us that our plans were made to repel amongst other things an airborne operation of Soviets ,they would take the main roads and strand our units in invaluable areas .they told us that in the event of a full blown war the soviets could drop 5 or 6 brigades simultanously .Apparently the airborne invasion gave only 2 1/2 - 4 hours warning before it all went Red Dawn .An amphibious assault was also envisioned as a part of the operation .The assault would have 15 -30 hours warning time and could comprise as many as 11 brigades.
Seeing as we only had 2 brigades in active duty and the rest mothballed as a mobilization defense it was very much a theoretical game of speed and lucky circumstances up here on Natos north flank .The North has limited road systems and a lot of fjords cutting into it - for a tactical game of conventional warfare I guess it would be an interesting match .(Did the game take into account our own little maginot line that we had built in Troms ? It didnt go all the way across but still,a concrete bunker fortress is a novelty in our days of warfighting.)
As for real life I dont think we could have done much against the Soviets.Our real defense was our close alignment with the US that made any move against us a possible trigger for a big conflict .On the ground I guess the plan was to hold enclaves /provinces that could be used as staging areas until the designated allied forces arrived -with their airpower- and mobilize our army as best we could in these areas .And then break out I guess. ( The threat of nuclear war ,other political events not taken into account and just focusing on the war on the ground I mean .)
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Edit: I crossed Turboswede's post. In TWW, the Swedes and Finns were presumed neutral, but the Pact could request/demand passage rights to get to Norway. The NATO player secretly drew chits to see if or how strongly the two would resist. My recollection is that if either nation resisted, it really wrecked the Pact's chances.