And here, especially after looking at kato13's target maps, I thought the UK got overly pummeled for its area in square kilometers.
Remember that the target lists are only for strategic nuclear hits. Canada, the US and the UK were also hit by multiple tactical nuclear weapons and these will still be in the size range of the Nagasaki (Fat Man 21kt) and Hiroshima (Little Boy 13-18 kt) devices. With that in mind you could do some serious damage to nearly any target you want to by saying it was hit bt a tactical nuclear weapon.
Conversely, there several references to near-misses and malfunctions of Soviet weapons that served to save an intended target. Given that Soviet nuclear weapons are believed to have a much larger circular error probability than US weapons. This is why Soviet bombs generally had a higher yield than US devices. (It's also why the saying...Close only counts in horseshoes...was extended to include nuclear weapons, and perhaps hand grenades)
So as a GM you could easily justify saving a desired target by saying the nuclear weapon targeting the location missed, got messed up by EMP, got shot down by an early Star Wars system, was a dud, only fissed but didn't fuse, hit a goose at launch, was made by the cheapest bidder, fried by a solar flare, incorrect targeting information made it hit Lake Titicaca instead or any number of things.
And the nice thing is that if you have a serious grudge against a particular town or location you can fill fully justified in wiping that blight off the face of the Earth with a 10-20 kt tactical nuclear weapon.
Benjamin
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