NATO - the slippery slope to game replacement begins

Ah, dammit. Now I'm reading this. Next I'll be sorting my countermix . . . and if too many are missing, I might need to replace the set. I hope that doesn't happen with 2nd Fleet, that's way too expensive to replace!

Early highlight? Where the TWW series had strategic nuclear exchange as a potential aspect of the game . . . NATO is a bit harsh:

"Immediately upon declaring Tactical Nuclear Warfare, the declaring player rolls the die. On a die roll of 1, 2, or 3, the game ends instantly and the declaring player loses decisively; [. . . ]"

So sure, take a 50/50 shot of just losing outright, but if you do, you get all sorts of "benefits." Loss of some reinforcements, loss of many movement modes, loss of air power . . . but you do gain very destructive nuclear strikes that you can use against the enemy's nuclear attack points and units. I've played with these rules, and they're brutal. It can be interesting but it changes the game. Much like in TWW, once you start to use nukes, the game revolves around deploying your nukes. It's no longer about anything else. It's still fun but it's a different thing entirely.

And, hey, 50% of the time you've lost. Time to play Greg Costikiyan's "Nuclear Winter."