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NATO: The Cold War Goes Hot – Designer Signature Edition
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WWIII
1974
Rules assistance for WWIII
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 3 players
- 540 min
- Complexity 2.0/5
Rules assistant for WWIII
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
WWIII is a board game expansion released in 1974 for 3 players and 540 minutes per game. It was designed by Stephen V. Cole and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Grid Movement, and Hexagon Grid.
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About the game
An expansion kit designed to substantially expand SPI's "NATO" and allow it to be combined with the games "The East is Red" and "Sinai". The variant relies on some additional material published in issue #5 of JagdPanther as well as a few articles from their newsletter. The rules describe the three players as the Chinese, Russian, and NATO player, but the units controlled by each player stretch beyond these shorthand designations. The 11 pages of rules include a combined turn order, strategic movement grids (for tracking movement of units between the three games), limitations on national objectives, victory conditions, and setup instructions. Additional components include three charts for strategic and rail movement, three sheets of additional counters, and several mapsheet extensions that serve to expand the area covered by the NATO mapsheets. This expansion is currently available in PDF format as Amarillo Design Bureau has digitally rereleased all issues of JagdPanther magazine. —user summary
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.
- JagdPanther Publications
Questions and answers
WWIII supports 3 players according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.
The listed playing time for WWIII is 540 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
WWIII has a complexity rating of 2.0 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
WWIII belongs to these categories: Wargame, Modern Warfare, and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Grid Movement, and Hexagon Grid. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of WWIII are: Stephen V. Cole. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists WWIII as an expansion. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to an existing base game and usually cannot be played on their own. Check the box or publisher description for the exact base game required, and make sure your edition of that game is compatible with this expansion.