Hof Gap: The Nurnberg Pincer

About this board game

Hof Gap: The Nurnberg Pincer is a two-player wargame with a playing time of about 120 minutes, portraying the early days of World War III in West Germany.

Published by SPI in 1980 as part of the Central Front Series, the game focuses on the Hof Gap and includes the major West German city of Nurnberg. Combat takes place at the company, battalion, and regiment level, with each hex representing 4 kilometers of terrain.

The Central Front system uses mechanics designed to reflect the pressures of modern battlefield conditions. Operations Points, Friction Points, variable-length game turns, and Zones of Control shape movement and combat, while airpower and air-mobile operations add further dimensions to the conflict.

• Covering Force: Covers the first 36 hours of combat in the Coburg, Kronach, Hof, and Cheb Gaps, using the eastern half of the map.
• VII Corps: Uses the entire Hof Gap map, including the Meiningen approach and the action from Covering Force for the first four of the next war.
• Seventh Army: Allows the Hof Gap map to be joined with the map from Fifth Corps: The Soviet Breakthrough at Fulda, along with other components from the Fifth Corps game, to represent the entire U.S. front in central West Germany.

Rules for nuclear and chemical warfare are also included, making Hof Gap: The Nurnberg Pincer a focused simulation of a rapidly escalating modern conflict. Its three scenarios offer different scales of engagement, from an opening covering-force action to a broader campaign across the U.S. front.