Operation Bøllebank is a solitaire wargame that depicts the events in Bosnia during the night between 29th and 30th April 1994, when a UN armored task force consisting of tanks and APCs from DANSQN2 engaged Bosnian-Serb forces around the town of Kalesija, near the border between Bosnia and Serbia.
The player will control the UN forces, while the game system drives the opposition. In order to win, the player must reach the base TANGO 2 with at least two of their Leopard tanks, while trying to comply with the restrictive Rules of Engagement. Meanwhile, the opposition will use machine guns, rockets and tanks to stop the UN forces while its artillery tries to surrender TANGO 2. Any player casualty will be considered a failure of the mission.
The game mechanism is based on a system of orders that all vehicles will follow until achieved or changed. All orders will issue from the commanding APC and they have to be relayed to each individual vehicle, which can be difficult once vehicles start to receive damage. The player will have to balance movement, defense and offense as the UN mandate has complex Rules of Engagement and the Danish government will not tolerate having casualties in a foreign war.
The victory conditions are based on both completing the mission and the way the mission is completed, which depends on the player's choices, and is evaluated at four levels: operational (if the mission is completed), tactical (defeating the opposition forces), strategical (respecting the UN mandate) and political (respecting the player's government orders).
The splendid art from artist Nils Johansson and SNAFU Design Team recreates the games rules as a magazine from the 1990's and gives the map and player aids the look and feel of the military computer interfaces present at that time.
