Replacement Counters for SPI’s NATO game

There are two sheets of counters here, one of NATO units, and one of Warsaw Pact units.  Print in ”landscape” mode.  They’ll need to be printed in color, because there’s just no way you can code that many nationalities of units in shades of gray.

This works best if they are printed on two sheets of cardstock, which is then glued to some thick cardboard before being cut apart with a paper cutter or X-acto knift.  I found some very thick cardboard at my local Michael’s craft store; the counters come out even thicker than the original ones, and they look and feel very nice.

I didn’t attempt to put the actual unit designations on the counters, so there are just codes for the nationalities and unit types, plus an identification number to tell them apart.  This will not affect the game, of course.

I noticed that SPI’s counter set has no 1-2-8 mountain brigades for breakdowns and forming battle groups, so I added three of them to my replacement counter set.

The nuclear contamination markers have a radiation symbol, rather than a nuclear cloud.  There are two sets, in different colors, to help you remember who caused them, so they can be removed at the proper time.

Hint:  To make the game easier to set up, you can use the optional backsides to make double-sided counters, or just mark the backs of the counters with a pen.  If a unit begins the game on the board, it should have its starting location:  a hex number or other code.  Units that come onto the board later, as indicated on the turn-number track, should have their turn of entry on the back.  It may seem strange to put units of both sides in the same bin, but this is how my system works.  The parts can then be stored in a standard SPI game box, with the bins marked according to the markings of the counters to go in them.

Bonus:  There are two pages of backs for the counters to put the markings on the back very neatly.  The fronts and backs each come in groups of two rows of ten counters, but notice that the two rows are reversed on the the backs.  The intent here is to cut both into groups of twenty counters, and glue the the fronts and backs to opposite sides of a piece of cardboard before cutting them apart.  Note that the fronts and backs are upside-down with respect to each other.  The nuclear contamination counters are NATO on one side and Warsaw Pact on the other.

Here is a diagram of my game box, with the labels beside the bins:

NATO Game-Box Bin Arrangement:

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