Slitherine

quote:

Operation Blau 1942
Stalingrad or Moscow?

TOAW 3.2

Designer: Brian Topp

"Stalingrad or Moscow?" mod: Silvanski

:: Axis PO/Soviet PO ::
:: PBEM ::

Date: May 17, 1942-December, 1942
Location: Soviet Union
Map Scale: 25km/hex
Time Scale: full-week turns
Unit Scale: Divisional
Length: 32 turns

For the general details I like to refer to Brians original scenario.
The main changes in this mod are:

*Some geographical adjustments to the map.

*Unit colors:

Soviet: Red

Heer: Grey
Luftwaffe: White on Blue
SS: Black on Black
Rumanian: Red on Blue
Hungarian: Green on Red
Italian: Yellow
Minor units: various

*Formation support scope
-German - Force support
-Luftwaffe - Free support
-Minor Axis ground and air- Army support

-Soviets - Internal support (they're generally huge formations)
-Red Airforce and Navy, Single HQs - Free support

*Minor adjustments to proficiency and supply values.

*The big change however is to the Axis PO.
Brian had set up the Axis PO to move on Moscow.
My mod models the debate in OKH... the generals favored a renewed offensive on Moscow, but as we all know Hitler got what he wanted... an offensive in the south in order to satisfy his thirst for oil.
This of course lead to the disastrous events at Stalingrad.
The Axis PO will choose between two tracks...
There's a 40% chance the PO will attempt an offensive towards Moscow.

Minor changes to the Soviet PO.
Two Soviet reserve formations will appear in a different location. All others in the classic Moscow bottleneck.

*German reconstituted units appear at several locations on the map.
Minor Axis are set to reconstitute in their home country.
The Soviet reconstituted units retain their Moscow 'bottleneck' entry

*VPs redistributed, added some VP locations.

*Original scenario credits
Design and set up by Brian Topp.
Original map by Benny Wahlberg.
Original TO&Es by Tom Porto.
Basic panzer division based on notes by Brad Hunter.
German armour TO&E and production are drawn from Thomas Jentz's Panzer Truppen, volume 1 (with some necessary simplifications).
The Soviet OOB is based on FITE/SE and maps contained in The West Point Military History Series: Atlas for the Second World War, Griess, editor.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Silvanski

Kudos to Brian Topp for this one.

Just for private use and the heck of it I've been modding his good Eastern Front scenarios.
During my Bagration game comrade Veers pointed out the formation scope and formation colors in this series of scenarios so I wanted to compare the uniform approach (Grey Germans on force support and minor Axis a color per country and on army support) to the "each Army its own color scheme" setup Brian designed.
Wehrmacht formations are now less rigid...
We know divisions used to be shifted back and forth between corps a lot aye...

But then I started messing around with the Axis PO in Operation Blau 1942... I can't help it...TOAW afficionados know me by now aye...

The first time I played the original as Soviets it surprised me as AGS swings to the North and Moscow... great move and thanks to the low recon values it provides a decent challenge.
However I liked an air of unpredictability once this surprise wore off..

I reworked PO track 2 and put events in place so there is a 60% chance Elmer will try the historical path to Stalingrad and the oilfields... for those who wanna play vs the Soviet PO I changed the entry point of two Soviet reinforcement formations to increase the challenge

It plays well after making some adjustments.

Now for the nicest part.
I sent Brian a copy to hear his opinion about my approach to his scenario.
He gave his approval for release, something I didn't consider for this one.
It was only a private try-out which worked out rather well...

There you have it, coming soon:

quote:

Operation Blau 1942
Stalingrad or Moscow?

TOAW 3.2

Designer: Brian Topp

"Stalingrad or Moscow?" mod: Silvanski

:: Axis PO/Soviet PO ::
:: PBEM ::

Date: May 17, 1942-December, 1942
Location: Soviet Union
Map Scale: 25km/hex
Time Scale: full-week turns
Unit Scale: Divisional
Length: 32 turns

For the general details I like to refer to Brians original scenario.
The main changes in this mod are:

*Some geographical adjustments to the map.

*Unit colors:

Soviet: Red

Heer: Grey
Luftwaffe: White on Blue
SS: Black on Black
Rumanian: Red on Blue
Hungarian: Green on Red
Italian: Yellow
Minor units: various

*Formation support scope
-German - Force support
-Luftwaffe - Free support
-Minor Axis ground and air- Army support

-Soviets - Internal support (they're generally huge formations)
-Red Airforce and Navy, Single HQs - Free support

*Minor adjustments to proficiency and supply values.

*The big change however is to the Axis PO.
Brian had set up the Axis PO to move on Moscow.
My mod models the debate in OKH... the generals favored a renewed offensive on Moscow, but as we all know Hitler got what he wanted... an offensive in the south in order to satisfy his thirst for oil.
This of course lead to the disastrous events at Stalingrad.
The Axis PO will choose between two tracks...
There's a 40% chance the PO will attempt an offensive towards Moscow.

Minor changes to the Soviet PO.
Two Soviet reserve formations will appear in a different location. All others in the classic Moscow bottleneck.

*German reconstituted units appear at several locations on the map.
Minor Axis are set to reconstitute in their home country.
The Soviet reconstituted units retain their Moscow 'bottleneck' entry

*VPs redistributed, added some VP locations.

*Original scenario credits
Design and set up by Brian Topp.
Original map by Benny Wahlberg.
Original TO&Es by Tom Porto.
Basic panzer division based on notes by Brad Hunter.
German armour TO&E and production are drawn from Thomas Jentz's Panzer Truppen, volume 1 (with some necessary simplifications).
The Soviet OOB is based on FITE/SE and maps contained in The West Point Military History Series: Atlas for the Second World War, Griess, editor.

quote:

ORIGINAL: shunwick

Silvanski,

You are an inverterate tinkerer. Keep it up.

Best wishes,

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ORIGINAL: JoeRockhead

Didn't Topp do a Kursk scnario as well?

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I would like to see a Kursk scenario to include a Manstein alternative. The Germans don't attack and attempt a super back hand blow. The idea is from an old wargame I had. Do you think this would be a possible mod idea?

quote:

ORIGINAL: OTZ

The one problem I'm having with this scenario is that there seems to be a lot of turn-burn. It's rare that I've managed to squeeze out more than one combat round as the Germans. Is there any way to change this?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Silvanski

quote:

ORIGINAL: JoeRockhead

Didn't Topp do a Kursk scnario as well?

Indeed, there's a series of 4 scenarios using the same map and set up.
Operations Barbarossa - Blau - Zitadelle - Bagration

quote:


I would like to see a Kursk scenario to include a Manstein alternative. The Germans don't attack and attempt a super back hand blow. The idea is from an old wargame I had. Do you think this would be a possible mod idea?

It has potential but surely will need redeployment of panzer formations.

There's also the Panther-Wotan option... a withdrawal from Kursk thereby shortening the frontline... Brian has the PW line drawn in, albeit manned by weak units, but he suggests this move to the Axis player.