Widell
Posts: 913
Joined: 4/27/2005 From: Trollhättan, Sweden Status: offline
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Playing the Warzaw Pact in the WWIII scenario by Grymme, and figured I'd post some observations since it is a playtest game. First of all, the scenario seems to be ready for approval as there seems to be no game breakers so far. The following observations may/may not be interesting to tweak for future versions: - Some units (like the Albanians, Ethiopia, Cuba) are out of supply with basically no possibility to connect to a supply source. There should maybe be a minor supply source for these units?
- Air vs Ground is largely over effective. This is not specific to this scenario and may also be biased by my own opinion. It is not realistic IMHO that air attacks cause >50% losses in an Army Corps. I tried to address this is my mod of Delyn Locksmith's WWII in Europe scenario, and managed to get results were air attacks reduce readiness rather than cause losses.
- Israel seems over powered when they and the Arab states enter the game. For balancing purposes, Israel should have to choose if they go for Syria or Egypt. They should have enough defensive power to hold a strong defensive line vs the one they don't go on the offence against.
- The Afghan rebels are IMHO over powered. It's unlikely they should be able to mount an offensive into the USSR, specially since they have to cross "Big Land" terrain coming out of the mountains. I propose to keep them as is = cheap to build(?), and either provide more USSR units to maintain the border, or the Afghans should have really lousy defensive abilities when out of the mountains.
- Cuba seems to be too easily conquered. I state this for two reasons: The US can launch amphibious landings more or less unopposed, and secondly, Cuba is almost unsupplied. Proposal may be to include small coastal batteries and fortresses with static defensive units as well as more supply on the island. Havana should maybe be more fortified.
- Warzaw Pact moves first, followed by NATO, USA and last China. Why? If anyone starts WWIII, it's the WP - OK, so, how to manage this? The US gets bases along a line from Hamburg to Frankfurt, which means the Pact will push forward quickly in the initial stages. Depending on how the US player choose to go ahead, significant air and ground assets can be moved to Europe after the initial WP attack. This should mean WP will have a hard time capturing Hamburg and Frankfurt and moving beyond that north / south line.
- France should be neutral at the start (are they neutral already btw?) and joins NATO after the initial WP attack. This may also have implications on the game in North Africa as Algeria and Libya may be pulled into the WP forcing Spain and France to intervene there.
- Submarines to be at sea at the start of the scenario rather than being despatched by action card.
- Coming back to Israel. They are able to capture Syria and most likely the Iraqi oil fields as well as threaten Egypt within less than 6 months. Not sure, but I think both Syria and Egypt needs some work so Israel must decide on one direction and defend in the other direction. In Turn 7 it is obvious that Egypt will also fall, which means that Israel has managed to capture Syria, Egypt and Iraq in about 6 months without even being close to be under threat. This is, IMHO, the one major area that is severely unbalanced in the scenario.
- What about trying to model Iran and Iraq? I understand it would be a major pain from a mapping standpoint, but it would make the whole region even more exciting. It would also improve the balance of the Israel vs the Arab states situation. While we're at it, why not map the Middle East to the same detail as Europe as this would be one of the really interesting areas in a hypothetical conflict like this? Again, major pain from a mapping perspective, but might add a lot to the game.
- I'm starting to miss the (expected) naval and air battles around Iceland, but I may have read "Red Storm Rising" too many times . Adding a few sea hexes to the north of the map would open up for some interesting options. Also, both the US and USSR should maybe have more strategic air assets at the start of the game. I'm thinking of units capable of flying from Murmansk to Iceland for example, and vice versa for the US
- A continuation of the overpowered air discussion. The US Stealth Bombers have now knocked out more or less all bridges in China as well as a fair amount of resource locations in the USSR.....completely. Again, I have confidence in the power of stealth, but this 1986 and 1. the stealth was a relatively new type of weapon and 2. even by going stealth, deep penetrating raids into China and the USSR with huge, huge success seems a bit unrealistic. If we talk B-52's I agree, stealth, no way. Either but static flak units on these locations, or change the air power (all sides!) so it disrupts rather than wipes out things. Nukes should be used to wipe out. Bombers do damage at best, and disrupt most of the time.
- Yugoslavia staying out of a conflict like this for 7-8 months. I realize there's an event to bring them into the war, but give the Warsaw Pact an Action Card to increase the likelihood by diplomatic actions.
- More on the air. The number of deep missions into the heartland of the Soviet Union and the amount of damage done is close to ridiculous. Even if the stealth bombers were new in 86, the likelihood they'd do more than symbolic damage deep in the USSR is very limited (as they are not carrying nukes so far). Either place flak units in all Soviet locations or reduce efficiency of the stealth bombers.
- The Soviet Union needs a way to counter the deep missions from the US. Read Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising" for some ideas on what could have been expected in terms of air missions from the USSR in this timeframe. Strategic attacks on Iceland for example.
- Romania and Yugoslavia should join the war (at least very likely to do so) in response of a US landing in Greece and the capture of Albania. Combined with successful WP operations in Turkey and Austria, this should go to 100%
- More to come.....???
Well, I guess this shows my bias from playing the Warzaw pact and taking a beating EDIT: Added a few bullet points based on the discussion in the thread. EDIT: Added more content after turn 6 of the ongoing game. EDIT: Turn 7 comments. EDIT: Turn 8 comments. EDIT: Turn 9 comments. EDIT: Turn 10 comments.
< Message edited by Widell -- 10/28/2008 11:24:23 AM >
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