Odenathus
Posts: 68
Joined: 8/16/2010 Status: offline
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Hi Yup, the assumption behind this is that the Russians and their allies/satellites launch an attack on NATO under cover of massive 'exercises'. NATO's air forces are on full alert, and the ground units, although not the full reserves, have been bought up to strength and moved to initial defensive positions, although there has not been time, or the political will, to move ground units into other countries. I'm assuming that there is still one full US corps permanently stationed in Germany, and that the British 1st Armoured Division still exists - smaller than at present following the recently announced spending cuts - and that it's also still stationed in Germany, primarily because there's nowhere for it in the UK. I've also given the Russians and their allies (I nearly typed 'the Warsaw Pact', naughty me) air and ground shock for the first few turns (gradually decreasing) to simulate NATO's shock and confusion at the outbreak of a real shooting war. From my own playtests I think you'll find that NATO gradually achieves air superiority, and will then be able to switch airpower to ground support. However I admit that, while I'm broadly happy with the general ORBATs and TOEs, it's anybody's guess how the overall play balance will work out in a full game between two experienced players. And Larry, as we know, is very experienced. It is quite likely that some sort of tweaks to the VPs/proficiencies/initial shock bonus will be required. No production as there won't be time in a campaign lasting a few weeks, although there are manpower replacements representing reserves being called up, and trucks as I reckon they can be requisitioned from civilian use in an absolute emergency. And this represent an absolute emergency. Or it may be necessary to reduce the number of Russian reserve units: on paper there's enough in storage to comfortably more than double their existing ground forces in the European theatre, let alone the option to shift forces from the Central and Pacific Operation Strategic Commands. If this leads to them reaching the Channel in a week or so, some drastic pruning may be required. I'd like this to bear some resemblance to an existing or near future reality, but at the end of the day it has to be a challenging and interesting game. I'll watch this with keen interest. Cheers Mark
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