feldgrau
Posts: 20
Joined: 8/9/2006 Status: offline
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Just wanted to share a little bit on what I've been working (on and off) on for the last five years... As most of you know, the Nordic Light scenario that comes pre-installed with later versions of TOAW III features a Russian invasion of Sweden and Finland based on the (in Sweden) pretty well known techo-thriller Operation Garbo that was written by a group of high-ranking Swedish officers and politicians in the end of the 1980s. I decided, a long time ago, to redo the scenario but at a smaller scale (2.5 km/hex and 6 h or 12 h turns, haven't decided yet) and with a lot more detail. As the scale limits the inclusion of the whole of Sweden, this map covers the southern half Sweden (I guess I'll make northern Sweden after this scenario is completed). The map is based on a road atlas from 2002, so a few newly built roads and bridges (for example the Öresund bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden) will have to be removed for the scenario, but otherwise it is completed, including shipping ports for the Soviet invasion fleet and Soviet air bases. I've almost completed the OOB and TOE in text, I know mostly what units to include and what equipment to give them (from a new equipment database, of course, as many unique Swedish pieces of equipment are missing in the original), but haven't yet started with the creation of the in-game OOB. A perfectionist, I'd want every unit to be as close to the real existing unit as possible, both in name and organisation. However this seems to be close to an impossible task as the Soviets changed a lot during the last years as they retreated from eastern Europe and the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe came into effect. I mostly disregard those changes as the scenario background does not include it, and the OOB for the Soviet Union will be closer to their OOB in 1988 or such, rather than 1991 when the scenario takes place. For the Swedish side, the same problems arise as there were a lot of changes there as well, and since I am including almost everything, from brigades to local defence units that are not very well covered in secondary sources (documents from the Armed Forces are still classified information), I'll just have to make up and simplify a few things. My next problem is how to properly model the so called "invasion cake" of Soviet transport ships and its protective screen of navy ships, and the Swedish air and naval attack on it (this was one of the main, if not the main, tasks of the Swedish Air Force, and the navy of course, and a whole lot of Swedish defence planning was focused on this part, so it'd be a shame to disregard it completely) as well as the large system of coastal artillery defense built to protect the shore. I know that TOAW does not model naval and air combat at any level above "very very very basic", so if anyone has an idea on how to do it in a good way, please speak up! /feldgrau
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