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The Almighty Turtle -> RE: Distant Guns, Russo-Japanese War Thread (3/28/2007 11:04:40 AM)
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No, This is not a campaign in the game. It is not even in this game.It is a SEPERATE GAME for a SEPERATE WAR. The 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War for dominence over Manchuria, Korea, and most of Northeastern Asia. It is a real-time sim, in which the player plays pre-dreadnought ships. It is basically the Elite, well-trained, well-equipped but pathetically outnumbered Japanese Versus the Numerous but obsolete Imperial Russian Navy. Usually.
There are some variations on the scenarios. There is also the campaign game, in which the Japanese player has to keep the lifeline open for the supplies to the soldiers of the Rising Sun in Korea at all costs and under all circumstances and conditions, while trying to lure out and destroy the Russian Navy based out of Port Arthur before the Czar's Navy finally finishes rounding its way across the ocean from the Baltic to the Pacific.
The Russian player has to focus on how to manage their numerically superior numbers but inferior quality fleet against the "Samurai Warriors of the Rising Sun." To prevent the conquest of Port Arthur or neutralization of it, while at the same time finding a way to strangle the Japanese Army to death with its own broken supply umbilical cord.
It is rather evenly matched in Campaign, though the Scenarios are more than a little bit small in number, and controls are complex, but it is a good way to kill a day plus per Campaign (as well as a few thousand unfortunate Russian Sailors(If you cannot tell by this point, I usually play as the outnumbered-but-not-outgunned Japanese))
As for the 1939 incidents, yes, the Russians were not as weak as Japan thought. Though nor were they as strong as the Russians painted themselves to be. The Russians were on the whole poorly trained, equipped, and in general not really prepared for war. They, however, had tanks (which the Japanese really did not have) and a MASSIVE numerical superiority.
The well-trained and equipped Japanese were almost decimated, but they killed far greater than they took. However, the Russians could take the higher casualty count because of numerical superiority, and the Japanese force was almost anihilated by the lower casualty count because they lacked the reinforcements.
The horrific Russian losses supposidly were so heavy that they shocked the Soviet commander to defy high command and begin training and requisitioning more equipment for his men than average, while trying to find a way to keep casualties low. That man was Georgi Zhukov, arguably the best Russian general of WWII, who actually did NOT simply throw thousands of men to a mindless death.
I actually have heard that the next major defeat he suffered after the inital German pushes was a couple of years latter, when he and an army was encircled and forced to surrender by the Western Allies in the December incident (though after the conflict had passed he was allowed to return to Russia with all his men and all their munitions and equipment of war). Or a space of roughly 2-3+ years. Quite a long time for a general, especially a Soviet one!
Anyway, Distant Guns is a pretty good game, and there are free demos of it somewhere on the web, though it is not for the faint of heart (or those who are not complete history nerds like yours truly).
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