Ukraine 2022 - Beta v1.24

[sPzAbt653]

:: Both sides PO enabled ::
:: PBEM capable ::

COMPLEXITY: Novice
MAP SIZE: 292 x 220
UNIT COUNT: Player 1 = 635, Player 2 = 502
TIME to PLAY = 30 Hours
TURNS: 60

TURN LENGTH: Full Day Turns
First turn: (February 24th, 2022)
Last turn: 60 (April 24th, 2022)

MAP SCALE: 5 kilometers per hex, northern climate area, no precipitation, temperature: temperate.
UNIT SCALE: Battalion

v1.24 [February 14, 2023]
Added some events.

v1.23 [January 3, 2023]
Added some Russian Security units.
Updated Ukraine Garrison units.
Updated Ukraine Air Force.
Reset the partial Ukrainian Artillery Supply Restriction from 33% to 66%. [At 33% units were only getting 3-5 Supply per turn, which is lower than desired].
The zip has been recreated, so either ditch your original or let it all be overwritten, no worries.

v1.22
Ukraine OOB and TO&E adjustments
Revised Ukraine Territorial Defense OOB and TO&E's [Ardi]
The .sce file is the only thing different in this .zip. So if you already have everything else, no need to fiddle with it.

v1.21
Ukraine OOB reorganized to be less linear and more Command oriented.
Russian force reorganized into Battalion Tactical Group [BTG] structure.
Ukraine Artillery updates [cathar1244]

v1.20 [Nov 1, 2022]
Ukraine Unit Equipment Updates and Adjustments.
'Excluded' neutral airbases to prevent Elmer attacking them.
Russian units now reflect understrength status at start, while their Proficiency's have been raised.
Force from 50 to 60
Formation from 25 to 50
Unit from 20 to 30
Equipment Photos - Russia 2 of 4 included
The zip has been recreated, so either ditch your original or let it all be overwritten, no worries.

v1.19 [Oct 7, 2022]
Russian Forces in N. Crimea increased
Added Locations: Balaklia, Huliapole, Snihurivka [cptgoranson]
Adjusted unit dispositions near Novoazovsk [cptgoranson, cathar1244]
Some better roads Belarus-Kyiv
Equipment Photos - Russia 1 of 4 included

[cathar1244]

Outstanding! Thanks for creating this very timely scenario.

" thumbs up "

Cheers

[MrClock]

Thanks!

[marcinuski]

Hi, many thanks for this detailed and impressive work.
However, I have one question. I'm Polish and I have difficulty to understand the presence of so many Ukrainian forces in our territory? Are they here because of training? Can we move them over the border?

Many thanks

[sPzAbt653]

Greetings ... I am USA of Polish heritage !

The units in Poland are Polish units [and some NATO Response units], not Ukrainian. They are on the side of Ukraine [and in Ukraine OOB] because we only have two sides in any scenario. So as Poland, we can either be Ukraine or Russia. Same for every other country.

Of course, in this version of this scenario, only Ukraine units are available for use. Other countries are in Reserve or Garrison Modes.

If these units are shown to present any problems in this scenario, they will be removed. They are only there as they will be used in the Long Version of the scenario when it is released.

[sPzAbt653]

Units are color coded [numbers next to units indicate their place in the color chart and have no effect on play], different for each country:

[marcinuski]

Many thanks, now it is clear to me! Once again, great job!

[morvael]

Invoke article 5! 2x F-16 were destroyed during attack on Polish airbase on turn 1. It seems the AI doesn't ignore frozen units.

[sPzAbt653]

I've also seen it hit ground units with Interdiction, thus releasing them that way!

We're waiting to see if there are any bigger issues, but probably we will end up removing all the units that aren't in play, completely blocking the non-involved countries, and removing any Supply Point in the non-involved countries. In the interim, please bear with it for the Beta results. Thanks for the input, for sure!

So far we've run a bunch of PO vs PO tests, to make sure there are no fatal flaws. I am currently at turn 10 playing as the Russians vs the Ukraine PO.

[fulcrum28]

very interesting work!
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 8&t=380098
I experienced extremely high tank loses by ATGM and tank-tank combat in this 1979 scenario. Did you experience same or worse in your scenario? Maybe so if they are using more advanced JAvelin ATGM systems Let me know your impressions if possible.

[sPzAbt653]

See here for answer to your questions, thanks!

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 5&t=383022

[sPzAbt653]

Assuming you are starting with a small war and it escalates, here are some ways to look at the countries.

In the EU and in NATO: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Rep, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain.
Non-EU NATO: Albania, Canada, Montenegro, North Mac., Norway, UK, US.
In the EU but not in NATO: Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Sweden.
It's Complicated: Bosnia & H., Denmark, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine.

Hello Graymane! Turkey is not listed here, but it seems they are a NATO member. Do you have an opinion on Turkey?

[cathar1244]

Denmark is also a NATO member.

Cheers

[sPzAbt653]

He stated in the Development thread that:

Denmark, while in Nato, is not part of the EU’s common security and defense policy.

Therefore, adding complications to its use.

I haven't looked into Denmark yet, but if they contribute to the NRF then those units will be included in the Large Version, and since Denmark is on the Large Map they will also have any existing Defense Force.

[cptgoranson]

Hi everyone,
Hi sPzAbt653,

Been playtesting the scenario for a couple hours: great work, it will definitely be a TOAWIV classic when completed.
The poor and rigid russian logistic is perfectly simulated. You can do nasty stuff using those units: but you cannot waste them in blind armored thrusts: the result is then "historical"

I guess the scenario needs a little more tweaking:

-Some locations (Balaklia, Huliapole, Snihurivka etc) are missing, yet they are hotly contested localities in this war.

-Ukrainian land units are devastating: you can achieve operational initiative in a week if you do a "fictional" move: not defending border localities, baiting Russians fairly deep in Ukraine and smashing them when exhausted.
Maybe a little tweaking here ?

-Please, let the scenario run till winter 2022-23 Gotta love those HIMARS units arriving in june

I know it's a work in progress, but I'm amazed at such quality. Your work is very impressive. Reminds me of complex and rich scenarios for older TOAW (like Mc Bride's did)

Kudos and keep up the good work !

Greetings from France

[cathar1244]

Bonjour, France

Good to see feedback on the scenario. sPzAbt653 has put a lot of work into this scenario, and he is indeed a premiere scenario designer.

I've done a bit of playtesting as well. There is a real challenge to model the Russian army in this campaign. In TOAW terms, one might see the actual Russian troops in the real war as "reorganizing" much of the time, but it is not straightforward to force the game to do that in the scenario.

Cheers

Hi everyone,
Hi sPzAbt653,

Been playtesting the scenario for a couple hours: great work, it will definitely be a TOAWIV classic when completed.
The poor and rigid russian logistic is perfectly simulated. You can do nasty stuff using those units: but you cannot waste them in blind armored thrusts: the result is then "historical"

I guess the scenario needs a little more tweaking:

-Some locations (Balaklia, Huliapole, Snihurivka etc) are missing, yet they are hotly contested localities in this war.

-Ukrainian land units are devastating: you can achieve operational initiative in a week if you do a "fictional" move: not defending border localities, baiting Russians fairly deep in Ukraine and smashing them when exhausted.
Maybe a little tweaking here ?

-Please, let the scenario run till winter 2022-23 Gotta love those HIMARS units arriving in june

I know it's a work in progress, but I'm amazed at such quality. Your work is very impressive. Reminds me of complex and rich scenarios for older TOAW (like Mc Bride's did)

Kudos and keep up the good work !

Greetings from France

[cptgoranson]

Bonjour, France

Good to see feedback on the scenario. sPzAbt653 has put a lot of work into this scenario, and he is indeed a premiere scenario designer.

I've done a bit of playtesting as well. There is a real challenge to model the Russian army in this campaign. In TOAW terms, one might see the actual Russian troops in the real war as "reorganizing" much of the time, but it is not straightforward to force the game to do that in the scenario.

Cheers

Best played with "command and control" on, to avoid daily reorganizing

I don't know if it's avoidable but Ukrainian PO is breaking its battalions into companies: it's pretty easy to smash them piece by piece. On the other hand I was pretty impressed by the PO ability to block my airlanding in Gostomel (well, with these super-strong Rapid Response battalions around Kyiv, guess it's pretty normal ) and to outflank me to form a kessel: result is historical, lost all my VDV

Anyway I'm enjoying a lot this scenario, playtesting it is "merveilleux" as we say in french

Cheers

[sPzAbt653]

Balaklia, Huliapole, Snihurivka etc

Thanks! The base map was from 1941, and it's something that takes a lot of time to update so we are working on it as we go. Any suggestions are welcome.

if you do a "fictional" move: not defending border localities

Ukraine did that in at least one area, they moved back from Crimea to the other side of the Dnipro. So it may not be totally fictional *wink*

let the scenario run till winter 2022-23

At one point we were sitting around waiting for the war to end so we could 'finish' the scenario. I scratched my head and wondered what to do if it goes on for eight years and the scenario is in limbo for so long?? Bill had the great idea to release it as a 60-day version. Now that you have that, work is being done on the larger/longer version, complete with Himars, Ceasars, Bayraktars and other stuff.

We still work on this Beta Version when needed, for sure.

[sPzAbt653]

sPzAbt653 has put a lot of work into this scenario

Thanks but certainly it is a huge collaborative effort, starting with the inspiration of the hobby and community, the map provided by FitE2, the Equipment Database provided by Jose Antonio, all the Military Details on easy to find simple Wiki's, and all the contributions by you guys.

Also I kicked out my girlfriend and she took the dog with her, so I have plenty of free time.

[sPzAbt653]

Ukrainian PO is breaking its battalions into companies

I have also noticed this. Tinkering prior to Beta Release did not provide any solution, and it continues to be a mystery of the PO. I will continue to mull it over in hopes that a remedy presents itself.

impressed by the PO ability to block my airlanding in Gostomel

Elmer can do well at times! Of course, as you mention, the 4th Reaction Bde was stationed right close by, so we all should feel sorry for the Russian Para's, who must have felt like the British 1st AB at Arnhem jumping into two Pz Div's. I have heard that the Russians suffered very heavy casualties trying to take the two air fields, hopefully that is just propaganda, but still shame on the poor planning and intelligence of the high command.