Some ideas for "what if" scenarios
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:10 pm
I have a lot more to learn about the game before working on any of these, but figured I would float the idea to see what sort of response/feed back there would be.
First, one of the more interesting aspects of AH's classic The Russian Campaign is the "what if" portion of the game. It would seem to me that some of those could be worked into a alternative scenario not only as a variation on a normal game but in tribute to the years that The Russian Campaign was the big east front game many played way back in the day. For those not familiar with some of the options available, here they are:
Germany does not bail Italy out of Greece and the Italians eventually withdraw from the war. Rommel is not sent to Africa and there is no Balkans side show, allowing the Germans to invade at a earlier date. (Basically, war starts a month earlier, the Axis minors beyond Finland are not involved and the Germans are given a Rommel unit to use along with the paratroopers).
Russian decides to pull troops back early from the Far East in response to the early German invasion (Russians get troops from the FE earlier)
Japan has the option to invade the depleted Russian FE theater in response. The Russians must withdraw troops for awhile and then start getting them back.
Another option is to start the war historically and the Germans do not commit troops to Africa in response to the Allied invasion of Africa. The Germans get extra troops at the end of 1942, but Italy withdraws earlier and the Germans must withdraw SS panzer corps earlier.
You get the idea.
Another scenario I am considering is to adopt the original invasion plan that envisioned offensive action out of Romania against Russia. (Original battle plan for AGS was for a double envelopment from the 6th army and Romania to sack any Russian troops west of the Dnieper). Hitler eventually changed the plan because he considered the Dniester too tough to invade across. Troops (a panzer corps) were put back with AGC in Poland and a single envelopment movement was used instead. Now, this plan was put together before the Balkans campaign. My feeling is it would have made more sense to bring it back and dust it off in light of the Balkans campaign. The big reason for this involves 2nd and 5th panzer divisions and their deep drive into Greece. The Germans railed back part of the units to central Germany and the plan was to ship the tracked vehicles across to Italy for rail transport back. Unfortunately for the Germans, the transports were sunk on 21 May by a freshly laid British mine field. Besides sucking 2 months of tank production to rebuild the two divisions, this delayed their deployment to the Russian theater until mid September.
My scenario proposal for this is that the German high command would have dusted off the original plan of a double envelopment and brought 2nd and 5th panzer into Romania since they were down south anyway. A motorized division from AGC in Poland would have been moved over to form a panzer corps with these two divisions. Both panzer divisions would likely have some lower settings on organization, etc due to wear and tear and 5th panzer would be short some tanks (they lost a company of tanks that was destroyed trying to get to Crete to support the invasion there). This force would still be under the early attack restrictions (I assume units in Romania are not active on the initial invasion turn) as they could use the additional time to reorganize and also timing would be everything to meet the thrust from the AGC troops in Poland.
First, one of the more interesting aspects of AH's classic The Russian Campaign is the "what if" portion of the game. It would seem to me that some of those could be worked into a alternative scenario not only as a variation on a normal game but in tribute to the years that The Russian Campaign was the big east front game many played way back in the day. For those not familiar with some of the options available, here they are:
Germany does not bail Italy out of Greece and the Italians eventually withdraw from the war. Rommel is not sent to Africa and there is no Balkans side show, allowing the Germans to invade at a earlier date. (Basically, war starts a month earlier, the Axis minors beyond Finland are not involved and the Germans are given a Rommel unit to use along with the paratroopers).
Russian decides to pull troops back early from the Far East in response to the early German invasion (Russians get troops from the FE earlier)
Japan has the option to invade the depleted Russian FE theater in response. The Russians must withdraw troops for awhile and then start getting them back.
Another option is to start the war historically and the Germans do not commit troops to Africa in response to the Allied invasion of Africa. The Germans get extra troops at the end of 1942, but Italy withdraws earlier and the Germans must withdraw SS panzer corps earlier.
You get the idea.
Another scenario I am considering is to adopt the original invasion plan that envisioned offensive action out of Romania against Russia. (Original battle plan for AGS was for a double envelopment from the 6th army and Romania to sack any Russian troops west of the Dnieper). Hitler eventually changed the plan because he considered the Dniester too tough to invade across. Troops (a panzer corps) were put back with AGC in Poland and a single envelopment movement was used instead. Now, this plan was put together before the Balkans campaign. My feeling is it would have made more sense to bring it back and dust it off in light of the Balkans campaign. The big reason for this involves 2nd and 5th panzer divisions and their deep drive into Greece. The Germans railed back part of the units to central Germany and the plan was to ship the tracked vehicles across to Italy for rail transport back. Unfortunately for the Germans, the transports were sunk on 21 May by a freshly laid British mine field. Besides sucking 2 months of tank production to rebuild the two divisions, this delayed their deployment to the Russian theater until mid September.
My scenario proposal for this is that the German high command would have dusted off the original plan of a double envelopment and brought 2nd and 5th panzer into Romania since they were down south anyway. A motorized division from AGC in Poland would have been moved over to form a panzer corps with these two divisions. Both panzer divisions would likely have some lower settings on organization, etc due to wear and tear and 5th panzer would be short some tanks (they lost a company of tanks that was destroyed trying to get to Crete to support the invasion there). This force would still be under the early attack restrictions (I assume units in Romania are not active on the initial invasion turn) as they could use the additional time to reorganize and also timing would be everything to meet the thrust from the AGC troops in Poland.