Future WaW Products you would like to see

[Matt Lohse]

Just like I did in the NaW folder, I figured I would provide a place for the inevitable "I want to see the WaW series cover topic X discussion".

Since the Danes are going to be in the series soon, crossing off number 1 on my random topic list, I will suggest the Czechs. Just think about it... really rugged terrain near the German border. Limited NATO forces trying to hold on to the good terrain near the border. Another Warsaw Pact power with an odd assortment of equipment.

 

[Robert Ellis]

How about some Italians, Matt?

 

[sniperscout]

I will second an expansion that includes the Czechs. A map as well would be perfect. Matt do you think that this could be a contender for a LOF "expansion" similar to Baltic Fury?

 

[Matt Lohse]

How about some Italians, Matt?

They have been mentioned a couple of times in regards to the 11th crusade module Mark has mentioned. That said having the Italians and Yugoslavians would make for a lot of good scenario topics.

 

[Matt Lohse]

I will second an expansion that includes the Czechs. A map as well would be perfect. Matt do you think that this could be a contender for a LOF "expansion" similar to Baltic Fury?

I think it could be. The Czechs would presumably need about 80-100 counters leaving some for the West Germans and/or Soviets. The big question would be what product it should be built on... EG deluxe would give at least some Germans and Soviets to use and the existing maps could reflect those further from the border. BnB gives a different sort of unit mix for both [German reservists, better Soviet formations]. TUS has the advantage of letting you combine the maps together, but has fewer Soviet or German units.

A different option is to aim for a standalone south central front game... West Germans, Austrians, Czechs, Soviets, and Hungarians.

 

[sniperscout]

Making this an expansion of EGD would seem a good idea. EGD is available now whereas TUS is OOP. The mix of troops in EGD would be OK....the extra German units could be Jager or Gebirgsjager units for which there are no official counters yet, so this could add to the appeal as well as the Czech units. The map need not be geomorphic as EGD are not although it could be made compatible with the DOTFP map I suppose.

The added bonus, IMHO, would be that an expansion by way of LOF would get to the market quicker (and therefore in my hands quicker!). I would not be adverse to an standalone game as stated above, but my concern would be that if this had to go through a kickstarter/P500/Crowdfunded type programme, then there is the cost to consider of getting it into production as well as the time lag.

 

[sniperscout]

Another addition I would like to see would be more British units. In particular units representing the Territorial Army (TA). The TA would have been used to bring British 1 Corps up to strength. One of the more interesting proposals in the 80's was to use the Parachute Regiment TA Btns as a "speed bump", whereby they would be positioned/dropped in front of advancing WP units, with a higher than average number of Milans in an effort to slow up the red tide. This formation was called the Parachute Brigade Group. I could foresee a couple of scenarios whereby the Paras had to hold a position (say on the BnB map) until two TA Motorised Btns arrived to stiffen the British lines. The motorised TA Btns could have Saxon APC's and Fox A/C's to add more variety to the existing British counter mix.

 

[John Sowerby]

How about a supplement for America Conquered. Russia invading Alaska through the Aleutian Islands. Can pull in Canadians and maybe Royal Marines.

 

[Col Hammer]

I'd like to round up the scandinavian countries and see some Finnish and Norwegian units in action.
I can't believe the soviets just waltzed through Finland to attack Sweden without the Finns putting up any fight...
Also, I would think the soviets would attack northern part of Norway to get some ports and airfields to use. So lots of Soviet airborne and marines vs. whatever the norwegians could field against them. With perhaps a mountaineous map?
I guess these could tie in with Operation Garbo to supply the neccessary soviet troops and just give us some Finnish and Norwegian formations.

I'm from Finland, so I hate to think we capitulated without fight in WW3.

The Bavarian front with german mountain troops, tzechs and stuff sounds great as well, would buy it.

How about a mediterranean campaign? Bulgarians, Hungarians and Romanians (with some Soviet support) attacking Turkey (and perhaps Greece too) to control the Bosphorus strait to allow the Black sea fleet access the mediterranean.

 

[Andrew Tucker]

I think we need; Soviet marines attacking Borneo with extra jungle, (the aussies thought Vietnam was Kansas after Borneo) with the help of the NVA and native spear wielding (communist or dark forces inspired) rebels versus Indonesian Kopassus, Australian infantry, SAS and Fijian troops (plus a marines scenario for luck). Now how this comes together that is another question.

 

[Jeff Lewis]

Hi Col,

Do you know what Finland's force structure was like in 1985, and how they were prepared for any Soviet aggression? That's the first step. Same with Norway. Then we can talk about a Line of Fire expansion similar to Baltic Fury with the Danes, in LoF#14.

Best

Jeff

 

[zaarin7]

I would expect an AFSOUTH game set on the way to Munich should be a box. That way it could include Central Group of Forces, West Germans, a US small command maybe representing inserted airmobile forces, French and Italian response forces. If done with geomorphic maps it could for the first time include a city board. If the play test was done on Vassal I'd be willing to help. It would fill in the last part of the front, that below Hoff Gap.

 

[Mark Pitts]

I think that the ideal place to showcase more British units would be an expansion covering a Soviet invasion of the British Isles. I've been bandying this idea around for a while now including writing some background material under the title of 'Albion Aflame'.
Now I'm no games designer, and that has prevented me from taking this idea all the way to completion and sending this in as a complete game idea to LnL. Here's the background concept that I drafted for the 'module', let me know what you think...

Albion Aflame!​

It is September 1985 and West Germany, France and the Low Countries have fallen to the Soviet ‘Red Tide’ that has swept across Western Europe since May. Soviet Naval forces have swept the GIUK (Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom) gap and the North Atlantic sea lanes clear of NATO shipping isolating Britain from any North American assistance.
WARPAC forces are gathered on the English Channel coast prepared for their next move. No enemy invader has set foot on British soil since 1066, but all that is about to change! The Soviet Stavka (General Staff) has sanctioned Operation Red Hammer – the invasion of the British Isles!
All that Britain has to stand against them are the depleted remnants of the British Army of the Rhine backed up by British Home Defence and Territorial Army units. These forces are bolstered by remnants of Europe’s defenders that were able to escape the Soviet onslaught in Germany and the Low countries: a mixture of under strength, battle weary North American, West German, Dutch, Belgian and French units that were able to escape from the continent by sea.

 

[zaarin7]

So what happened to the RN, MN and the USN to allow the WarPac to cross the channel? For that matter if the Polish marines and such went into Denmark as portrayed in LOF #14 where are the assets coming from? I mean there would need to be a game where the WarPac establish control of the air over, the surface of and under the surface of the Channel BEFORE any of this could happen. It would be the summer of 1940 all over again and the WarPac would not have got to the Channel coast without some losses to the air, naval and army assets that would have to be available to do this.

 

[Mark Pitts]

So what happened to the RN, MN and the USN to allow the WarPac to cross the channel? For that matter if the Polish marines and such went into Denmark as portrayed in LOF #14 where are the assets coming from? I mean there would need to be a game where the WarPac establish control of the air over, the surface of and under the surface of the Channel BEFORE any of this could happen. It would be the summer of 1940 all over again and the WarPac would not have got to the Channel coast without some losses to the air, naval and army assets that would have to be available to do this.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Victory Games 'Fleet' series of games. The likely scenario's covered in the '2nd Fleet' game cover this game aspect adequately. My view is that the Warsaw Pact got the upper hand here, as was entirely possible due to huge asset commitment and the same element of surprise that caught NATO off balance in West Germany from the start. That would pretty much see a neutralised RAF and RN from the start or at least succeed in driving them to port or out of theatre. In terms of losses in getting to the channel, the background story to the WaW modules indicate that resistance in Europe was all but over by the end of the 'Untold Stories' and ''Paris is Burning' timelines. The Warsaw Pact would have had little trouble in replacing losses as their military assets were huge.
Not to demean the 'America Conquered' module idea in any way, I think the UK invasion scenario far more likely and logical from a strategic standpoint and almost certainly a pre-requisite to 'going over the pond'.

Many thanks for your discussion.

 

[rastamann]

I'd like to see a Lybian attempted invasion of southern Italy or Sicily, as well as action in the Iberian Peninsula, so as to use Portuguese and Spanish troops.

 

[Barry Maynard]

Would really like to see an offshoot of the WaW games. Modern day war in Korea, Iran, India, China and Russia. With new counters representing some of the new AFV's these countries have to offer.

 

[Ken Warren]

What about some scenarios for NATO trying to liberate East Germany/Poland? I'm curious how NATO would have started WaW instead of the Warsaw Pact.

 

[5tra7]

Hi Col,

Do you know what Finland's force structure was like in 1985, and how they were prepared for any Soviet aggression? That's the first step. Same with Norway. Then we can talk about a Line of Fire expansion similar to Baltic Fury with the Danes, in LoF#14.

Best

Jeff

Second vote for the Finns! I'm also from Finland and I could look in to that matter but no promises yet.

 

[sniperscout]

Hi Matt....I know you are busy with the rules revision and the SADF module but have you had any further thoughts about adding the Czechs and any of the other nations/ units mentioned in this thread? If so are we likely to see any of them in 2015 or is 2016 onwards more likely?