Alternative World War - mod for TOAWIII with Communist PO

[Karri]

Well, my first touch in the game. I was able to stop the Soviets outside Warsaw...a few hexes west of it. When the french and british joined, I was able to do an offensive as well. Didn't push through with it, but was certainly able to hurt the Soviets so badly that they had to concentrate on beating my attack.

I suggest that ALL the Polish formations are freed from the start(or on turn 2 at latest) and the germans 1-2 turns later than they are now.

 

[Silvanski]

I suggest that ALL the Polish formations are freed from the start(or on turn 2 at latest) and the germans 1-2 turns later than they are now.

All Polish formations are active from turn 1 onwards. Some go into reorganisation mode.

 

[Ben Turner]

All Polish formations are active from turn 1 onwards. Some go into reorganisation mode.

Yeah. This would be the shock effect.

 

[Silvanski]

Yeah. This would be the shock effect.

Indeed and it's variable. If it doesn't occur you're able to put up some defense around Warsaw.
If, on the other hand, it does occur you'll have to sweat it out...

Some development news: small adjustments in the on-hand equipment inventory was needed cuz I noticed that when the Polish bomber unit reconstitued it had received the single on-hand B-17 (late) which the unit indeed is set up for to receive later in the war (if not eliminated) ... a wee bit early to have that plane already available in 1939, even a single machine... I'm sure the USAF wouldn't send their single prototype to a minor country in wartorn Europe :clown:

Activation for the Wehrmacht formations guarding the West after the French-German non-aggression agreement will now be as follows: the ones on the Dutch and Belgian border activate on turn 6, the ones guarding the French border on turns 7 and 8.

 

[Silvanski]

defending Poland

In my latest test of the improved mod I was lucky to have enough mobile Polish formations on turn 1 to blow up a bunch of bridges and set up an impromptu defense line... the Soviets advanced to just east of Brest-Litovsk and north of Bialystok... Subsequently I get the first go on turn 2 which shows several formations going into reorganizing but capable of entrenching... (see screenie)

 

[Silvanski]

The all improved mod will be available shortly.
I'm doing a last series of playtesting and making small changes here and there.

I believe now that the PO is tuff enuff.:rifle:

Here's an advance screenie.

*3 November 1939 - Trenches in Poland*

The Polish government asked and got help from Nazi Germany which halted the Soviet steamroller, for now. A bloody battle of attrition has been going on for several weeks and the frontline has more or less stabilized. But it's only a matter of weeks before a frustrated Trotski orders his troops to invade other countries.

I experienced that no two games are alike as a lot depends on what you do with your Polish units on the first few turns, and if you have enough Polish formations not going into reorganization.
Judge well where you move your German reinforcements, they won't cooperate well with other nations...
If that happens your frontline will be like a mature swiss cheese and soon you'll see Soviets roaming the German countryside...

 

[Silvanski]

The scenario has been re-baptised "Trotsky's War" as he's the Soviet leader in this hypothetical conflict.

Available in the downloads section!

 

[Menschenfresser]

On T7...

Do all units reconstitute in their own countries? Seems I keep having Polish regiments appearing in my front lines. The Germans reappear in Berlin, but I suppose that would change if the Soviets overrun that city. For me this is a bit annoying. I realize having foreign units reconstituting in, say, France, is also strange, but play-wise, it seems a better option than having them appear in the front lines.

So far this has just been the Poles. Since the Poles don't surrender until Berlin falls, make them reconstitute in Berlin. And since the Germans don't surrender until Paris, make them reappear in Paris. The French hopefully will reconstitute in Nantes. Austrians & Slovaks could reappear in Munich. In looking at the briefing, I only see this an issue with the countries/armies in Europe between France and Poland.

 

[Silvanski]

German units reconstitute:
1st Army: Dusseldorf
2nd Army: Mannheim
3rd Army: Berlin suburb
4th Army: Potsdam
5th Army: Berlin
6th Army: Stuttgart
7th Army: Berlin
8th Army: Dresden
9th Army: Vienna
10th Army: Dresden
11th Army: Berlin
12th Army: Dresden
SS Pz Korps: Koln
1st Pz Korps: Berlin
2nd Pz Korps: Dresden
3rd Pz Korps: Leipzig
4th Pz Korps: Berlin
SS Motor Korps: Duisburg

The French? Sorry... it's Paris.

I kinda expected some response to the reconstitution scheme I implemented.

The reasoning behind this is that when more and more territory is lost, less and less manpower will be available to reconstitute units.
Yep, you'll be forced to preserve your units and carry out a flexible defense. Rather give up ground than burn units.
It may seem odd compared to reconstitution in most other scenarios, but after trying out various options I decided to do it this way to increase the complexity in play against the PO.

The first times I played without fixed reconstitution points I saw German panzer divisions reconstituting in... Scotland of all places. Don't get me wrong, lovely part of the world but not exactly the place where PzKpfw's would be repaired and reorganized in combat units before the British join the alliance...

With my limited experience of editing I started to modify Ben's original and learned a lot in the process, thanks to great advice from various people here and on the Matrix Games forum.
I'm satisfied with the result as it is and fairly confident that "human vs PO-only" players will enjoy it... I, for one, do... not prejudiced because it was looking at Ben's original that got me all excited.

I pass the torch on to anyone who likes to take this scenario further. I'm sure there's more potential in it than I can imagine.

 

[Secadegas]

On T7...

Do all units reconstitute in their own countries? Seems I keep having Polish regiments appearing in my front lines. (...)

Poles usually reconstitute on or near Warsaw. If you can keep Warsaw (i never did...) they'll appear there. Since most probably Warsaw will be lost by T7 the engine will make Poles reconstitute on Warsaw closest friendly hex's meaning on the German lines on the Polish/German border. It's a bit annoying due to the non cooperative status of German and Polish forces but it's not illogical.

However (after several playtests) this is the only reconstitution case where this can happen. Other nations reconstitution works pretty well which isn't common in this type (size) of scenario. In EA you can also find occasional odd reconstitution situations.

The most extreme situation i found was a few German units reconstituting in Denmark after the fall of Germany. Not bad...

 

[Ben Turner]

I've been dabbling with my new version of this again.... onto the Wehrmacht of 1936. With only around 30 prewar divisions, its immediate effect will be much less. But then the Soviets have only around 80 prewar divisions.

The OOB is much more colourful this time around, getting away from just being seas of divisions. Some of the colour may be inappropriate for 1936, but I've tried to avoid too many anachronisms.

 

[Silvanski]

The most extreme situation i found was a few German units reconstituting in Denmark after the fall of Germany. Not bad...

That will be less likely now ... In the test versions there was a formation set to reconstitute near Hamburg.

 

[Silvanski]

I've been dabbling with my new version of this again.... /.... The OOB is much more colourful this time around...

Looking forward to this one :clap:

 

[Ben Turner]

Looking forward to this one :clap:

Well it's going to be a while. I don't have as much free time as I used to.

 

[Silvanski]

All in due time Ben.

 

[Silvanski]

Corrections for Trotsky's War

I overlooked two things... one minor , one major.

The minor one:
The Irish airforce has to be activated on turn 40, not turn 12 as it appears. Simply change it in the deployment editor.

The major one:
With placing the exclusion zones I didn't think about the fact that Poland and East Prussia won't receive supply the first 3 turns. Thanks Ben for pointing this out.
To solve this, place an Allied supply point in hex x=108, y=75,as in this screenie... yes it is an excluded hex, but supply and units can go out of such a hex. This temporary supply point will feed Poland and East Prussia till the exclusion zone is removed....

Now add event 385 to remove this supply point as shown on the screenie.

 

[Veers]

I overlooked two things... one minor , one major.

The minor one:
The Irish airforce has to be activated on turn 40, not turn 12 as it appears. Simply change it in the deployment editor.

The major one:
With placing the exclusion zones I didn't think about the fact that Poland and East Prussia won't receive supply the first 3 turns. Thanks Ben for pointing this out.
To solve this, place an Allied supply point in hex x=108, y=75,as in this screenie... yes it is an excluded hex, but supply and units can go out of such a hex. This temporary supply point will feed Poland and East Prussia till the exclusion zone is removed....

Now add event 385 to remove this supply point as shown on the screenie.

Are you also releasing an updated version with these fixes?

 

[Silvanski]

Are you also releasing an updated version with these fixes?

Yes Wyatt. The fixed version is already available in the downloads section.

 

[Veers]

Yes Wyatt. The fixed version is already available in the downloads section.

Excellent, I really must try this sometime....

 

[Mantis]

I'm quite excited to stumble across this as well. Although the PO can never compare with a good ol'-fashioned PBEM game, sometimes there's a lot of value in simply loading up a scenario optimized for PO play, and having at 'er!

When I can actually get a few minutes to myself (hah!) I'm going to give this one a go.