Mark Stevens
Europe Aflame Forum Moderator
Started a new game with Martin McMurray, with him taking NATO and Israel. These are some screenshots from turn 6, the third week of the Russian and Arab attack.
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On the all-important Central Front Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian forces have overrun the Baltic States and Poland, and have reached the line of the Oder, where they've met elements of the UK 1st Armoured Division in the north. Bundeswehr units still fighting further east will have to withdraw under the threat of encirclement. US engineers have appeared along the upper Oder but, interestingly, there's no sign of their V Corps, nor of any French, Dutch or Belgian units, which suggests that the NATO main line of defence may be much further west: might he be going to risk giving up Berlin and holding the Elbe?
In the Balkans the pro-Russian Serbs have lost Belgrade and surrendered, but the Russians have reached the neutral Austrian border, capturing Bratislava and cutting the western front in two. Greek, Turkish, Italian and Spanish forces have moved into the region to support the Croats, Bosnians and Slovenes, and the front line is roughly along the Danube river. Strong Russian and Ukrainian units are creeping along the coast of the Black Sea, but still have the Rumanians on their flank, with Bucharest very heavily garrisoned and probably untakeable. Hopefully it can be encircled and bypassed.
Martin made a surprise move with the Israelis in the Middle East, responding to the Syrian capture of Beruit (now in the hands of Hizbollah) with a storming counter-attack that took Israeli armour to the gates of Amman, and recapturing the Gaza strip. The Syrians (who are also committed in Anatolia), Egyptians and Jordanians have gone onto the defensive while I think what to do. Further east the US forces in Iraq comfortably hold Baghdad and Kirkuk, with the initial Iranian attack running out of steam and drawing in Russian and Kazakh units to support them. Sunni insurgents are running round blowing bridges and railway lines but aren't strong enough for any serious fighting.
A joint Moroccan-Algerian-Libyan-Tunisian force has taken Gibraltar and entered southern Spain, but many Arab units are garrisoning the ports along the North African coast: given NATO's overwhelming naval superiority it would be suicidal to send all the mobile units to Spain and then find the US Marines capturing their capitals. Limited assaults on the Mediterranean islands by Arab marines and special forces have all failed disastrously.
On the Anatolian front Georgia was overrun in the first few days and Russian, Azebaijani and Armenian troops are grinding westwards through very difficult terrain. The Syrian III Corps has taken Iskenderun from the Turks but doesn't have the men to advance much further, although if they can link up with the Russian forces they'll threaten the Turkish capital of Ankara.
Russian marines have stormed ashore in Iceland and at Bergen, but then failed to take Copenhagen, losing one of their only three brigades in the process. Ground units from Murmansk are slogging south along the Norwegian coast, but the terrain is murderous and naval and air assaults along the coast designed to speed things up have failed.
My general tactic during the more fluid opening phases of the campaign has been to drop airborne and paratroop units a short distance behind the NATO lines, support them with attack helicopters, and then hope they can hold out until the massed Russian and satellite armour can reach them. It's worked so far, but now that a solid line is developing this tactic will be less useful and - in any case - NATO is achieving air parity, probably to change into air superiority as their air forces recover from the initial shock. Several recent air assaults have been turned back without reaching their drop/landing points.
It can be seen from the screenshots that the Russians and their satellites have masses of armour still heading for the front: my only concern is that there has been no sign of the French, Dutch and Belgian armies, nor any British except the 1st Armoured which started in Germany. And the bulk of the US V Corps hasn't been committed, and there are more US and Canadian reinforcements due...
View attachment 34890View attachment 34891View attachment 34892View attachment 34893
On the all-important Central Front Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian forces have overrun the Baltic States and Poland, and have reached the line of the Oder, where they've met elements of the UK 1st Armoured Division in the north. Bundeswehr units still fighting further east will have to withdraw under the threat of encirclement. US engineers have appeared along the upper Oder but, interestingly, there's no sign of their V Corps, nor of any French, Dutch or Belgian units, which suggests that the NATO main line of defence may be much further west: might he be going to risk giving up Berlin and holding the Elbe?
In the Balkans the pro-Russian Serbs have lost Belgrade and surrendered, but the Russians have reached the neutral Austrian border, capturing Bratislava and cutting the western front in two. Greek, Turkish, Italian and Spanish forces have moved into the region to support the Croats, Bosnians and Slovenes, and the front line is roughly along the Danube river. Strong Russian and Ukrainian units are creeping along the coast of the Black Sea, but still have the Rumanians on their flank, with Bucharest very heavily garrisoned and probably untakeable. Hopefully it can be encircled and bypassed.
Martin made a surprise move with the Israelis in the Middle East, responding to the Syrian capture of Beruit (now in the hands of Hizbollah) with a storming counter-attack that took Israeli armour to the gates of Amman, and recapturing the Gaza strip. The Syrians (who are also committed in Anatolia), Egyptians and Jordanians have gone onto the defensive while I think what to do. Further east the US forces in Iraq comfortably hold Baghdad and Kirkuk, with the initial Iranian attack running out of steam and drawing in Russian and Kazakh units to support them. Sunni insurgents are running round blowing bridges and railway lines but aren't strong enough for any serious fighting.
A joint Moroccan-Algerian-Libyan-Tunisian force has taken Gibraltar and entered southern Spain, but many Arab units are garrisoning the ports along the North African coast: given NATO's overwhelming naval superiority it would be suicidal to send all the mobile units to Spain and then find the US Marines capturing their capitals. Limited assaults on the Mediterranean islands by Arab marines and special forces have all failed disastrously.
On the Anatolian front Georgia was overrun in the first few days and Russian, Azebaijani and Armenian troops are grinding westwards through very difficult terrain. The Syrian III Corps has taken Iskenderun from the Turks but doesn't have the men to advance much further, although if they can link up with the Russian forces they'll threaten the Turkish capital of Ankara.
Russian marines have stormed ashore in Iceland and at Bergen, but then failed to take Copenhagen, losing one of their only three brigades in the process. Ground units from Murmansk are slogging south along the Norwegian coast, but the terrain is murderous and naval and air assaults along the coast designed to speed things up have failed.
My general tactic during the more fluid opening phases of the campaign has been to drop airborne and paratroop units a short distance behind the NATO lines, support them with attack helicopters, and then hope they can hold out until the massed Russian and satellite armour can reach them. It's worked so far, but now that a solid line is developing this tactic will be less useful and - in any case - NATO is achieving air parity, probably to change into air superiority as their air forces recover from the initial shock. Several recent air assaults have been turned back without reaching their drop/landing points.
It can be seen from the screenshots that the Russians and their satellites have masses of armour still heading for the front: my only concern is that there has been no sign of the French, Dutch and Belgian armies, nor any British except the 1st Armoured which started in Germany. And the bulk of the US V Corps hasn't been committed, and there are more US and Canadian reinforcements due...