Mark Stevens
Europe Aflame Forum Moderator
Started another game against Thierry, using the latest patch: the maps show the position on turn ten, i.e. five weeks after the Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian forces converted their large-scale exercises into an all-out invasion of Europe, and the Arab League joined in with an offensive against Israel and Iraq. Been some very heavy fighting, Thierry having chosen to make a stand well to the east, and to launch some offensives with the Israelis. Several NATO capitals - Warsaw; Bucharest; Tblisi; Riga; Vilnius and Tallin have fallen, although the Georgians and Slovaks chose to fight on, and the Russians and their allies are across the Upper Oder and the Danube in some strength although there's still a strong defensive line. The advance was just too late to save Belgrade, which fell to NATO forces and led to Serbia's surrender. The Israelis and Lebanese came to grief against the massed Egyptian and Jordanian armies, and the Syrian's I Corps, and have lost Beruit, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, although the Lebanese chose to fight on: NATO has despatched some brigades from Turkey's Cypriot command to shore up the position. The Israelis have not yet resorted to using their nuclear capability, presumably because it will allow the Russians to retaliate. Iraq is a bit of a mess, with Mosul and Kirkuk lost to Iranian, Khazak, Azerbaijani and Russian units, but Baghdad still comfortably far from the front line. The US has abandoned Afghanistan (at a cost of 25 VPs) and bought its III Corps, with a solitary British light infantry brigade, back to the Basra area. The coast of North Africa hasn't been troubled, although the two Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla have been overrun. A combined Arab force has been banging away fruitlessly against the Spanish and British in Gibraltar for several weeks. Arab airborne landings in southern Spain View attachment 36459View attachment 36460View attachment 36461View attachment 36462have all been mopped up relatively easily. Thierry feels sufficiently confident to have sent several Spanish brigades to the Oder. The Russian's northern forces are creeping slowly down the Norwegian coast, but several marine landings designed to speed up the process have been repulsed. In Anatolia Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani units are advancing along the Black Sea coast: further inland it's been a far tougher slog in the difficult terrain, but something of a pocket is developing around the Turk's 4th and 9th Corps. Syria's III Corps stormed the Turkish port of Iskenderun early on, but have been unable to make any further progress against the Turkish III Corps, and Syria's II Corps is busy defending against a US and Iraqi thrust over the Tigris. The air battle seems to be reaching parity: airborne assaults have played a great role in assisting the advance in central Europe, but a recent one was turned back by NATO's airpower for the first time. Austria, Switzerland, Eire, Finland, Sweden and Macedonia remain neutral, but the Bosnians have been dragged into the fighting, and the Maltese stood off a speculative Egyptian air assault. The game's about one quarter of the way through, and counts as a NATO marginal victory.