Quote:
Originally Posted by Olefin
Was reading this thread - very interesting
And you are right about the mix of forces - and you could add Hungarians as well plus possible Czech and Italian forces that refuse to fight against NATO. There are free Polish troops but no free Czech troops? You could easily see troops from the western part of the country joining up with NATO.
Also the sheer number of vehicles and weapons that players could find and encounter is staggering - not only the regular ones but now you get Austrian and Italian equipment as well - not often you see a Centauro tank destroyer in game play for instance.
And players could easily take the southern route home - especially in games today. While the initial release of modules had the players go deeper into Poland (which to me made little sense, who is going to head east to get home unless you play a party of Soviet or Ukranian deserters?) having the Black Madonna module shows a more realistic route - i.e. one thru Silesia and then into western Czechoslovakia and Austria into Germany. Opening up all kinds of new encounters and equipment possibilities.
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I wholeheartedly agree. Southern Germany/Austria/Czechoslovakia border region is a very fertile and largely unexplored (in terms of the official modules) campaign area. There is a little source material out there, though- Chico's amazing Czech vehicle guide for one. And don't forget a possible papal tie in, with the Polish-born pope and his Swiss guards trying to make their way north from Italy back to Poland. I'd really like to run a campaign there someday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Olefin
While the initial release of modules had the players go deeper into Poland (which to me made little sense, who is going to head east to get home unless you play a party of Soviet or Ukranian deserters?)
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Although I understand your point about a NATO party "escaping" east, deeper into Poland, it does make some sense. Heading west means moving towards the sharp end of the WTO spear, whereas moving east first would mean encountering lower troop densities of mostly support personnel instead. It's kind of like escaping a rip tide. If you try to swim directly back to shore, you'll tire, get pulled further out, and very likely drown. The best way to survive is to swim parallel to shore until you get out of the rip tide, and then head back to shore. The same principle could apply to an E&E situation. It's counter intuitive and not necessarily the better option for getting back to NATO lines, but there is some sound logic there.