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Old 04-28-2015, 10:00 PM
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Raellus Raellus is offline
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There are lots of possibilities, and that's why this particular event horizon in the T2KU offers so much potential to GMs.

Here's a thought. I just came up with this and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

What if the U.S. left Eastern-Europe to stick it to the French?

Hear me out. The U.S. doesn't need any more enemies, but French ascendency in Europe is a threat to the old order, of which the U.S.A. still sees itself as lynchpin. If Germany switches its focus from defeating the Soviet Forces to its east to ejecting the French from German territory in the west, and the U.S. retains strong formations in or close to German soil, the Americans will, to French minds, be complicit in that aggression. If, however, the U.S. stabilizes Germany's eastern front and then leaves, Germany will be able to turn its military west and, without a major American military presence in Central Europe, the French have been little cause to take offense at the U.S.A.

Canon strongly implies (it might outright say it, but I can't easily find a supporting reference) that the Red Army shot its bolt during the Summer counteroffensive and is, for all intents and purposes, punched out. NATO would be aware of this come early Autumn.

The Polish Free Congress, ostensibly allied with NATO, or factions thereof, is a buffer in NW Poland. The U.S. XI Corps is still there as well. In my T2KU, it's closely allied with the PFC- both are within close proximity to one another. In my T2KU, XI Corps' abandonment during OMEGA leads to its command pledging allegiance to CIVGOV (it's a cart and horse thing- perhaps ties to CIVGOV caused it to be left behind by the MILGOV-sponsored evacuation). The British still have strong, well-organized forces in central Germany. Anyway, my point is that eastern Germany is no longer really threatened by Soviet forces. Yes, there are marauders of various ilk lurking about there, but no large, well-equipped threats w/ ties to any still-hostile national government.

It's a win-win for all involved. Germany get to shut it's back door (the east), and both gains American war material and loses hungry American mouths. The U.S. gets the troops it needs to eject foreign military forces from its own home soil. Poland gets some space to regain some semblance of at least regional independence. And Germany and the U.S. both get to stick it to France, while the latter can absolve itself from blame.

East Germany c.1997 would be no peach. We all saw what an economic drain it was on reunified Germany IRL. Why would the German national government waste its precious remaining military assets there when French forces occupy its industrial heartland. The former East Germany is still catching up to the old FGR. The Ruhr and the Rhineland, on the other hand, are both industrial powerhouses- a much richer prize for whatever passes for a national German government. Once the west is back under German control, it can turns its eyes east again.

I totally agree that some zealous Prussian warlord might make it his mission to regain East Prussia for Greater Germany, but I don't see a lot of practical reasons for the German national government, such as it is c.2000-2001 to want to do so.

That said, the creators of T2K, especially with Going Home, really give each GM carte blanche to write the script for Europe after Christmas 2000. That's the beauty of T2K. That said, I kind of wonder why they went and wrote themselves into a bit of a corner with the T2300 stuff, which sounds awful (I should say that because I haven't read any of it first hand. Based on what I've read second hand here, though, I wouldn't touch it with a 10' pole).
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