The Red Bear

[Adm.Lee]

Anton Chelkov, commander of the Southwest TVD from ?? until September, 2000. Anyone done anything with this guy?

I was thinking about him and the 2000 NATO offensive. I had thought earlier about rumors of his involvement being an element in the defeat of that offensive. Has anyone used such an NPC's reputation in a game?

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

Anton Chelkov, commander of the Southwest TVD from ?? until September, 2000. Anyone done anything with this guy?

I was thinking about him and the 2000 NATO offensive. I had thought earlier about rumors of his involvement being an element in the defeat of that offensive. Has anyone used such an NPC's reputation in a game?

Admiral,

Never heard of something with that particular NPC, although I have spread recurring rumours in my own game about certain villain(s) for future reference.

I do like the idea of a more high-level NPC being well-known, if not necessarily an opponent per se.

In Poland there are a couple warlords that could qualify (the Black Baron and Markgraf of Silesia for two off the top of my head) but they're not generals in the conventional sense.

Tony

[Legbreaker]

From the Bears Den module:

General Anton V. Chelkov
The Red Bear was born in Leningrad during the late 1950's. He attended the finest Soviet military academies and entered into the Soviet ground forces at the age of 18. And during the battle against China, he was nicknamed the "Red Bear" by the Soviet military magazine, Red Star.
The Red Bear is one of the most aggressive leaders of the Third World war. His divisions swept across the Chinese mulitudes during the first years of the war. Anton Chelkov rose from his rank as colonel to what was called SovCom1FEF (Soviet commanders of the 1st Far Eastern Front), at a rank of Lieutenant General. When the Chinese government collapsed, he was given orders to take command of the 1st Western Front (SovCom1WF). As the 128th MRD entered Tarnow, Poland, it was tactically nuked. Moscow ordered one of its best divisions to form the 13th Army upon its return. Control of the Ukraine, Romania, and Yugoslavia was needed; Chelkov was given a promotion to general and ordered to take command of the Southwestern Theatre of War (SovComSWTVD).
When the Red Bear refused to take orders from the Soviet high command in September of 2000, the Southwestern Theatre of War collapsed. The Lieutenant General commanding the Danube front sent a personal message to Chelkov, "I'll see you in hell, capitalist traitor!" The Major General commanding the 19th Army stated, "I hope you are as good on the battlefield as they say. You'll need it, dog."

So, as we can see, at the end of 2000 he's not exactly popular in Soviet circles. His disobedience however occurred too late (September 2000) to have had any impact at all on events during the summer 2000 campaign.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

From the Bears Den module:
So, as we can see, at the end of 2000 he's not exactly popular in Soviet circles. His disobedience however occurred too late (September 2000) to have had any impact at all on events during the summer 2000 campaign.

His defection is too late to have an effect. My thought is that his presence in western Ukraine was known to NATO. When NATO intelligence picks up in the summer that there's fresh (sorta) Soviet forces coming out of western Ukraine, might they have concluded that the best Soviet general was coming at them, too?

[Mahatatain]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

Anton Chelkov, commander of the Southwest TVD from ?? until September, 2000. Anyone done anything with this guy?

I'm running a game set in the Ukraine in the spring of 2001 and I am using a tweaked version of the Red Bear in that campaign. I can't say too much however because several of my players are active on these boards.

Essentially though he is another interesting warlord to add another faction into your game. The main difference with him however (as Tony has outlined) is that he is an extremely competent military officer, rather than a political leader, and that has a massive impact on how his troops operate, their morale and their organisation.

Originally Posted by helbent4

Never heard of something with that particular NPC, although I have spread recurring rumours in my own game about certain villain(s) for future reference.

Tony, you need to read the last message of the "History and Current Timeline" thread of my game - the Red Bear is mentioned in there..... <G>

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by Mahatatain

Tony, you need to read the last message of the "History and Current Timeline" thread of my game - the Red Bear is mentioned in there..... <G>

Andy,

Ha, I'm barely able to keep up with my games as it is! Now I actually gotta like read stuff?!?

Tony