Historical Kalisz-type Scenarios

[Raellus]

I'm currently in a cycle of my WWII Ostfront/Great Patriotic War phase but, as usual, I keep coming back to T2K.

In reading about the German 9th Army's [in name only] attempt to break out of the encirclement of Berlin through the Spree forest, I thought about what a great example it was of a Kalisz-like scenario. The 9th Army was, during the breakout, a conglomeration of ad-hoc and miss-matched units from various Armies, Corps, Divisions, and Kampfgruppen, including Werhmacht, Luftwaffe, Waffen SS, and Volksturm units and thousands of civilian refugees. It was surrounded by overwhelmingly superior Soviet forces and hammered day and night by artillery and air strikes and bits and pieces of it had to fight themselves free or die trying.

This got me thinking about using the T2K game rules to run such a scenario and from there, to other similar scenarios from history. I want to keep the same basic theme of mixed-up units, little conventional C&C/rank structure, overwhelming odds against, behind enemy lines, trying to escape.

I've come up with a couple so far:

Allied Airborne units during the first couple of days of the Normandy invasion.

Long-range Desert Group in North Africa.

German units fighting out of the Cherkassy-Korsun pocket in early '44.

Any others that come to mind? I can think of ones from earlier in history, but I wouldn't know how to use the T2K rules to play a scenario set in any period before the widespread use of firearms.

[Mohoender]

- Chindits in Burma (1944).

- The French in indochina or Algeria. As a matter of fact most colonial wars including the one fought by Portugal up to 1975.

- Why not the British attempt at invading Afghanistan in 1878-1880 and, of course, the soviet intervention of 1979-1989.

- The Boer war in South Africa (essentially the second one, theone that ended in 1902).

- Port Arthur in 1904-1905.

- The events at Dunkirk (1940).

- The arabic campaign of 1914-1918 (the one that saw Lawrence of Arabia).

- Many events after the taking over of Russia by the Bolcheviks (essentialy in 1919-1920). After 1921, the situation change and the white are those in trouble.

- The battle for Port Moresby may be also plus the attack on Singapore and part of the campaign in the Dutch Indies. Not to forget the US fight in the Philippines.

- If you feel like playing the bad guys you can include Manstein defense after the fall of Stalingrad (I think it was during the winter 1943). The guy defeated the soiviets with second line German units, Hungarians and Romanians.

That's all for now but exemples could be endless.

[Adm.Lee]

You guys beat me to the 1940 French campaign and the Desert, and the Russian Civil War. Lots of encirclements by both sides on the Eastern Front. Americans and Filipinos behind Japanese lines, or Commonwealth soldiers in Burma or Malaya. For patrol-style actions, any of the South/Southwest Pacific island battles.

Someone once suggested "Twilight:200" being Roman legionaries, auxiliaries (recruited from across the Empire, of course), and/or civilians cut off behind some barbarian invasion. I agree, you might want a different rules set.

I've wanted to do a T2k-rules game in post-WW1 Eastern Europe or Siberia; or a Merc-style commando game against Nazi-occupied Norway or France. Merc-style meaning in & out jobs, not a long-term survival game.

I recently read a book on Robert Rogers and the Rangers (French & Indian War, or Seven Years' War) in North America, 1755-1763. That, or any guerrilla war, really, would qualify for action in Twilight style.

[Legbreaker]

New Guinea in 1942-43 (?) would be ideal. Starting with the Japanese offensive southward across the mountains along the Kokoda track opposed by a mere handful of Australians, through to the assaults and recapture of the Buna and Gona areas on the north coast a few months later.
Virtually all units involved were short on ammo, food, fuel (for the half dozen or so vehicles involved), and especially, healthy soldiers (almost every last soldier from all sides suffered terribly from a variety of tropical diseases).

[Targan]

The Maori Wars: the Waikato and Taranaki Campaigns, Redcoats and Von Tempsky's Forest Rangers vs Maori guerilla forces such as those led by the legendary Maori war chief Te Kingi.

[jester]

Any of the Comando operations in WWII.

The raid on the ports in Norway. The raid on the French Port where an old ship was run into the port and blown up.

The PCs can be guys who couldn't make it to the extraction point and now have to make it to wherever for safety.

Marines in the Makin or similiar raids. In this case a fictional raid on an unknown island. I actauly was prepping my players for this in my First Offensive campaign. They survived a few days of machinegunning Japanese and going hand to hand on Guadalacanal. Then they were releived to do some coast watching on one of the smaller outer islands. The campaign fizzled at that point.

Merrils Maruaders to go with Wingates Chindits. Those would be hellacious campaigns.

Or men who managed to elude capture early in the war, be they soldiers, civilians or sailors whose ships were sunk, or captured. Or even the old China Marines.

Another one to go with sailors who were beached, but also aircrewmen who had to bail out or crashland in enemy territory.

Meteorolgical team in the boonies who is found out. There was a movie with Richard Widmark about a naval team in Mongolia, but it actualy did happen, and the Germans also had a post in the N. Atlantic. You are part of a platoon, you are attacked <your numbers dwindle, and equipment destoryed> You and the survivors have to salvage what is left and get out of town before the followon forces show up.

Coastwatchers, a T2K version of Father Goose with Carey Grant.

A covert comando team. Much like the Italian frogmen who based out of an interned vessel in Spain and regularly attacked the British at Gibralter.


As was said, the campaigns of the 7 Years War,

Any of the expeditions into the frontier of the time, think Boone and Kenton and that era, with the British and French and all the various indian tribes. As well as other expeditions and companies. And lets not forget bandits and highwaymen too.

Anytime in the New World as one of the privatiers going after the Spanish settlements and vessels laden with riches. You were raiding ashore with your boat when a Spanish fleet arrived. You couldn't make it back to the ship so you took to the jungle and are now hunted.

Korea, the Winter of 1950, or even the Pusan Perimeter. You somehow got bipassed by the Reds and you need to make your way into either the Pusan Perimeter, or to the Port of Hamhung and the safety they offer.

Dien Bien Phu; you somehow make it out and are making for the safety of where? But becareful because the Viet Mihn are hot on your trail aided by many local tribes.

The Book, "The 5 Fingers" always wanted to do a campaign on that one.

Those are some of the campaigns I have thought of over the years.