West vs. Centre vs. East

[Palantir]

Still under construction - currently in moderator form, close to being play-test ready.

Scenario situation: “West vs. Centre vs. East” (more or less fictional!) partial scenario briefing.
Axis- KG-Jag
USA- KG-AirborneBob
Soviets- KG-Soldier

Late April, 1945 – western Czechoslovakia border region.

With the European war coming to a close certain Allied Commanders in the Czechoslovakia region, in particular General George Patton commander of the American Third Army & Marshal Rodion Malinovsky commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, are intent on grabbing as much land as possible for their own side before it is over in the confusion of fluid frontlines. And doing it as quickly as possible: sometimes regardless of their orders. The threat of German forces withdrawing south from Germany into the feared “National Redoubt” also has them both eager to close all roads leading south.

With both Soviet & American advances now racing ahead at break-neck speed through the Czech countryside they are giving little, if any time for their frontline commanders to gather accurate reconnaissance information on the area they are racing into. One small section of western Czechoslovakia in particular has suddenly become the focus of much interest: a nondescript 2 mile stretch of roadway 15 miles south of Plisen. It is part of the last German controlled network of roads stretching from Germany into Czechoslovakia and eventually the “National Redoubt.” Here the hard driven allied spearheads are poised to meet in an attempt to close that corridor. Exactly where, how many and what type of German forces are in the vicinity separating them is relatively unknown, although units from 10 different German divisions have been captured in the area in the last few days. More importantly however to Patton & Malinovsky is, that they are now within 2 miles of the “other enemy.”

Caught in the middle are units of German Army Group Centre, currently under the command of Colonel Gerhard Muller, Deputy Commander of the region. He now commands some of the last organized and battle ready formations in the army. They are determined to fight on to the bitter end and do their duty to the Fatherland. To keep the Reich alive and the vital passage open Muller must skillfully fight a tactical “two-front” battle against unrelenting enemies simultaneously.

The question all sides must struggle with as they try and achieve victory: is the cost worth it and, just who is the REAL enemy here?

(note to players- there are NO victory flags on the map(s)...)

[KG_AirborneBob]

As Allied Commander...I stand ready with my forces at hand eager to enter the fray which looms before us......

Pilsen...where they brew pilsner...????

[KG_ThorsHammer]

what is this?????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????

[Palantir]

It is what it is! Two game systems (AK & BB) in one "unique" battle.

Even though players won't be able to tell it by looking, this has been the most complicated scenario I've tried to design. A lot of my ideas & "attempts" have ended in frustrated failure due to an uncompromising & pig-headed game engine. So, many have had to be scraped, altered or scaled way back to be playable. For now, as it's currently designed, I'm going to run it Moderated and have the players play it in the spirit it was designed. I'm hoping to make it a purely PBEM battle after play-tests.

Good news for the German player- his "tactical briefing" is now down to 5 pages! But then, there are still the special rules pages...

Based on preliminary testing I think the most common outburst will be, "what the H*** is he doing?" said by all the players.

[Palantir]

Update-

This one has just entered the play-test stage (thank goodness!).

It's had a number of interesting additions & changes (including no in-game Moderator) and the basic idea has carried thru wonderfully:
That the Axis player must fight against both Allies (American & Soviets in this case) in one battle on identical maps at the same time with "real-time" in-game implications that affect all sides.

There are no flags on the map(s) just multiple-mission statements for each side that they must fulfilled any way possible. These include some missions that have absolutely nothing to do with capturing terrain. Separate "mission- success maps" will be provided after the battle to reveal, of course, how successful each side was.

The Axis briefing is at 19 pages in addition to the 6 page general briefing.

We may consider running Action-Reports once further into the game, but doing one on the initial play-test may not be an appropriate way to show off a scenario.

My thanks to Bill, Bob & Mark for hanging around long enough to see this one kicked out the door.

[KG_Swampfox]

I'm still on standby if you need more testing....