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Post by skorzeny on Jul 5, 2006 20:55:41 GMT -5
Maybe not full brain swaps, but imagine lunatic attempts to increase a soldier's fighting prowess or endurance by, say, surgically replacing portions of his brain with those of a wolf or panther? Naturally with the usual Soviet method of volunteer subjects - aka 'You, you, and you.'
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Post by unknowntales on Jul 6, 2006 15:09:03 GMT -5
How about injecting the blood of certain creatures...maybe a werewolf's blood...
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Post by malika on Jul 7, 2006 6:27:56 GMT -5
The Germans were already going to have the werewolf unit, injecting blood is something for the German vampire cult.
I would love to see climbing gear as a piece of equipment for units, so they could also climb up against buildings, or jump down from flatbuildings without immediatly dying.
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Post by baphomael on Aug 28, 2006 18:32:19 GMT -5
Stalingrad. Definately should be an endless, hopeless, meatgrinder. Even the historical Stalingrad battle was seen as no better than a death sentence to soldiers posted there. I think the concept that during the course of the war the city has grown and expanded into countless fortresses, billets and shanty encampments surrounding the core of the ruined city. I can see the river being a form of border between the Russian and German sides (I can see little images of homemade signs planted along the harbours with suitably grim and foreboding warnings from soldiers who have already crossed it's corpse filled waters...things like "save a coin for the ferryman" and "I have seen the Styx and it's name was Volga" or some such). Neither side is making any ground but neither the Germans nor Stalin will give up this city due to the ideological symbolism behind it.
Stalingrad should ooze a feeling of dread. Out of all the battles and all the fronts of the War *this* should be the one that German and Russian soldiers truly fear. I could very well see the threat of being sent to Stalingrad as a threat used to admonish low-rank officers. While every other front in every other continent, it may seem like a battle of 'good vs evil', 'right vs wrong', Stalingrad should feel all 'wrong'. It should seem pointless, wasteful and never-ending. A very literal hell on earth. The whole city should reek with the stench of paranoia and fear...is that door hiding a viscious german experimental weapon? Are those noises around the corner your allies or your enemies? The streets should be a labarynthine maze choked with bodies where each winding street could lead to safety or a death-trap dead-end.
While pulp...Stalingrad should be more dark and pulp. Like Batman instead of Superman.
Of course, thats how I see it anyways.
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Post by malika on Aug 28, 2006 19:34:41 GMT -5
Oh...Im in love with your image already...but personally I would make it darker and more insane. Add the crazy element of Apocalypse Now in there...add Spawn instead of Batman and Superman there and Im happy!
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Post by skorzeny on Aug 29, 2006 4:20:47 GMT -5
I certainly agree. With Stalingrad, an element of absolute insanity should exude from the very stones. Loyalty to nation is swiftly abandoned to loyalty to the guy right next to you. And then there are those horrible secret weapons the Germans and Soviets keep deciding to field test in this hell-hole. Who can really say just what it is that is slithering around down in the sewers or creeping through the rubble?
Stalingrad could very easily be seen as a chance to explore everything that is dark and horrible in the human spirit, where victory isn't what motivates those abandoned there - survival is their only objective. Stalingrad could be construed as something like Mordheim or Necromunda in the GW franchises, a place whose very name conjures up images of doom and despair.
If there is any place where 'rogue' elements would be found, it would be in Stalingrad. I could see things like mongrel mobs of Russians and Germans forgetting uniform and banding together against all comers simply to protect some valuable cache of supplies - maybe a downed Luftwaffe zeppelin - not for the lofty ideal of turning it over to their own command but simply to secure it for their own use. The Soviets nearly lost their war with Finland due to hungry soldiers, and those guys were gluttons compared to what the men at Stalingrad are enduring.
Yeah, Stalingrad would make an epic setting for an expansion.
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Post by tordenskjold on Aug 29, 2006 5:19:22 GMT -5
I don't think we should make Stalingrad total anarchy, it should be dark and desperat, with the soldiers knowing that when they are sent to there they will most likely die there, and lots of groutesque experimentation made by both sides. But it would also be maintained with the highest desciplin by commanders of both armies, as it will be the place where the final outcome of the war on the east front will be decided, making the soldiers fight with extra determinatinon, as they know what will happen to their families, home and country if the enemy win.
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Post by baphomael on Aug 29, 2006 6:34:36 GMT -5
I don't think we should make Stalingrad total anarchy, it should be dark and desperat, with the soldiers knowing that when they are sent to there they will most likely die there, and lots of groutesque experimentation made by both sides. But it would also be maintained with the highest desciplin by commanders of both armies, as it will be the place where the final outcome of the war on the east front will be decided, making the soldiers fight with extra determinatinon, as they know what will happen to their families, home and country if the enemy win. Za Rodina, komrade!
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Post by tordenskjold on Aug 29, 2006 9:23:07 GMT -5
Za rodina indeed! (whatever that means) and Za Stalina! while we are at it. For gud, konge og fædreland!
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Post by baphomael on Aug 29, 2006 19:33:04 GMT -5
Za rodina indeed! (whatever that means) and Za Stalina! while we are at it. For gud, konge og fædreland! It means for the motherland.
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Post by skorzeny on Aug 29, 2006 22:14:23 GMT -5
I was thinking more along the lines of 'Apocalypse Now' where there is still a majority of organized forces fighting the proper war, but where there are also pockets of renegades who have been reduced to a rat-like existence where all they are trying to do is survive.
And of course, historically, there were many instances of both German and Soviet forces simply keeping quiet and not 'stirring the pot' by firing at their enemies, especially during the brutal Russian winter. Of course, some officer from command would eventually come along and flip out when he discovered these mini-armistices.
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Post by tordenskjold on Aug 30, 2006 1:45:48 GMT -5
I was wathing a program about the first world war the other day, where a French offficer just sent to the front was inspecting the trenches. When he saw a German popping his head out of the trench on the other side of no-mans-land, he was suprised that none of the French soldiers shot at him. He asked the nearest soldier why he didn't shoot: "Why should I? He haven't done me anything"
The situation could be similar in some parts of Stalingrad, but mostly the ideological and cuturel differences between the different armies would probably be too big for them to agree on anything. Remember, both countries did their best to make the soldiers hate each other!
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Post by baphomael on Aug 30, 2006 6:56:01 GMT -5
I was thinking more along the lines of 'Apocalypse Now' where there is still a majority of organized forces fighting the proper war, but where there are also pockets of renegades who have been reduced to a rat-like existence where all they are trying to do is survive. And of course, historically, there were many instances of both German and Soviet forces simply keeping quiet and not 'stirring the pot' by firing at their enemies, especially during the brutal Russian winter. Of course, some officer from command would eventually come along and flip out when he discovered these mini-armistices. The actual battle was quite like that. The organised forces obviously fighting on but as the battle raged and sections/platoons got cut off from their commanders (which wasn't hard when the streets themselves were a deathtrap) small squad sections could end up holed up in buildings praying that the next artillery shell wasnt going to land on your hiding place. You cant *leave* the house because by running across the open streets you'll be dodging a whithering hail of machine gun rounds.
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Post by xeoran on Aug 31, 2006 5:26:31 GMT -5
Total insanity should rule. Mix the hard bitten soldiers who dont want to fight and their constant fresh faced officers with new "super weapons". Total meatgrinder. I like the idea of mongrel units and the like. You'll have mad commanders, psyclogical nutters. Say troopers who become fixated on killing, leave their unit and hunt down both former friend and foe. Officers set up little "realms" and "nations" amongst the rubble where they gather civilians and hard bitten men.
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Post by baphomael on Sept 2, 2006 14:28:39 GMT -5
Total insanity should rule. Mix the hard bitten soldiers who dont want to fight and their constant fresh faced officers with new "super weapons". Total meatgrinder. I like the idea of mongrel units and the like. You'll have mad commanders, psyclogical nutters. Say troopers who become fixated on killing, leave their unit and hunt down both former friend and foe. Officers set up little "realms" and "nations" amongst the rubble where they gather civilians and hard bitten men. Sounds pretty cool. I can just imagine scenarios where Komissars and teams of NKVD troops stalk the ruins hunting down rogue elements and bring them brutally back into the Party line. A cool image has just popped into my head of a rogue (and utterly insane Colonel Kurtz style) Soviet officer declaring himself the new and rightful Tzar of All-Russia with his supporters holed up in a makeshift 'fortress' studded with pikes topped with the heads of Komissars (still wearing their caps) who have tried to 'reinforce' their political fervour with their own brand of 'encouragement'. How cool.
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