Post by silentbob27 on Feb 23, 2010 17:21:00 GMT -5
So my gaming club, The Mini Art of War, will be having an AE-WWII campaign starting this May. I will be running it, with some assistance from Cdr Kiley.
In a nutshell, the Germans and RoA are looking for something in the city (each faction will be told what, and told to hide it from the others). Allied intel has signs that something is going on, but not sure what. Whatever it is, they need to be stopped. In either case, the Soviets are pushing again toward Kiev, hoping to retake the city.
This will be a map-based campaign using a city map from 1938 (not much of a change from what was in 1941 when the city fell). The Axis will have the city, with the Allies arriving on the outskirts.
There will be strategic points and other points of interest throughout the city. Some will have special rules for those that hold them, others will just be nice places to visit. ;D
Here is the first draft of the intro. Gives a little background and setting. I stole text from many different sources
Any comments or feedback about this would be helpful.
_______________________________________
After 72 days, Kiev fell to the Germans on 19 September 1941. This was known as the Battle of Kiev, part of Operation Barbarossa. Overall, the battle proved disastrous for the Soviet side but it significantly delayed the German advances. Nearly the entire Southwestern Front of the Red Army was encircled with the Germans claiming 665,000 captured. The delay allowed the evacuation of all significant industrial enterprises from Kiev to the central and eastern parts of the Soviet Union, away from the hostilities, where they played a major role in arming the Red Army.
Before the evacuation, the Red Army planted more than ten thousand mines throughout Kiev, controlled by wireless detonators. On 24 September, when the German invaders had settled into the city, the mines were detonated, causing many of the major buildings to collapse, and setting the city ablaze for five days. More than a thousand Germans were killed in what was "the biggest and most sophisticated booby trap in history.”
Many of the residents of Kiev welcomed the Germans, believing that they would be out from under the heel of Stalin. This opinion quickly began to change as soon as the massacres began. Babi Yar, or Old Woman Ravine, an area of cliffs and valleys, soon became a site of horror. Over two days starting 29 September 1941, at least 33,771 Jews from Kiev and its suburbs were massacred by the SS Einsatzgruppen. Babi Yar was a site of additional mass murders of captured Soviet citizens over the following years. Tens of thousands of people, including Roma, POWs and anyone suspected in aiding the resistance movement were brought to the edge of the ravine and shot. The only reason the killing was halted was because the people were needed for the nefarious experiments and monster making of the SD. Ever since, they area around Babi Yar has been a haunted place, where it is said ghosts walk and the living are not welcomed.
Shortly after the massacres began at Babi Yar, an underground resistance, established by local patriots began. They would prove to be a thorn in the side of the Germans, but also initiated a brutal enforcement of the German "Hunger Plan". This plan was prepared ahead of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, with the aim of ensuring that that Germans were given priority over food supplies at the expense of everyone else. The inhabitants of Kiev were defined as "superfluous eaters" who were to be "gotten rid of" by the cutting off of all food supplies to the city. This food would be diverted to feeding the Wehrmacht troops and Germany's own population. Soon citizens were dying in the streets or fleeing into the countryside, hoping to be able to eke out an existence there. The hard lessons of Stalin’s forced collectivization, and the famine that followed, helped many survive where others would not.
When the Red Army recaptured Kiev on July 30, 1944, the city was little more than a ghost town. Having undergone heavy bombardment over the years, the city was little more than desolate ruins. The once thriving population now consisted of only a few thousand weak, hungry, and empty souls. The resistance had long been crushed, the people tired of long battle and servitude. Many of the collaborators were soon hung upon the Golden Gate (the historic gateway into the ancient city walls). Those others, who were not important enough to be allowed to flee with the retreating Germans, disappeared into the night.
Upon hearing of the ruin, Stalin immediately ordered that rebuilding would begin. Kiev would be a shining example of Soviet might. Thousands of Ukrainians, many of whom fled the city when it fell, were pressed into service clearing the wreckage and fortifying the city. Life in the city was no easier than under the occupation of the Germans. Food was scarce and it was said that there were horrible monsters living beneath the streets, hungering for human flesh.
Less than a year later, on March 7, 1945, the Germans returned and retook the city with little casualties. Despite Stalin’s plans, the Ukrainian city was determined to be a liability and was left defenseless. The civilians were ordered to fight to the last and the bridges across the Dnieper River were blown up by the retreating Red Army. The Swastika, once again, flies over the former capital of Ukraine.
It is now December 12, 1945. The Red Army is once again on the move, and will soon be threatening the city once more. The bridges have been rebuilt, but see little use. The German garrison is woefully undermanned for holding a city of this size. Compounding the headaches for the Wehrmacht Commanders, the SD and SS have recently set up shop in the city, forbidding anyone from entering their AO’s. Even worse the RoA has also taken up positions. They are doing something here, but what, they do not know.
Allied Intelligence has received information that suggests German excavations inside and just outside of the city. The Allies have been chewing this data for weeks, and input from MoAA and ARPA have ranged from another alien crash site to some ancient mystical artifact.
The Soviets even mention legends from that region of Vladimir I of Kiev and Svyatogor suggest a race of giant supermen with fantastic powers. Once passed off as peasant folklore, recent events of the war and the Psi Phenomena, the Soviet high command must investigate. Of course, they cannot allow anything valuable to fall into the hands of the fascist or capitalist invaders.
In a nutshell, the Germans and RoA are looking for something in the city (each faction will be told what, and told to hide it from the others). Allied intel has signs that something is going on, but not sure what. Whatever it is, they need to be stopped. In either case, the Soviets are pushing again toward Kiev, hoping to retake the city.
This will be a map-based campaign using a city map from 1938 (not much of a change from what was in 1941 when the city fell). The Axis will have the city, with the Allies arriving on the outskirts.
There will be strategic points and other points of interest throughout the city. Some will have special rules for those that hold them, others will just be nice places to visit. ;D
Here is the first draft of the intro. Gives a little background and setting. I stole text from many different sources
Any comments or feedback about this would be helpful.
_______________________________________
After 72 days, Kiev fell to the Germans on 19 September 1941. This was known as the Battle of Kiev, part of Operation Barbarossa. Overall, the battle proved disastrous for the Soviet side but it significantly delayed the German advances. Nearly the entire Southwestern Front of the Red Army was encircled with the Germans claiming 665,000 captured. The delay allowed the evacuation of all significant industrial enterprises from Kiev to the central and eastern parts of the Soviet Union, away from the hostilities, where they played a major role in arming the Red Army.
Before the evacuation, the Red Army planted more than ten thousand mines throughout Kiev, controlled by wireless detonators. On 24 September, when the German invaders had settled into the city, the mines were detonated, causing many of the major buildings to collapse, and setting the city ablaze for five days. More than a thousand Germans were killed in what was "the biggest and most sophisticated booby trap in history.”
Many of the residents of Kiev welcomed the Germans, believing that they would be out from under the heel of Stalin. This opinion quickly began to change as soon as the massacres began. Babi Yar, or Old Woman Ravine, an area of cliffs and valleys, soon became a site of horror. Over two days starting 29 September 1941, at least 33,771 Jews from Kiev and its suburbs were massacred by the SS Einsatzgruppen. Babi Yar was a site of additional mass murders of captured Soviet citizens over the following years. Tens of thousands of people, including Roma, POWs and anyone suspected in aiding the resistance movement were brought to the edge of the ravine and shot. The only reason the killing was halted was because the people were needed for the nefarious experiments and monster making of the SD. Ever since, they area around Babi Yar has been a haunted place, where it is said ghosts walk and the living are not welcomed.
Shortly after the massacres began at Babi Yar, an underground resistance, established by local patriots began. They would prove to be a thorn in the side of the Germans, but also initiated a brutal enforcement of the German "Hunger Plan". This plan was prepared ahead of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, with the aim of ensuring that that Germans were given priority over food supplies at the expense of everyone else. The inhabitants of Kiev were defined as "superfluous eaters" who were to be "gotten rid of" by the cutting off of all food supplies to the city. This food would be diverted to feeding the Wehrmacht troops and Germany's own population. Soon citizens were dying in the streets or fleeing into the countryside, hoping to be able to eke out an existence there. The hard lessons of Stalin’s forced collectivization, and the famine that followed, helped many survive where others would not.
When the Red Army recaptured Kiev on July 30, 1944, the city was little more than a ghost town. Having undergone heavy bombardment over the years, the city was little more than desolate ruins. The once thriving population now consisted of only a few thousand weak, hungry, and empty souls. The resistance had long been crushed, the people tired of long battle and servitude. Many of the collaborators were soon hung upon the Golden Gate (the historic gateway into the ancient city walls). Those others, who were not important enough to be allowed to flee with the retreating Germans, disappeared into the night.
Upon hearing of the ruin, Stalin immediately ordered that rebuilding would begin. Kiev would be a shining example of Soviet might. Thousands of Ukrainians, many of whom fled the city when it fell, were pressed into service clearing the wreckage and fortifying the city. Life in the city was no easier than under the occupation of the Germans. Food was scarce and it was said that there were horrible monsters living beneath the streets, hungering for human flesh.
Less than a year later, on March 7, 1945, the Germans returned and retook the city with little casualties. Despite Stalin’s plans, the Ukrainian city was determined to be a liability and was left defenseless. The civilians were ordered to fight to the last and the bridges across the Dnieper River were blown up by the retreating Red Army. The Swastika, once again, flies over the former capital of Ukraine.
It is now December 12, 1945. The Red Army is once again on the move, and will soon be threatening the city once more. The bridges have been rebuilt, but see little use. The German garrison is woefully undermanned for holding a city of this size. Compounding the headaches for the Wehrmacht Commanders, the SD and SS have recently set up shop in the city, forbidding anyone from entering their AO’s. Even worse the RoA has also taken up positions. They are doing something here, but what, they do not know.
Allied Intelligence has received information that suggests German excavations inside and just outside of the city. The Allies have been chewing this data for weeks, and input from MoAA and ARPA have ranged from another alien crash site to some ancient mystical artifact.
The Soviets even mention legends from that region of Vladimir I of Kiev and Svyatogor suggest a race of giant supermen with fantastic powers. Once passed off as peasant folklore, recent events of the war and the Psi Phenomena, the Soviet high command must investigate. Of course, they cannot allow anything valuable to fall into the hands of the fascist or capitalist invaders.
Well goes to show what come collaborative energies can do when creative minds sit down and share ideas!
