LongLeftFlank

Or so we hope.... There will always be ruthless opportunists willing to sell their own mothers, but such wise guys need to feel they are protected, or at least have a way to get rich and end up in a condo in Miami.... Stukach (or the Ukrainian equivalent) or even Quisling official in occupied 'independent Slavic republics' isn't going to be a path to riches, ever. At least 'Transnistria' is relatively close to Europe proper and can be a destination for stolen Benzes, etc. ...It's more likely to end in 'necklacing' (tyre and gasoline) in the dead of night, or whatever traditional punishment is meted out there.

As we CMers know, city fights are won block by block and district by district, generally at terrible cost. Grozny had a pre-siege population of around 220,000, and presumably a greater density relative to space (smaller urban footprint). This number fell below 50k in the siege. A major challenge for the RA, but manageable with elite forces alone. 1. Now compare Ukraine: Kharkov: 1.5 million Kyiv: 3 million ...And owing to the higher industrialization and living patterns of Ukrainians (smaller families) vs. Chechens, we should also expect a far bigger footprint to conquer and 'secure' now. 2. Also, in clannish Chechnya, there was a huge amount of bribery to bring clans over to the Russian side, or at least to stand aside. Ukrainians won't be bought. 3. Add to this the relative absence -- so far -- of a sympathetic local population willing to assist the occupiers in identifying partisans. No doubt some residents are 'on the fence' waiting to side with the winners, but it would take a decisive demonstration of RA superiority (including materiel superiority!) to bring them over to active Quisling status (vs. fear of retribution by their neighbours).

Sink it! well offshore. One of many reasons why an amphibious invasion of Taiwan remains an extraordinarily risky undertaking.

Scenario design gold, when all this is over....

I'd reveal what's concealed inside those sand piles, but that would be Teller.... On a different topic, and to cheer up our good @Kraze a bit, could we talk a little about long range sniping? Long range head shots being a extremely convincing and personal way of persuading unwanted c̶o̶u̶s̶i̶n̶s̶ neighbours to GTFH.... Plenty of hunting rifles (and marksmen) available in Ukraine, I take it? Surplus SVDs? Anything the West ought to be sending along in bulk in care packages?

Perhaps you and @kraze might be better off staying out of that noxious swamp, or at least keeping it out of this thread. FWIW, my Ukrainian in-laws freely admit to Russian historical, cultural and ethnic connections, although they have no interest in Putin's (or Stalin's) version either. That's the last I will say on this topic.

Ukrainians continue to share the same wry sense of humour with their Russian cousins....

As a Toronto native, I endorse this message. And...

OK, my wife is crushing on Zelensky, so I get to have one too....

So Kiev could be another Bastogne, where the besieged forces actually outnumber the besiegers?

Meanwhile, the Ukis are fully mobilizing as a society, and getting to work....

I agree with much of your post, but I think the "Great Bear" bit of national mythology has passed its sell by date, with the exception of the (unusable) legacy nuclear weapons force. And I don't honestly know how much 'squeezing' power is really left in the "Red Army" once you expend the VDV and a couple of the 'court divisions.' Its total establishment is only what, about 1.5 million (all arms)? Russia is an aging society of about 120 million souls, with a growing proportion of non-Slavs, increasingly urban and jaded, and disinclined to pursue a military career to get off the farm. Economically, Russia is a Rust Belt has-been industrial power whose only prospering industries are around resource extraction and export. Much of the techno-intelligentsia (Jews, especially) which allowed the old USSR to industrialize, beat Hitler and become a superpower has emigrated. I mean no disrespect to my Great Russian friends, but this brain drain matters. Were it a matter of defending the Rodina from an actual (vs. notional) foreign invader, no doubt the Russian boys of today would prove every bit as hardy, stubborn and cunning as ever. But now, being told to shoot, bombard and starve their cousins, who are mainly just like them? "F*** your mother" seems the most likely response, and a lot sooner than years from now.

Well, this VDV unit for one uses proper tactical column spacing. (Ha, others in the thread noticed that too!) ...As others here have observed, we aren't seeing the entire picture here and there are unquestionably RA units that are highly capable and lethal. "I am the eye in the sky, looking at youuuuu...."

Best not to get too complacent in spite of the ineptitude. The RA has occupied Kherson, encircled Mariupol and look set to ring Kharkov. Kiev is still being flanked. How long can these cities' defenders hold out with large civilian populations caught in the crossfire? Once the Russians dig in, they become a lot less vulnerable.

Agreed! Sure, they can bomb and shell randomly for some time, but occupying and 'securing' cities, even against irregular defenders, requires intensive consumption of all kinds of materiel, especially highly trained and motivated infantry.... It's becoming increasingly clear that logistics isn't just an Achilles heel, but the entire lower half of the Russian colossus seems to be MIA! Also, I'd look for more, ahem, 'Bayraktars' to start marauding in the night skies very soon... kind of like the hydra, the Ivans kill one and two more appear in its place. Tanker truck drivers may find their life spans approaching that of 1915 British subalterns. Also, I beg to differ with Alperovich here: Putin's only hope now is likely to rapidly unleash utter brutality on the Ukrainian people (which he has already started on by shooting MLRS rockets into Kharkiv and other cities) in order to get major concessions from Zelensky in the negotiations In my view, the longer these sieges go on, the more likely NATO finally says screw it and rolls a multinational mech corps to secure the Lviv-Zhitomir corridor (and stare down the Belarusians) and a Marine Force (preferably French participation) to Odessa. Maybe the Brits and Germans can cover Lithuania?

Good compilation of bang-bangs here. Yup, they're hitting the soft transport. It's a long walk home, Ivan....

Wow, so all those impressively Orwellian red arrows on the Wiki map are (mostly) 20+ strung out columns advancing on 'a front one vehicle wide' a la Goodwood or KG Peiper. With the supply line, such as it is, having to use that very same crappy road. So never mind tangling with the tanks, just keep picking off those fuel bowsers and the rest takes care of itself?

Caution, this feed is visibly pro-Russian and rabidly anti-US -- note the 'demilitarization' bullshoi doublespeak! But the map, whether it is accurate or merely aspirational, is too interesting not to note: 'Interdiction by fire' on an unprecedented scale. Sounds very Russian, but can they pull it off in practice without air supremacy?

Wow, this endemic 'out of gas and abandoned' clusterf$^* sounds just like a replay of the pathetic fate of the huge Soviet Mechanized Corps in 1941. Or HG Wells 'War of the Worlds', where the seemingly unstoppable Martians all die of the common cold.... I mean, wasn't Russia basically a petro state last time I looked? You'd think of all the great powers, they would have remembered this small detail....

More from Dobrev here, a bit more of what's going on on the attacking side....

Sorry JM, work has basically taken me out of all gaming or design activity since the middle of 2021. I greatly appreciate your attempts however.

I can't believe this thread went 1-1/2 pages without anyone saying "think about baseball". My work here is done....

I always felt a better setting for a China CM game would be a second Korean War, whether due to Kim invading the South wreaking horrific destruction on Seoul but getting his arse handed to him militarily, or (more likely IMHO) his early death natural or otherwise precipitating civil war in the North. Either way, you could expect a total breakdown in the North, with both China and and South Korea sending 'humanitarian' assistance and backing factions (with the US and Japan largely taking their cues from Seoul?). The South Korean army is fairly formidable but generally organized for defense. So its expeditionary forces in the North (with US advisers?) could find themselves fairly evenly matched with PLA airborne and mech units trying to set up a buffer zone/new client state as far south as possible. But I must confess to knowing a lot less about this than I do about Taiwan. Thoughts?

Sigline worthy! ... Re the OT, I almost exclusively design (when I can) scenarios that faithfully recreate very well documented tactical infantry actions. I find the game engine delivers quite satisfactory results in general if the player is required to care about things like friendly casualties or the endurance of his troops (Green troops start to break down after a few minutes of rooty toot, which seems quite realistic, but then you as designer need to provide a fresh wave). P.S. Who wouldn't enjoy the liberation of Brest? ... or as a British radio announcer once said a little too quickly on an ad spot "Always ask for the Best in Bread...."

He said Captain / I said GWOT / He said Captain / I said GWOT you want.... (sorry, I'm joining the Lord Protector in the peanut gallery here, but I couldn't resist. Woot!)