LUCASWILLEN05

They were resupplying at the time and were in no position to meet an attack that they clearly did not expect. However accounts of otherbattles that night clearly indicate the RG were well trained and highly motivated. Using Gulf War engagments as a template for battlesin the Syrian setting should work well and of course the Syrian RG can use T-90s or the most modern T-72s. The only issue is that Armoured Cavalry organisation has changed so some adaptations will be needed.

Assuming his ends peacefully which we all hope it does I see the Vrimea being annexed to Russia. Already, de facto a done deal The future of Eastern Ukraine will be up for discussion. One of two thhs appears likely in this case. Firstly Eastern Ukraine could be ceded to Russia u return for which Russia must accept the rest of Ukraine joins NATO and the EU. Alternatively the same thing happens in exchange for recognition of Russian annexation of the Crimea. Ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine have their rights enshrined in an internatonal agreement but continue to be governed byKiev. However ethnic Russians in Eastern Uraine and non Russians in the Crimea get dual nationality enabling them to choose to emigrate to Russia or Ukraine any time hey choose And there I think we would have a diplomatic settlement that gives each party something while ensuring international security. Russia will have to pay some penalty for their actions so they think more carefully next time.

Tactical nuclear weapons. Just little ones! :eek: i am of course tormenting Steve here! Mostly bcause it's fun!

Hopefully, by the late spring publication date everythig will have calmed down anyway And, if bnot I am sure obody would object to a delay.

I rather fancy gaming some modern winter battles in this theatre having seen some of the footage of the Russian military manouvers on their side of the border. A little less snow than I expected to see mind you but still some patches that were clearly visible. In awar like this I can see Kharkov being the scene of at least twomajor battles, first as Ukraine defends against the initial invasion and then in the NATO counter offensive. And ceraily the Bundeswehr could well d feature,possibly even in both!

A fair enough geopolitical point. i think Poland amnd the Baltic States as NATO members are likely to be involved anyway for that reason. Russia cold retaliate by taking a swipe at the Baltc States which would likely have at least some NATO forces deployed there anyway for defensive purposes. Not that the Russians are likely to care about that much oce open warfare has started. And the poor Beolorussians are sittig in the middle of all of that - quivering and hoping not to be invaded themselves by either side!

It would be nice to include the initial phase in a mdule to iclude winter warfare. For Russian allies can I suggest Belarus.

There might well have to be some rethinking of the back story depending on how this crisis ends. For instance if, as looks probable the Russians secure their hold on the Crimea the flashpoint will have to be moved to the Donbass/Eastern Ukraine with a new crisis such as a Kremlin sponsered uprising against Kiev being used as an "excuse" to intervene by Russia. Russia's goal is now to take thee Donbass Region and, if that goes well to topple the Kiev Government and bring the country back into Russian orbit. However, after the events of 2014 there were secret talks between NATO and Ukraine giving a gauruntee that the Alliance will intervene in he event of a Russian invasion. NATO has made it clear that it will act if Russia invades and now acts on that threat This effectively starts World War 3. NATO's initial goal is to repel the Russian invasion. After this is acomplished a decision is made to destroy he Russian army as an offensive force and change the regime in Moscow. NATO begis a full blooded counter offensive. Objectives Moscow and St Petersburg.

Looks interesting though I would still have liked a winter war option. A Fifth Battle of Kharkov fouught between Russia and Ukraine fought on the same ground as the 1943 Third Battle of Kharkov at the same time of year. For expansions I would like Polish, Germans, French, British, Hungarian, Roumania, Belorussian. Possibly Baltic States.

Though i guss you could have a scenario where Putin does a modern day version of Czecholslovakia with Ukraine (not that implausible) and then does the same 6thing using Ruassian minorities in Roumania or Poland as an excuse for invading those countries. Hitler used much the same sort of excuse during the late 1930s. The final crisis with Poland used the excuse of ethnic Germans in the Danzig Corridor. Too many disturbing parallels.

What a schweinhund. You might expect his from the Waffen SS but a Falschirmjager. He was clearly a fanatical Nazi!:eek:

Being mindful of Chris' comcern about politics (which is hard to avoid when considering a modern geopolitical crisis) I am inclined to agree. Crimea, de facto, is now under Russian control so Putin has his warm water port. However, here remains the question of his future ambitions vis a vis the ethnic Russian population of Eastern Ukraine which is where I suspect everybody expects the next regional flashpoint to be. Which means we have a ready made background scenario for CMBS. I would like to suggest to Battlefromt that the hypothetical conflct starts in February/March to give us the opportuniy of winter warfare beween the Russians and Ukranians (reinforced perhaps by some advanced NATO units. At the end of March, as I think we all know you get the Rasputitsa mud season. Mud, in this case means a soggy morass You might allow for actions during this period to allow for skirmishes though AFV movement will be difficult at best. The campaign proper can resume in May ending in say August, September or early October allowing for things like a NATO push on Moscow. You should probably include Belorussia as a Russian ally.

Or they are remarkably well informed and/or have great geopolitical foresight. This worries me :eek:

Come on gentlemen this is a long way off topic and we are certainly no in kindergarten at least last time I looked. So please let's get back to topic or wrap this up before one of the administraors locksd this thread. Which, if I were an administrator I would seriously be thinking about at this point. Thanks guys.

They might have to do it as a March 2014 what if Or alternatively a future conflict stemming from the current situation a few years down the line. And possibly allowance for any fighting that might occur during the current crisis or as hopefully there will be none, he fighting that might have happened.

Question is what the Russian strategic objectives are going to be. 1 hey could go for broke and go for a full scale invasion intended to put their man in Kiev back in power. This o say the least would be a highy risky plan for all sorts of political and military reasons. Which is why I think somethong like this is more plausible 2 Russia moves in to grab Crimea and Eastern Ukraine where they havew a strong pro Russian, Russian speaking population.It looks to me that his is the option Putin has chosen. It may prove to be an Anschluss style operation or it may involve a limited war like Georgia but on a far larger scale. Of course, in this case a lot more can still go wrong and there will certaily be scope for future hostilities betwee the two countries. The best way out for Putin in the real world would be s negotiatd solution. He can still end up with the Crimea and part of Eastern Ukraine while the rest of the country moves towards the EU

If the Russians do take military acton it could be this weekend. There are repors this evening that planeloads of Russian troops have been landing at some Ukrnian and the UK Foreign Office has been warning nationals to leave TheRussians will probably go for an annexation of Eastern Ukraine and Crimea and may try to achieve this without a fight. But it only takes one trigger happy guy to kick off an armed conflict. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26387567

Can't wait for this to come out. Not that I wish to initiate theusual chorus of Gamers "When is this game coming out" Battlefront "When it's ready" Gollum "We wants it now my preciousssss" Not that this is in any way a hint by Captain Subtext for BF t get a move on!

I have got to ask. Is there a direct link for the flamethower?:eek:

MG can also be used to cover the battles in Lorraine and the very early Siegfried Line battles (eg Stolburg) thugh we could use another expansion to cover the autumn fighting. As far as the Bulge is dconcerned I think it makes far more sense to publish it as a module expansion to Normandy following on from a Siegfried Line module. After that you can do a modul covering the Rhineland/Rhrine crossing batles and then the final push accross Germany. The Battle for Rethem against the Grman 2nd Marine Division is an example of the kind of action that could be gamed during the final stages of the war in NW Europe. However, my favourite front has always been the Russian Front despite its often contrversial nature. I look forward to the imminent publication of RT.

I agree. I am part Swiss myself on my father's side. As you can perhaps tell my surname is indeed Germanic. Of course, Switzerland is not perfect andd there is controversy about the country's role in WW2. While it is true Nazi Gold was stored in Swiss banks you have to remember other things too. Such as the country being surrounded on all sides by Axis or Axis occupied territory. Which meant that vital Swiss food and raw materials imports were under Axis control, nt to mention threatened invasion on several occasions. Despite this Switzerland gave refuge at this time to over 60000 people fleeing Nazi persecution including over 20000 Jews. Plus shoting down a number of Luftwaffe planes violating Swiss airspace. Oh, and giving refuge to escaped Allied POWs. Many other European countries did far worseand with far fewer excuses. Such as actively fighting alongside Germany and handing over Jews who asked them for refuge. Such as Viccy France, Roumania and Hungary. Yet criticism of that often seems strangely muted compared to that looted gold in Swiss bank vaults. Bad certainly but as bad as handing human beings fleeing persecution and death back over to the very people they were runnng from and in the knowlege that those people would. within a few hours be on the train to Aushwitz and would likely be dead in a matter of days. Which was really the mor evil act?

A combination of crawl and hunt orders in order to approah stealthily through the crops and sneak up on the tank so as to get a good, close range shot into the flank armour migyht e the solution. Once troops on hunt orders can get a good shot they usually take it

We are far from perfect in Wesern democrcies either but we can at least criticise and oppose the government without fear of being arresed and dragged away by some kind of secret police prior to being shut away for years on end in some kind of labour camp as still happens in some countries. Herewe can try to change things peacefully and democraticaly unlike having to resort to the methods required in other countries such as Egypt, Syria or Ukraine for instance. The Western way, flawed as it undoubtably is , is infinately preferable to the alternatives. But sometimes we have to figght either politically or literally on occasion in order to keep those hard won rights. On a somewhat lighter ote the 1930s to 40s did have some lively marching songs. One ofmy favourites eve though wrotten for the Waffen SS And a translated version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATpi4duCA6k

It s the people in charge, the willingness of people to go along with what they are told and the checks & balances in place within the system. There are indeed ideas like socialism or for that matter capitilism that seem wonderful in principle, but, if you don't have sufficietly robust systems in place to take account of human error they will fail. That is why I believe the Swiss political system works better than most though is far from perfect.

How was that support gained. Both regimes put out a lot of propaganda and used various methods to gain that support. And most people, as long as they themselves are doing fine will tend to go along with that and not rock the boat. As I previously indicated ths can happen in a democracy too so it could e considered a human trait in general, not just something thathappens under a dictatorship