My pitch for UoC DLC Asia campaign
Posted: Sun May 05, 2013 11:04 pm
OK, I’m not a game designer and don’t have time to put serious effort into something like this, but seems to me the UoC engine is ideal for investigating some of the less-covered land conflicts in Asia during the WW2 period. UoC is flexible on scale (could be regiment-level as well as division), and flexible on timeframe and geography (turns are not a specific length of time).
A Japanese campaign could cover the following battles:
China 1937-1941: these battles would simulate a qualitatively superior Japanese army moving against large poor-quality but dug-in Chinese defenders, and increasingly at the edge of tenuous supply lines. Japanese force would have air attacks, and specialist units including tanks, recon units, and special assault brigades. Chinese forces get foreign adviser specialist steps, a few heavy weapons steps, and the AVG (which maybe negates Japanese air attacks over a few hex radius). Scenarios could include:
Marco Polo Bridge
Shanghai
Nanking
Xuzhou
Wuhan
Changsha
Southern Area, 1941-42: from here, the campaign switches gears to cover the move south in 1941-42. The character here is more around the various surprise attack / ‘bicycle blitzkrieg’ elements of these battles. Combatants are evenly matched in turns of numbers, but the Japanese get special moves like landing craft (allows movement over water for one turn), and surprise attack (allows a unit to ignore fortifications, ZOCs and rivers for one turn and to move through jungle as if it was clear terrain). Japanese forces have to push hard to meet ambitious time tables.
Scenarios could include:
Hong Kong
Malaya
Singapore
Java
Philippines: Lingayen
Philippines: Bataan
Burma: Rangoon
Burma: Closing the Ledo road
Burma: Akyab counterattack
End of the road, 1944-45: and in this third phase, an exhausted Japanese army musters itself for one last series of offensives. This phase will feature undersupplied Japanese forces
China: Ichi-go north
China: Ichi-go south
India: Imphal/Kohima
India: Hypothetical Bengal invasion (only if decisive victory at Imphal)
Allied campaign: this would be a shorter campaign covering the reconquest of Burma, ie:
Akyab
Myitkyina
Imphal counterattack
Meiktila / Mandalay
Race for Rangoon
Ledo Road
Hunan/Guangxi
And some bonus stand-alone scenarios: one involving the Russo-Japanese border skirmish at Nomonhan. And one large scenario involving Russia’s invasion of Manchuria.
GRD did a nice game simulating in detail the 2nd Sino-Japanese conflict called “War of Resistance” – that would be a great resource for orders of battle etc.
Anyway, can’t wait for more UoC DLC!
A Japanese campaign could cover the following battles:
China 1937-1941: these battles would simulate a qualitatively superior Japanese army moving against large poor-quality but dug-in Chinese defenders, and increasingly at the edge of tenuous supply lines. Japanese force would have air attacks, and specialist units including tanks, recon units, and special assault brigades. Chinese forces get foreign adviser specialist steps, a few heavy weapons steps, and the AVG (which maybe negates Japanese air attacks over a few hex radius). Scenarios could include:
Marco Polo Bridge
Shanghai
Nanking
Xuzhou
Wuhan
Changsha
Southern Area, 1941-42: from here, the campaign switches gears to cover the move south in 1941-42. The character here is more around the various surprise attack / ‘bicycle blitzkrieg’ elements of these battles. Combatants are evenly matched in turns of numbers, but the Japanese get special moves like landing craft (allows movement over water for one turn), and surprise attack (allows a unit to ignore fortifications, ZOCs and rivers for one turn and to move through jungle as if it was clear terrain). Japanese forces have to push hard to meet ambitious time tables.
Scenarios could include:
Hong Kong
Malaya
Singapore
Java
Philippines: Lingayen
Philippines: Bataan
Burma: Rangoon
Burma: Closing the Ledo road
Burma: Akyab counterattack
End of the road, 1944-45: and in this third phase, an exhausted Japanese army musters itself for one last series of offensives. This phase will feature undersupplied Japanese forces
China: Ichi-go north
China: Ichi-go south
India: Imphal/Kohima
India: Hypothetical Bengal invasion (only if decisive victory at Imphal)
Allied campaign: this would be a shorter campaign covering the reconquest of Burma, ie:
Akyab
Myitkyina
Imphal counterattack
Meiktila / Mandalay
Race for Rangoon
Ledo Road
Hunan/Guangxi
And some bonus stand-alone scenarios: one involving the Russo-Japanese border skirmish at Nomonhan. And one large scenario involving Russia’s invasion of Manchuria.
GRD did a nice game simulating in detail the 2nd Sino-Japanese conflict called “War of Resistance” – that would be a great resource for orders of battle etc.
Anyway, can’t wait for more UoC DLC!