My pitch for UoC DLC Asia campaign

Ask, comment, read.
sourdust
Brigadier General
Posts: 207
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:30 am

My pitch for UoC DLC Asia campaign

Unread postby sourdust » 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!

User avatar
Tomislav Uzelac
2x2 Games
Posts: 2211
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:24 pm
Location: Zagreb, Croatia

Re: My pitch for UoC DLC Asia campaign

Unread postby Tomislav Uzelac » Mon May 06, 2013 9:57 am

Thanks for writing this down, I've been thinking about it for a while, not for Unity of Command but for our next game (to be announced in the second half of this year).

The obvious limit with UoC is that factions are pretty much hardcoded to "Axis" and "Soviet"... well, they're not exactly hardcoded but it's a big ask for the current engine. There we also have limited simulation of air and lack a naval component. Doing a Singapore scenario without giving the player some idea what happened at sea just wouldn't feel right.

But in the future, I agree that a Japanese campaign is a good way for us to expand the game to the Asian theater. Especially the Sino-Japanese war deserves I believe greater attention in terms of wargames.

ironbmike
First Lieutenant
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:19 pm

Re: My pitch for UoC DLC Asia campaign

Unread postby ironbmike » Tue May 14, 2013 2:26 pm

I think it makes more sense to do France 1940, North Africa, Italy, and France 1944 first.

User avatar
spillblood
Major General
Posts: 496
Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 4:01 pm
Contact:

Re: My pitch for UoC DLC Asia campaign

Unread postby spillblood » Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:44 am

Tomislav Uzelac wrote:But in the future, I agree that a Japanese campaign is a good way for us to expand the game to the Asian theater. Especially the Sino-Japanese war deserves I believe greater attention in terms of wargames.

Cool! I think expanding the game to lesser known and covered theaters is a good way to increase the uniqueness of the game.
ironbmike wrote:I think it makes more sense to do France 1940, North Africa, Italy, and France 1944 first.

I think this is already planned (listen to the interview with Tomislav on Three Moves Ahead), but not as DLC but as a sequel because the engine needs some modifications to cover those theaters appropriately.

HappyDaze
Captain
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2013 12:14 pm

Re: My pitch for UoC DLC Asia campaign

Unread postby HappyDaze » Sun Sep 29, 2013 4:26 am

I would be interested to see all of the above suggestions acted upon. I've previously stated my interest in the theaters contained in Ironmike's suggestion, but I would be very interested to take a look at the CBI theater. Back in the 1970s GDW brought out a paper game on Burma that was pretty good, but I haven't yet heard of anyone doing it for computer, and certainly not for the Mac. So this would be virgin territory for a game designer. Hope to see this some day.

:D

Happy

kashkin
First Lieutenant
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:43 am

Re: My pitch for UoC DLC Asia campaign

Unread postby kashkin » Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:05 am

Another possibility would be one or two scenarios based on the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria (arguably there wasn't much fighting, but it could have a few powerful and experienced Soviet units against a larger number of weaker Japanese units, dug in but with low morale. The former would be at the end of a long logistical trail), or even a look at Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol.