Monday, November 10, 2008

Why I chose 1942

You might wonder why I chose 1942.

Some of it may be aesthetic, wanting to see more of the early war weapons that were soon eclipsed in WW2 by new developments.

What if the Germans hadn't fought the Russians in 1941, and had never encountered the T-34? The Panther probably wouldn't have been developed, nor would the Tiger's development been accelerated.

If the rapid advance of tank guns and armor hadn't been seen, the early US tanks might have soldiered on much longer. The M3 Stuart would have been effective longer. The M3 Lee would have been the main medium tank instead of an "interim" design.

So this period allows me to field M3 Stuarts and Lees on one side, Panzer IIs, IIIs, IVs on the other. I kinda like that idea.

What is this about?

"War in 1942" is a "Bathtub" style of wargame campaign set in 1942. It is intended to allow use of the equipments available roughly in the late 1942 period to the USA and Germany. Each country will be represented by a "proxy" country depicted on a fictional, reduced scale campaign map.

A "bathtub" game is one where the scale of the conflict has been reduced to allow the campaign to be of a manageable size. So an army that in our world would be composed of dozens of divisions will be reduced by a factor of twelve or more, so that they are represneted in the game by, perhaps, three infantry divisions and an armored division apiece.

As we go along, I'll be describing the combatants: the countries, their cultural attributes, their geography, and perhaps most importantly, their armies.

The map that will be developed will be a scaled down map that offers varied battlefield terrain. It will be centered on one main continent.

Neutral countries may also be developed to allow a bit more variety in the game. I may add in island nations off the mainland that represent Australia and Japan. I may add a steppe region to the north to represent a Russian/Cossack type of nation. Who knows?