Soviet AAR: A Tournament of Shadows

[Didz]

I've been playing HOI3 for a few months now having picked it up in the steam sale for an amazing £1.99. Mind you I then went on to buy all the expansions and mods once I decided I liked it. So, it cost a bit more in the end.

My first serious campaign (after working out how the game worked) was as the USA, using the 'Stars and Stripes' mod, and I was instantly hooked. Not because of the gameplay (because quite honestly Totalwar games are far more visually appealing and exicting). But because of the potential to change history.

My USA campaign jumped the rails pretty early on, when the Democrats lost the Presidential Election and I got a President Wilkie. As an apparent consequence the USA never joined the Allies, but stuck with their policy of isolationism, France fell, D-Day never happened and Britain seemed more interested in expanding their Asian Empire than liberating Europe.

However, Japan did declare war on the USA. They just did it decently without the attack on Pearl Harbour so I never got the 'Day of Infamy' event, and kept my battleships. The odd thing was that not only was I not distracted by having to help out in the European War, but for some reason although Japan was a member of the Axis, none of her allies came to help. So, I ended up in a straight 1v1 war between the USA and Japan. Which ultimately wasn't much of a contest.

I voluntarily ended the game in 1945, having occupied Japan, Korean, Manchukuo and nearly all of Japans pacific bases (there were a couple I by-passed, and left to starve).

So, strange campaign, and several times I found myself wishing I'd started an AAR for it.

Anyway, to cut a long story short. A few weeks ago I started my second serious HOI3 campaign this time as the Soviet Union. And this time I have started an AAR, just in case it gets interesting. Incidently, this isn't an advert or promotion for my AAR, in fact, I'm not even sure at the moment whether I'll publish it. I'm just interested in sharing the campaign concept with you and seeing what you guys think.

The AAR is called 'A Tournament of Shadows', which is I believe the Russian phrase used to describe what the British referred to as 'The Great Game'.

Basically, it refers to the ongoing competition between the British and Russian Empires, and was largely focussed on central Asia. It actually pre-dates the Russian Revolution, but still continues to this day, with new players joining the game and new countries becoming the goals. The Russians called it the Tournament of Shadows, because in practice much of it takes place out of the spotlight.

Anyway, in the campaign itself I've tried to lay down some ground rules for myself which are:

1. No cheating.
2. Nothing too gamey. (e.g. Surprise Airbourne assaults on a nations capital.)
3. Ignore the benefits of hindsight and my historical knowledge of world events as far as humanly possible.
4. Have as much fun as possible.

This is posing some interesting challenges as the normal 1936 start gives a player five years to prepare for Operation Barbarossa. But in my game Stalin has no way of knowing this is going to happen, and so can't overtly prepare for it. Which could be a recipe for disaster, and I'm wondering if this campaign might end abruptly in 1941.

However, one of the nice things about writing an AAR, is that it does give you the motive to learn a lot about the actual history, and I discovered that Stalin was not completely oblivious to the danger the Soviet Union was in, he just wasn't sure where it would come from.

In a speech at the First All-Union Conference of Leading Personnel of Socialist Industry on 4th February 1931, Stalin stated that:.

We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or they will bury us.

It's not clear who 'they' were but given that during the Russian Civil War the Soviet Union had been invaded by Britain, Japan, USA, Mexico, Finland and pretty much every capitalist country in the world with troops to spare. I suspect it was 'they' as in everyone and anyone, as they all want to destroy us.

So, game wise I am playing the Soviet Union as a country that considers itself surrounded by potential enemies, and neurotic about not being ready in time to face the inevitable onslaught. Ironically, Stalins prediction was spot on in that ten years later, in 1941, Germany did invade. Which is convenient for my story line.

Historical Stalin is also helping the plot line, by being quite obsessed with modernisation and making the Soviet Union the most productive nation in the world.

So, plot wise I have no problems justifying huge investments in industrial capacity, infrastructure and technical research. What I can't do of course is start overt preparations for an invasion by Germany. In fact, at he moment the primary threats are perceived to be Japan in the Far East, who have annexed Manchukuo and could decide to occupy Vladivostok again as they did in the 1920's, and Finland, who whilst not considered a threat themselves are aligning themselves with Britain, who may chose to use Finland as a base of operations and invade the Kola peninsula again.

Plus of course there is The Great Game itself being played out along the Soviet southern frontier, where Stalin is currently trying to use political influence to create buffer states, and block the ambitions of Britain and Germany. Game play has reached 1938, and I'm expecting things to start kicking off in earnest shortly, but its already been a blast just working through the planning and strategy aspects and trying to merge actual history into the plot.