Thinking of a Fictional CIS Nation

[Golan2072]

Recently I've been thinking about writing up my own fictional nation, situated somewhere near or in the former USSR (today's CIS), for WWII, modern and near-future wargaming. The idea is to have a messy, multi-faction civil war, using Russian-type gear, and having Russia (and maybe China) intervening as well, at least at the smaller scale.

Potential locations for that fictional nation - tentatively called "Valiesk" - include a fictional island in the Baltic Sea, an area in the Caucasus, or an area in the Russian Far East near the border with China (input would be welcome).

The miniature project will be a long-term one, due to time constrains and budgetary limitations, and will involve Russian-type terrain (such as Peter Pig's village huts and a LOT of industrial buildings), T-80's, BTR-90's, Spetznaz, Paratroopers, Mil-Mi 24's, MiG's and Sukhoi's.

The ruleset I'd use is either USE ME NODERN, FAD 4 or FUBAR.

[Westfalia Chris]

Chris Peers once wrote an article that contained a whole campaign setting based on that premise. It was published in the August or September 2001 issue of Wargames Illustrated (still have it, albeit not at my immediate disposal). I was much intrigued by that article (and it pretty much jump-started my interest in Ultra-Moderns) and am therefore looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

From the stuff you list, I assume you will be using 15mm. Not my cup of tea, but there is a lot about it to justify it, and I've seen a lot of really nice African wars stuff in that. BTW, do you know the "Dumb Geese" website? They did that "Imagi-Nation" thing for Africa, and their batreps are a great read.

Anyway, I would strongly suggest NOT using a land-locked locale. Having a stretch of coastline at your disposal greatly increases the number of potential scenarios and game settings, and you could have some US Navy SEALs come in on a recon or evac mission for variety. So, either the Baltic, the Black Sea, or possibly Siberian Secessionists/Kamtchatkan Comrades?

[Golan2072]

From the stuff you list, I assume you will be using 15mm. Not my cup of tea, but there is a lot about it to justify it, and I've seen a lot of really nice African wars stuff in that.

Yep, 15mm, mostly QRF with some Rebel Minis, Irregular Miniatures and Peter Pig added in for good measure.

BTW, do you know the "Dumb Geese" website? They did that "Imagi-Nation" thing for Africa, and their batreps are a great read.

Thanks for the link, I didn't know them so far, but I knew of another wargame Imagi-Nation in Africa, Bongolesia, which is also great IMHO.

Anyway, I would strongly suggest NOT using a land-locked locale. Having a stretch of coastline at your disposal greatly increases the number of potential scenarios and game settings, and you could have some US Navy SEALs come in on a recon or evac mission for variety. So, either the Baltic, the Black Sea, or possibly Siberian Secessionists/Kamtchatkan Comrades?

You've won me over to a fictional Pacific island near the eastern shores of Russia, between Primorsky Krai (Vladivostok's region) and Japan. So the Russians, Chinese, Japanese and possibly the U.S. could be involved in this, sending in Naval Infantry/SEALs for small-scale operations to preserve their interests in the area. This won't be too good for WWII scenarios (as the fighting between Russia and Japan wasn't a very significant part of the war IIRC), but the modern stuff will probably make up for it.

[Golan2072]

Thinking about this again, I think I'd go with a fictional Baltic island, as this will be more interesting in terms of history, culture and potential WWII scenarios.

Anyhow, There is another option that sprang to my mind: doing a fictional Arab nation (called Harduniyya) instead of Valiesk. With all the recent upheavals in the Arab world, this could be interesting and relevant, plus I don't think that many other wargamers did similar Imagi-Nation projects as of late.

Input would be welcome.

[former user]

I would recommend "Molvanîa"   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molvania

[Westfalia Chris]

Anyhow, There is another option that sprang to my mind: doing a fictional Arab nation (called Harduniyya) instead of Valiesk. With all the recent upheavals in the Arab world, this could be interesting and relevant, plus I don't think that many other wargamers did similar Imagi-Nation projects as of late.

Input would be welcome.

I think that was the way Peers did it in the aforementioned article  - the Emirate of Sherdan/Sherbat/Sherban, or something similar, namewise. I'm getting really irritated that I did not bring over that issue of Wargames Illustrated, lots of treat stuff in that piece. I would really like to read it again.

He situated it "somewhere on the Black Sea", with various rival factions ranging from the Government (reminiscent of Azerbaijan, or the late 1970s Afghanistan), rebels, and bandits/tribes as the most prominent ones. He then divided the country into several "zones" (not using a map, though), ranging from urban areas over roads (as arteries of comunications and trade) to rural lands and wilderness. These zones had different "terrain generation" rules, and favoured different factions - i.e. the government troops were most effective in the urban areas, less so on roads, whereas the bandits and rebels would have an advantage in the less-settled area types.

The wilderness terrain type even had an event table that included the risk of being attacked by a bear while skulking in cover. Hilarious stuff, Peers at his best.

[Will Bailie]

Neat idea - makes me wonder what happened to Ruritania and Graustark after the Great War.  Another neat path to follow would be to extrapolate the history of Tintin's Syldavia and Borduria.  So... Eastern Europe, maybe Balkans but with influences from both east and west.  Probably land locked, but with porous borders.

[Arrigo]

On this same channel sometime ago I posted my fluff for the Republic of Transmash... it was realyl funny to create!

[starkadder]

Don't forget Tom Swift's "Kranjovia" and "Brungaria", the two evil East European nations constantly out to destroy the Free World in the Sixties.

[Arlequín]

I wrestled with similar problems for my setting. It began as a Caribbean Island, moved to off the East African Coast and then returned to the Caribbean. The hard part is making one setting work for all the periods you want to play. A Baltic setting works well for what you want... you can have a German client state that becomes occupied by the Soviets and eventually becomes independent, but with a multitude of factions - not dissimilar to Yugoslavia... which also had some US surplus vehicles too. Alternatively you could wedge your nation between Turkey and the CIS and use whatever you want as the country wavers between the Soviets and US. Crisis in Alcovia is based on a Balkan setting and might offer you some ideas.

You could also amalgamate Ethiopia and Somalia into a single setting. Again both vacillated between the US and USSR at varying times to create some very unusual armies. Right on your doorstep you have the Lebanon, which would make an ideal country to base a complicated setting on. The Lebanese have equipment from just about everyone who makes armoured vehicles and even up to the present are refurbishing old equipment to soldier on into the 21st Century.

[Golan2072]

What I'm more and more leaning towards is a CIS nation on a fictional Baltic island near the shores of Poland and the Ukraine. This will allow for WWI play, Russian Civil War play, Call of Cthulhu RPGing, WWII play, Ultra Modern play and maybe even post-apocalyptic or X-Com play.

Hmmm... If I'll have an island about 75km wide and 150km long, would a small nuclear accident cause only part of it to get contaminated (say, a valley in the mountains), or would it contaminate it all? I'd like to have a STALKER-type 'ZONE' on it, but I want most of the island to be usable for standard Ultra Modern gaming.

Input would be welcome.

[Westfalia Chris]

What I'm more and more leaning towards is a CIS nation on a fictional Baltic island near the shores of Poland and the Ukraine. This will allow for WWI play, Russian Civil War play, Call of Cthulhu RPGing, WWII play, Ultra Modern play and maybe even post-apocalyptic or X-Com play.

Certainly gives you a lot of leeway.

Hmmm... If I'll have an island about 75km wide and 150km long, would a small nuclear accident cause only part of it to get contaminated (say, a valley in the mountains), or would it contaminate it all? I'd like to have a STALKER-type 'ZONE' on it, but I want most of the island to be usable for standard Ultra Modern gaming.

Input would be welcome.

Honestly, despite the fact that I really like postapocalyptica and the Lead Adventure line for that setting, I think that, at the current time, using nuclear accidents as a game setting is a bit awkward, if not tasteless.

To tone it down a bit, why not have an abandoned Red Banner Baltic Fleet base with toxic waste and rotting submarines left from the cold war (yes, I know, nuclear submarines in the Baltic aren't terribly useful) to account for the no-go zone. You could combine it with subterranean submarine pens/bunker complex to also allow for some "dungeon crawling".

Or have a meteor strike shortly after the fall of the Soviet union which lead to strange and mysterious happenings - for example, in the Tintin comic "The Shooting Star" (fr. "L'Etoile Mystérieuse"), the protagonist ultimately explores a meteor crashed in the arctic(?), whose strange properties make organic life grow at alarming rates and sizes.

[Golan2072]

Certainly gives you a lot of leeway.

Exactly.

Honestly, despite the fact that I really like postapocalyptica and the Lead Adventure line for that setting, I think that, at the current time, using nuclear accidents as a game setting is a bit awkward, if not tasteless.

To tone it down a bit, why not have an abandoned Red Banner Baltic Fleet base with toxic waste and rotting submarines left from the cold war (yes, I know, nuclear submarines in the Baltic aren't terribly useful) to account for the no-go zone. You could combine it with subterranean submarine pens/bunker complex to also allow for some "dungeon crawling".

Or have a meteor strike shortly after the fall of the Soviet union which lead to strange and mysterious happenings - for example, in the Tintin comic "The Shooting Star" (fr. "L'Etoile Mystérieuse"), the protagonist ultimately explores a meteor crashed in the arctic(?), whose strange properties make organic life grow at alarming rates and sizes.

Hmmm... A "meteor" (read: alien starship) crash would be interesting, for a combined STALKER/X-COM setting... Alien artifacts, aliens, mutants, artifact-hunters, spec-force operations... What's not to like?

[Arlequín]

It doesn't even have to land 'on' the island, a near miss would have a similar effect. Certainly an abandoned research facility would also give you some scope too... maybe that's what the 'others' were interested in before their mishap?