Bolt Action campaign Never Ending War.

Campaign Background:

D-Day, Disaster-Day
D-Day has failed! The Allies plan for the invasion of Normandy lies in tatters. The loss of men and material is staggering, as is the blow to morale. The Axis powers were more prepared for the invasion than any planner could have expected. Massive troop and armour reinforcements at the Atlantic Wall, perfectly executed U-boat and E-boat ambushes and pin point bombing by the Luftwaffe shattered the invasion. Many of the troops already landed on the beaches were cut off with no hope of retreat. Airborne units inland hoping for a quick link up with the invasion forces found themselves overwhelmed. Only the fact that so many of the airborne drops had been off target saved the lives of many of the troops and they were able to escape into the countryside with elements of the Maquis, the French resistance. What began as an invasion ended as a desperate fighting withdrawal back to the British coast.

It was later ascertained that a single Allied officer, thought dead following a surprise E-boat attack during exercise Tiger in Lyme Bay in April of 1944, was in fact captured by the Germans. Tiger was a live fire training exercise for D-Day but was plagued with problems from the beginning. Ten officers, all with high level security clearance and knowledge of the invasion plans were thought killed during the E-boat attack. The Allies expended a massive effort in recovering the bodies of these officers to ensure operational secrecy of operation Overlord was maintained. With all the bodies finally recovered the invasion preparations could continue. Unknown to the Allies one officer had survived and was picked up by the E-boat. In an eerie repetition of the Allies own operation Mincemeat, the crew of the E-boat dressed one of their own casualties in the allied officer’s uniform. The body was then disfigured beyond all recognition using the engineer’s blowtorch, leaving just enough of the uniform and papers intact for identification. With this done the body was dumped back into the sea to await recovery. Rushed to Berlin the officer was soon under the influence of scopolamine, sodium pentothal and the persuasions of the interrogators of the SS. The Axis powers now had the intelligence needed to counter the Allied invasion plans.
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
With defeat looming the allied high command had no choice but to implement a terrifying plan that they had hoped would never see the light of day. Now desperate for reinforcements in the European theatre the Allies had to draw forces from another war zone. But how to do this without handing another part of the world over to the Axis. A desperate plan was implemented that would have far reaching repercussions for those who made this ultimate deal with the devil as it became known. Since the very start of the war vast amounts of chemical weapons had been produced and stockpiled. At first this was as a last resort against the anticipated invasion of British Isles, but as the war progressed the three main Allied powers expanded this operation and began devising a dark and sinister plan. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin agreed to the activation of this plan almost immediately following word of the invasions failure. With the three main Allied powers working together in the utmost secrecy new and even deadlier chemical weapons had been developed, many by accident, during the chemical build up. Every plane that could fly was pressed into service; bombers, fighters even civilian planes like some sick and twisted perversion of the Dunkirk assembly. Leaving many other theatres without air cover, and in some areas immediately losing valuable ground to the Axis planes, personnel and equipment were recalled for operation Scorched Earth.
Stalin himself suggested the site of the chemical bombing be his own country, stating that the peasants and workers of the Soviet Union would once again bear the brunt of the casualties for the good of the world. A blanket bombing of the front lines of the whole eastern front was agreed upon, finally giving Stalin his much sought-after buffer between himself and German forces. Never had so large a bombing campaign been mounted, dwarfing anything that had gone before. The entire eastern front, stretching for thousands of kilometres, was to be systematically poisoned. Effectively destroying all life along the front and at the same time creating an impassable barrier into the Soviet Union, freeing up millions of much needed troops for the Allies. Utilising excellent use of maskirovka,Stalin, ever the creative opportunist, had begun replacing front line veteran regiments with penal battalions, political prisoners and a host of other enemies, both real and perceived. Seeing that he could quite literally kill many birds with one stone. Along with this troop movements massive canisters of gas were moved into position all along the eastern front, seeding the area with even more potential death. Assisting the aerial elements of the operation massed batteries of artillery and Katyushas would also rain chemical death into the front lines.
With nearly every aerial asset in the Allied arsenal tasked with this mission the sky was filled with enough planes to blot out the sun, and truly it was apt as Armageddon was unleashed. The bombing continued night and day as the massive area of land was saturated with obscene weapons. Chemical tanks were detonated all along the front as artillery rained down a continuous barrage of chemical death. Strong westerly winds helped spread the curtain of death well into the German lines destroying great swathes of army groups north, centre and south. The death toll on both sides was beyond description, nothing was spared soldier, civilian, animal and fauna were wiped from existence over a 3,000-kilometre front. As the myriad of chemicals used mixed, new and unexpected toxins were released. Solid steel tanks dissolved as easily as ice cubes under a hot sun. The land for many miles either side of the front line became impenetrable by land, sea or air due to the chemical morass and would remain this way for an unknown amount of years. If the land was to ever recover it would not be in the lifetimes of those who caused it and possibly not even in their children’s lifetimes.
Redeployment, Resumption
Following the losses during D-Day and operation Scorched Earth to both the Axis and Allies, fresh troop reinforcement was essential for both sides. The map of the war had changed dramatically and for a short time the war seemed to pause, perhaps to catch its breath or perhaps in horror at the devastation wrought in its name. What ever the reason forces all around the globe were able to redeploy to better prepare for the changing face of the war. In a reversal of previous events convoys of ships filled with Soviet soldiers left Arkhangelsk and Murmansk bound for the UK where they were further deployed to a variety of theatres around the world. Reserves of fresh US troops began the arduous journey across the Atlantic to bolster the depleted forces in Europe and Africa. An attempted coup in Italy set the country afire. A civil war erupted for a short while, with many Italian army and air force elements re-joining their old Axis partners once again, somewhat boosting Mussolini’s ailing Italian Social Republic in Northern Italy. Wishing to avoid a similar fate as the German eastern front forces, the Japanese cancelled their plans for any invasion of the Siberia. Seeing their own bacteriological weapons created by Detachment 731 to be of no match to the Allies ability, instead they began massive troop movements to Europe and Africa at the behest of the German high command.
New battle lines were drawn as the world prepared for the continuation of the war. Dark pacts and alliances of desperation had saved both sides from defeat. But what repercussions they would have in an unclear future was unknown to all. Would the ending of the war see the world saved or destroyed?

house rules

• Buildings: Abstract rules will stand but before each game players can agree to use the standard movement, shooting, melee rules etc if they both agree. We took this decision as we may not always be using the accessible interior 4ground models for scenery, this seemed the fairest option.
• There are no compulsory games, you can play who you want when you want.
  If you play someone who is on your side in the campaign it is deemed a training exercise before an actual operation. You still record details for the Sniper Challenge and Leadership Challenge but you do not count victory points towards overhaul campaign results.
• If you are playing an enemy then you again record info for the challenges and victory points count towards the campaign outcome.
  There will be some specific games that will need to be played and the points values of those games can be split between any number of players from each side.
• The outcome of certain scenarios will also have an effect in future games so please be sure to inform me of your scenario played along with victory points and all relevant date for the mission.
• There will also be some surprise missions thrown out there that request certain units or armies so be prepared to be fighting some unusual missions when your country calls!

If you have any questions please let me know.
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!!!!!

Achieve the Challenge & Win the prize!