I was thinking about the WAW series the other day. What a lot of fun it is turning out to be!  Not only is it the only series…other than Dawns Early Light to deal with the WWIII from a fresh perspective, but its a tour de force of what might have been, what if and why the hell not.

The Universe created by Walker has upset those looking for a true historical WWIII simulation. One that relies on history and archive files and accurate OOB’s. We all know that story as read to us and played by us in SPI’s titles covering the era, and VGs games. Oh..Wait. I see. Its not history. Its just a hypothetical at a point in time.  There was no WWIII. Phew.

If you follow the drama in the news recently with the Middle East, Russia, the Terrorists and world power alignments and re alignments we can see that any thing is possible!  For what ever reason WWIII started in 1985.

The Soviets are the aggressors, NATO is fighting the tide, and the history and lore that surround the series is fresh and innovative. Some sides did not line up as we expected and there is a under current not in the game but surrounding the universe that is Supernatural.  I’m ok with the that. I certainly do not want to fight companies of Vampire tanks nor squads of werewolves.

The story of Good and Evil is just that GvE. How that is comprised or designed or created is up to us, fortunately Walker has ensured we get the benefit of a great story line, all the 80’s forces we can eat and fast and furious action. I have written some Board Game Geek posts regarding the lore of  WAW,

you can see a summary here also d.load this:  https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8Od2EJtWVrDODkzMDcyMTAtNjRkYi00ZjlkLWEzZjUtZTlhYjJlZmMwZDZm&hl=en_US.

So yeah as a back drop weird shit can happen to place forces at odds, or create a certain scenario.

However not today.  Today we deal with the harsh reality of resources. Either you own them, possess them, can buy them or, you don’t have them.  Not having them is bad for business. Especially the business of war. A little history:

Iran had been a hotbed since the Revolution of 1979.  In June 1979, the Freedom Movement released its draft constitution for the Islamic Republic that it had been working on since Khomeini was in exile.

It included a Guardian Council to veto unIslamic legislation, but had no guardian jurist ruler. Leftists found the draft too conservative and in need of major changes but Khomeini declared it `correct`.  The Khomenini supporters in the Assembly now rejected the constitution – its correctness notwithstanding – and Khomeini declared that the new government should be based “100% on Islam.”

Doah. Well then we had the Hostage crisis in October ’79 and Iraq invaded Iran in 1980. So assuming a war of our worlds in 1985, who would do what to whom to ensure supplies of oil?  ……. You got it!

Not long after the 1980 war, the Soviet Union had invested mightily in recruiting insiders for that day which ‘may come’ Having seen the seeds of revolution being sown in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon all fed by the Revolutionary Guard of Iran, the Soviets played their best game.

The game of Subterfuge.  Double blind agents feeding anti western sentiment whilst not acknowledging their true intents, gained a foot hold in key security and intelligence posts inside Kohemini’s Government.

As Soviet intention to launch its plans for global dominance driven by other forces themselves gained momentum. The Southern Front was considered to be vital for long term success in the European theatre.

May 16th 1985 saw the 2nd Airborne regiment rapidly capture Bandar Abbas, whilst the Soviet ground forces some 300,000 who were stationed in Afghanistan had invaded through Turkmenistan and were sending the Iranian army reeling to Tehran.

In an unusual and some would say discordant conversation with US Intelligence and CINC officials, Kohenini agreed to accept US aid. This was not a favor and a deal with the Devil was struck. Kohenini retired to his quarters to pray to Allah, as the Guardian Council all looked confused at what had just happened. What was wrong with the mouth piece of Allah?

The Marines are on the way.

We now head out to fight 3 battles. The first is fraught with trouble and danger. 22nd MEU , heads inland from its beachhead to fight the 2nd Airborne Regiment holding defensive positions. All the city hexes are to be cleared for victory. No less is acceptable.