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Bill Stone:

Bill Stone:

While I could pick a few additional nits -- the statement under "Western Allied In tervention" that Bulgaria was never at war with the USSR is incorrect, as Moscow declared war on 5 September 1944; some players may be surprised by the unexplained existence of a Turkish supply source in hex 3B:4430 of Greece (although some will know about the transfer of that territory to Turkey after German conquest of Greece) -- there just three points that I'd like to address,

1) The rules for Turkish supply sources ("any major, dot, or reference city in Turkey" as well as the aforementioned hex) seem extremely generous. As I know of no other Europa supply rules quite so liberal, I'd be interested to learning about the logistical situation of the Turkish army.

2) Despite the suggestion to use Near East to add the Allied invasion of Iran, no advice is included on how to ncile the vastly divergent supply system of Scorched Earth and War in the Desert both of which could be in effect in Asia Minor. Are the Brits the only ones saddled with the requirement for attack supply?

3) Under the "standard" rules for Turkish entry (as opposed to the "special 1942" rules), the greatest likelihood of Turkish intervention occurs in the opening weeks of Barbarossa -- most probably in June or July. I'm familiar with only The Evasive Neutral among Mr. Buhler's suggested reading list, so I can't claim to be as wellinformed as the scenario's designer, but I wonder if Turkey was really so eager to tangle with the Soviets in the first weeks of the invasion. More importantly, the terms of the "standard" intervention rules seem to miss a point well made in the "special" rules. That is, under the .special" rules the Axis player in Scorched Earth is required to achieve certain geographical goals before Turkey will consider intervention; under the .standard" rules, the Axis player's offensive may grind immediately to a haft in the face of superior Soviet play, but such embarassing failure would have absolute effect on Turkish willingness to join the Axis. Should the Axis player be forced to achieve certain geographic goals in the early summer of 1941 ("standard" rules) just as in 1942 ("special" rules) before Turkey will intervene?

Despite these quibbles and queries, Mr. Buhler is to be congratulated on doing the research and sharing his ideas with Europa players. I know this sort of geopolitical analysis is necessarily quite subjective (I faced similar knots when working on "Hitler Turns South"), so I certainly don't mean to criticize the designer's conclusions, but I'd be interested to hear more about the diplomatic / political / economic rationale of his decisions.

Phillip Buhler:

My rationale for this rule was that the Turks did have massive stockpiles of supplies along the Russian frontier, especially in such reference cities as Kars and Van. In fact, during the "Wars of Ataturk" shortly after World War One, where the Turk's greatest modern hero nullified the initial peace settlement dividing Turkey by defeating the various occupying powers, Ataturk (Kemal Pasha) launched his campaign to free Turkey from Turkish Aremenia, near the Caucasian frontier. A vast military effort was made from an area devoid of traditional supply cities. I would suggest that while not all reference cities be considered supply sources, Kars, Van, Trabzon and possibly Erzurum remain so. Also, the road from Erzurum to Kars (this was actually a small rail line) should be considered a rail line for purposes of supply. Alternatively, although the setup does hot call for it, one could place a certain amount of resource points in Kars, Van and Trabzon.

The rail hex in 3B:4430 needs clarification. What this represents is the great amount of supplies sent by Germany throughout the war. This would be better stated as: *The Turks may also draw supply from Germany if they can trace a rail line to a German supply source in Greater Germany." The hex in 3B:4430 represents this rail, in that it is very unlikely in Scorched Earth that a Russian unit will come far enough west to break it further up. However, in at least one game I've seen this happen, so so much for simplifications.

As for the problem of reconciling the supply rules of War in the Desert and Scorched Earth for the Iranian option, the simple thing to do is require desert supply rules south of the "E" weather line, in the actual desert area. Any supply lines traced through this terrain would require the receiving unit to follow the desert rules. This would exclude much of Iran.

The most crucial point Mr. Stone raises is the Turkish entry requirements in 1941. I believe that in 1941 the greatest likelihood of Turkish entry was in the opening months. First, a roll of 11 or .12 makes it very unlikely that the Turks will enter at all in 1941. However, several factors made it possible. First, the Germans conducted a tremendous diplomatic campaign to draw Turkey into the conflict before the beginning of Barbarossa. In 1940 and early 1941 they sent their best diplomat, Franz von Papen, to Ankara. In June, 1941, one week after the beginning of Barbarossa, a Turkish delegation led by Ataturk's brother Nuri Pasha met with Hitler in Berlin to discuss a possible Turkish sphere of influence in the Caucasus and alliance with Germany. Some scholars even believe that Barbarossa was delayed for a few weeks in the hope of bringing in the Turks from the beginning. Second, no matter how inept a player the German may be, the first turn or two of Barbarossa is devastating for the Russian player. The special surprise turn is designed to portray this. Combined with the perfect record of the Germans over the previous two years, there is no cause for the Turks to believe that this tremendous campaign would not come out favorably for the Germans in 1941. Only after it stretched on into 1942 would the Turks want to sit back and wait for the Germans to reach certain geographical objectives.

Lastly, Mr. Stone is technically correct that Bulgaria did go to war with the Soviet Union on Sept. 5, 1944. However, on Sept. 9 there was a coup that overthrew the pro-Axis government, and by October the Bulgarians were discussing peace terms with the Russians. In fact, they switched sides as soon as the first Russian troops crossed the frontier. They effectively never fought the Russians.

I very much appreciate the helpful points that Mr. Stone raises. I hope that other Europa players will likewise advise of any other ideas or problems they may have regarding this option. I encourage any players who have questions or suggestions about my reasoning, or for rules clarifications, to write me directly and send a SASE.

[Bill Stone investigated the Erzurum-Kars rail line and reported his findings in ETO #12's "Forum" * Bill concluded that John Astell's interpretation of this transportation line as a road is quite valid. I mention this for reader interest and not to negate Phillip's above ruling on this line.)

Making the E weather line the boundary between desert supply rules and Scorched Earth supply rules as Phillip suggests will not work in War in the Desert since the E weather line bisects French North Africa. Perhaps the dividing line should be between European countries and African /Asian countries.

For a short history of Bulgaria's involvement in World War II see Bill Stone's "Boris and Bulgaria" in ETO #2.)

Letter to Editor: Response (#4)

Been Wood:

Now that we have all the maps has anyone begun work on Europa -- World War I? Aside from the one tremendous disadvantage of poorer OB sources everything else should be easier. Larger masses of men, i.e. poorer mobility, resulted in fewer battalions wandering off on their own. Fewer and less effective aircraft. Far less land-naval-air interaction. It might be easier to simulate than WWII.