Stimpak's New Maps (Nienburg released!)

[Stimpak]

CS 1 Red Storm, the first map of the Soviet Campaign, is only 10km south of Kassel.
My map making is on hold while I deal with life issues, but in the future one should only expect those in NORTHAG until Southern Storm is released - I don't want to end up mapping the Hof Gap for example, only to discover it will be done anyway in an official release. Making a map look pretty is fun, but my main goal is to represent or "cover" most of the potential battlefield of West Germany.

[Stimpak]

Breaking my long silence to say that I am working on a new scenario for this map. It's separate from my usual canon and involves an alternate engagement between the 18th PzBgd and 94th GMRD. As for maps themselves, I could start a new project in the future, if anyone requests a map.

Bad Segeberg itself is a large aesthetic improvement from my previous works, but poorly researched. These mistakes must be corrected with future maps [:-]

[Stimpak]

A preview of something I've been working on...

[comte]

Looks good I like the forests. Someone fire some tactical nukes?

Is this DDR vs FRG?

[Stimpak]

Chemical strikes. Nukes are too much for the size of the scenario.

Yes, it's DDR and BRD.

[Stimpak]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you FCRS_Nienburg:



From Wikipedia:
Nienburg (official name: Nienburg/Weser) (Low German: Nienborg, Neenborg or Negenborg) is a town and capital of the district Nienburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.

-Geography-
Situated on the scenic German Timber-Frame Road, Nienburg lies on the river Weser, approximately 55 km (34 mi) southeast of Bremen, and 45 km (28 mi) northwest of Hanover. Nienburg is the largest town in the Middle Weser Region. There are many bridges in the area, making it a likely axis of advance for Warsaw Pact forces should a Weser River crossing be denied elsewhere. This includes the application of air assault units, either to support an advance, or to serve as a decoy.
The local topography is relatively flat, but the area is significantly forested and urbanized, leaving some areas with short engagement areas, but still providing plenty of clearings for long range engagements.

-History-
Nienburg saw relatively little action in WW2 and was mostly a home to Oflag X-B, a POW camp for captured enemy officers, 1000 of which were Polish. Later on British, Serbs, Romanians, and Soviet prisoners were also interred here. Nienburg was home to the Wehrmacht 22nd Pioneer battalion of the 22nd Infantry Division, but this unit spent the war at the Siegfried line.
The only notable combat action here was the accidental bombing of one of the POW camps by a stricken British Lancaster bomber; 98 prisoners were killed and several huts were destroyed when flak forced the aircraft to jettison it's bombs. The railway bridge located on the map was also a target of the massive "Grand Slam" bomb employed by allied aircraft.

Later on in April 9, 1945, the British army marched into Nienburg seemingly without a fight, liberating the prisoners held there. Afterward, the camps were re-purposed to house war refugees. The former Oflag was taken over by the British Army of the Rhine and renamed "Assaye Barracks". It was the base of the 21st Regiment, Royal Engineers, from 1950 to 1996, and also of the 24th Missile Regiment, Royal Artillery from 1959 to 1962, operating the MGR-1 Honest John nuclear surface-to-surface missile. It does not appear that a unit operating the MGM-52 Lance ever replaced them. The British army left Nienburg in 1996 and Assaye Barracks was demolished.

More noteworthy is the Clauswitz-Kaserne in Langendamm, southeast of Nienburg. This barracks was large and home to nearly the entirety of Panzerbrigade 3, of 1st Panzerdivision. The only units of the Brigade not stationed here were Panzerbatailon 33, and Panzerartileriebatailon 35, which instead were stationed in the small village of Luttmersen, 22 kilometers east. Either barracks would be likely victims of Soviet nuclear, chemical, air, and artillery strikes.

It seems likely that this unit would have been engaged west of Celle and north of Hanover in the event of a Soviet attack, covering the south flank of Panzerlehrbrigade 9, of 3rd Panzerdivision. A surprise Soviet attack however could force them to fight for their own hometown at the Weser crossing in Nienburg.

-Warsaw Pact Forces-
Likely units attacking here would be units from the 5. Armee of the NVA, and 3rd Combined Arms Army.
Possible divisions from the East Germans as of 1983 were 19. MSD, 1. MSD, and the elite 9. PzD. If the other divisions, 8. MSD and 20. MSD failed in their advance while 19. MSD broke through, then 9. PzD would cross the Weser here and attack deeper into the I BR Corps area.

Possible divisions from the Soviets include 47th Guards Tank Division armed with T-64s, 10th Guards Tank Division with T-80s. These were high-readiness units with good equipment, and thus likely fielding their BV variants.

fcrs_Nienburg and it's .fp9 file are now available for download - as the files are too large to be uploaded here, you can instead find them on my Google Drive here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8eT5mRv4zicN08wTDl2Y0hSdE0/view?usp=sharing

To install, simply drop both files into your Modules/FPRS/Maps folder.

[Stimpak]

Updated East German file and a scenario for Nienburg, "WM_WGEG Weser Line" are attached here.

To install, just extract the "FPRS" folder into your Modules.
Remember to back-up your "Common" folder in FPRS/Data, as it substitutes it with my copy.

I made quite a few changes to the East German file, so I don't remember each one. Some off the top of my head...

-Mot-Schützen Regiment (PzD) renamed MSR-9, and the battalion specifically.
-Mot-Schützen Regiment (SPW) has had it's SPAT Company (Three platoons of SPW-40P2 armed with either PALR or PTUR) replaced with a static AT Company (Two battieries of T-12)

-Mot-Schützen Battalion (Spz BMP) re-structured: Every third "Mot-Schutzen" subunit is now an "RPG-7" Subunit, support section was re-structured, and each company has at least one Mot-Schuetzen subunit armed with a sniper rifle. The AA platoon has also once again been detached from the Kompanie into it's own unit a-la the Soviets.

Regiments once again operate the 3 MSB/1 PzB or 3 PzB/1 MSB formula again

Timeframe restriction removed from T-54

Added Flak Kanone Regiment to Divisional assets - these replace the SAM regiment in mobilized (reserve) divisions.

2S4 Tyulpan and 2S5 Giatsint restricted to the new "Soviet Support assets" tab; these units aren't owned by East Germany but provided by the Soviet AAG.

Big nerf to the T-72s: TG-20 (Firing more modern Soviet BM-32 and BK-21 125mm rounds) has been replaced universally by TG-17 (Firing the BM-15, the most advanced round provided to Warsaw Pact client states) they should be struggling against NATO MBTs now without flank shots or close combat.

Divisional recon battalion restructured: Two companies each containing a radar platoon of BRM-1K, two tracked platoons of BMP-1 (Carrying Scouts instead of Mot-Schützen), and two sections of SPW-40P2 carrying scouts
Divisional independent tank battalion replaced (As it seems none existed in the NVA) with Reserve recon battalion: Two companies each containing two platoons of PT-76B, and two sections of SPW-40P2 carrying scouts

WM_WGEG Weser Line


I had trouble balancing this one and it looks like balancing is still required in the future.
As the title suggests, this is a medium scenario between the two Germany's, meant to be played from the East German side. While playing against the West German AI is possible, it's not preferable as, in my opinion, the defensive AI is rather lacking and I don't imagine we'll see a more complex trigger/scripting system until Southern Storm. Instead, you can play it in Hot Seat or PBEM mode, and the West German player will follow a set of instructions in their briefing.

Here, 19. MSD is behind schedule and making an assault towards Nienburg in order to capture the Weser river bridges here. As part of a mobilization division, much of it's equipment is old, including vaunted T-54 tanks that, while unable to stand up to modern enemy armor, are still effective against a tank's traditional prey.

Panzerbrigade 3 has successfully evacuated the stricken Clauswitz-Kaserne, and is on the defense; it is well armed with Marder 1A2 and Leopard 2A4 tanks. This scenario is about speed and how fast the assaulting East German player can reach his objectives.

The story here is divorced from my discontinued East German campaign, so don't concern yourself too much with any plot holes between them.

Finally, I eventually plan to create a NATO version of this scenario that does not require any fancy scripting behaviour as the AI's offensive decision-making capabilities are sufficient. It will also swap out the East Germans for the Soviets.

Good luck and have fun!

[Mad Russian]

Excellent work!!

Good Hunting.

MR

[Stimpak]

For the map, I've created a series of "Mini scenarios" that are all roughly company to battalion sized engagements, for those who either don't have a lot of time or don't like dealing with commanding a large number of forces.

All scenarios feature vanilla factions and only require the Nienburg map. You do not need the East German faction for these.

Scenarios:

N_Mini_1: Meeting engagement between West German Company and Soviet Tank Battalion (+)
N_Mini_2: Hasty defense of West German Company against Soviet Reinforced MRB (1974)
W_Mini_1: Limited attack of Soviet MRC against American Combined Arms Team
W_Mini_2: Prepared defense of Soviet reinforced MRB against American Heavy Battalion Task Force

[WildCatNL]

Thanks. I love small scenarios!

William

[MikeJ19]

Stimpak,

This is my first time looking at this thread. Wow, these look really nice. I will give them a try sometime soon.

Thanks for all the work.

Have a good day,

Mike

[Rincovsk]

I am a big fan of your work Stimpak. I wonder if you still have plans and available time for some scenarios for the polish faction. I will try soon your new ones for the East Germans. Best.

[Stimpak]

Plans? Not much at the moment, but I certainly have time. What would you like to see?

[Rincovsk]

Oh...nothing in particular...just curious if the Polish would receive from your part any scenarios as with the East Germans. Best.

[kokovi79]

Obviously, this is years too late, but I grew up in Diepholz in the late 80ies and the 90ies, so I can give some information to this area. The B69 went through Vechta in that period, it was only build around the town from 1998 to 2004. As it was mentioned, the area is very, very wet. It is also full of drainage channels to remove at least some excess water from the fields. In a lot of places, the water level is only 30 to 50 cm below ground floor, so as a child I have often seen local farmers getting stuck with their tractors even when using double tires. Wheeled vehicles will be more or less road bound in this area, including wheeled AFVs and IFVs. I think the ground conditions will be a challenge even to tracked vehicles and infantry. The Moor / bog areas are basically completely unsuited to armored warfare.

In Diepholz, there was also the Luftwaffenwerft 23 on the airbase which was responsible for depot level maintenance of UH-1 helicopters.

[qsmiron]

Hellow
could you give me a fresh mirror to these maps and scenarios? I'd love to join the installation package