BMN's Hoi4 inspired maps

[BMN]

Fascist Canada that take over most North America (and maybe South America if lucky)

In order to fulfill Canada's manifest destiny to rule America, the reigning king had to be deposed and toppled. Of course, in a literal sense the King of the United Kingdom was rejected due to dynastic scandal, which served as a good excuse to begin true independence from British dominion. But the real enemy would be the United States. The sleeping giant.
The United states had an industrial base and population one hundred times larger than Canada's, yet Canada must find a way to triumph on the field of battle. The answer would come from the royal mounties. No longer royal, since the new independent republic was established, the cavalry unites were used to train the new army, and as a result most of the army was able to converted to mobile infantry, thanks to the mass acquisition of horses.

These horse-mounted infantry divisions were very small. With great conscription effort Canada was able to mobilize enough manpower to have an army just barely as large as the US peacetime volunteer army. However, the American divisions were concentrated in their deployment, with large amounts of firepower, but low mobility. The small Canadian divisions had no heavy weapons and could not survive a few hours in direct combat, so this was not how Canada would fight. The lack of guns and surplus of horses gave the small Canadian divisions a huge mobility advantage. The size of the divisions meant many more divisions were fielded, conferring a strategic flexibility advantage. Once all available manpower was in the field, war was declared.

And there weren't enough US divisions to cover the entire border, so Canadian units selectively advanced and broke through gaps in the line. Every time contact was made with the enemy, advance would stop and redirect towards the side, completely flowing around opposition like a river around a boulder. Using this strategy, advanced elements penetrated deep into American territory without resistance. The war still took over a year due to the sheer size of the country and the unwillingness of the government to surrender, even though the population was not interested in resisting.

Thanks to this experience in speed, emphasis was placed on the development of armoured vehicles. at first, light tanks were employed, but planners realized that their increased speed was of no use in the jungles of the South America, and that the armour and firepower of medium tanks would better protect the precious manpower of Canada. Also, motorized vehicles replaced horses, allowing divisions to keep up with the tanks.

Thus, the invasion of South America, starting in Mexico and flowing down through to Panama very quickly. Some individual points of resistance delayed the advance. But pure infantry digging trenches in jungle could only hold as long as they had men to spend in the meatgrinder beneath the Canadian tanks' treads.

The real bloodbath started in the invasion of Colombia. The amphibious assualt units to take the Carribean were not yet ready, so the tanks to advance from the chokepoint of the isthmus of Panama. Colombian soldiers bravely charged at the tanks to prevent them from advancing, but only at huge cost of life, while the Canadians suffered few losses due to being shielding behind their powerful war machines. Eventually, after over 200,000 combat losses, the Colombian army structure broke, and the Canadian army pacified the country, from there launching to invasions of the rest of South America.

As for the caribbean, it was a simple matter to steal the various island colonies, because they were all occupied by Britain, which was distracted by a major war against Europe. They were not doing so well, but were doing fine in Africa, where they made strange allies with the communist french-in-exile...

 

[BMN]

Czechoslovakia Authoritarian allying with Poland and taking down the other world powers

I haven't done multiplayer in a long time, so I grabbed a friend and got to task.

At first we were really nervous about early war with Germany since I would have to deny the Sudetenland Demand. So we focused military production at the expense pf long-term economic growth. Luckily, Hungary absorbed Austria, weakening Germany by preventing the Anschluss. As soon as World Tension allowed, Poland took over the Baltic countries simultaneously, to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At that point, it was nearing the Spring of 1939 and Germany hadn't made any aggressive moves. At this point, both Czechoslovakia and Poland have mobilized enough men to reach military parity with Germany (at least according to our spies). So Poland uses a bonus-speed war justification on East Prussia due to claims from the PLC. within two months, the entire German army positions itself on their eastern border with Poland... which means that when Poland declares war, they join the Czech Entente alliance, and the Czech military rushes into Germany without resistance, cutting off most of the army in the East. The rest of Germany falls easily in a walking occupation.
This outcome was highly surprising and a bit of a let-down after years of anticipation. But also, Yugoslavia and Italy had joined the war on opposite sides, and the French entered into Civil War just as Czech units crossed into the Rhineland, so a huge opportunity opened up.

The Czechs joined the war in France, with meant Axis Italy had to fight a two-front war against France and Yugoslavia. This bought time for Yugoslavia while the Czechs prepared to invade-Austria-Hungary, which was getting in the way. Due to failures in the Hungarian government to reform their country, there had been no mobilization and the military was barely a police force. What little they had was mostly from the absorbed Austrian Army, and they were all stuck in the Alps guarding the Italian border. So Hungary fell quickly, and Czech units flooded into Italy from Yugoslavia.

From there, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and Turkey were also brought to submission.

With the French civil war over, the Czechs betrayed the French, what little remained of their government joined the Socialist Commonwealth of Nations.

Now that mainland Europe was secure, along with all its factories and manpower, the invasion of the Soviet Union could materialize. Although they had recently recovered from the effects of Stalin's Great Purge, their armies could not stand against the new tank divisions fielded by Poland and Czechoslovakia, which encircled and crushed everything they faced. A huge Polish army of Cavalry-mobile infantry was able to push quickly through the Russian interior.

Once the decisive maneuvers were over, it looked like victory in Russia was assured, so Czechoslovakia moved their slow but heavy firepower infantry to Iberia, to clear out the Anarchist Commune that had taken shape there.

In the big picture, almost all of Europe is controlled by West-Slav monarchies. The decolonized africa and asia are in the sphere of influence of the socialists. Japan is stuck in China in a quagmire war that hasn't gone anywhere. The United States is the last major Democratic country, with the old British dominions aligning with it, but the Americans so far remain officially neutral.

 

[BMN]

Can you start as Siam and restore the Rattanakosin Kingdom?

Despite the desperately weak industrial base and limited diplomatic options, this was a fairly straight-forward achievement since forming the empire only requires occupying French Indo-China. And since France was stuck in Civil War while losing overseas territories to the Anglo-Germans and Japanese... they did not offer any resistance or counter action in Asia.

After that, Thailand was able to participate in the asian wars on the side of Japan, in order to maintain alliance with the rest of the "decolonized" south east asian nations under the Japanese umbrella. Luckily, Japan and the Soviets managed to maintain non-aggression, so that Japan could focus pressure on the Pacific while the Soviets prosecuted their war in Europe and Africa with their American allies.

 

[BMN]

The Cold War, officially started in 1945 with conflicts developing between the Americans and Soviets for influence and control over the new post-war global order. Initially, it was economic and diplomatic jostling in Europe, which resulted in European countries rejecting American financing.

Althoug the communists had setbacks in Asia, where the Korean War was a failure for the Soviets, which also distracted them away from a peaceful pro-capitalist Indian/Pakistani Independence.

The anti-American sentiment in Europe grew with the wars and crisis in the Middle East over Israel. As a result, France and the UK blocked the creation of NATO. While the British would get over the Suez crisis to return to partnership with America, the damage was already done. Germany, without military protection from the West, was increasingly infiltrated by the East, until government instability and promises of copying the post-war recovery success in East Germany lead to an early re-unification. France and Spain joined Germany in agreeing to permanent Soviet "protection". For France, this was to help maintain their colonial empire. Now that the French government was filled with leftists, they better represented their marginalized peoples, stealing the wind from the sails of leftist anti-colonial movements such as in Vietnam and Algeria.

The final blow to US imperialism came in the Italian Spring of 1960. Facing a losing election which threatened to be the end of US influence in mainland Europe, the CIA desperately instigated a false-flag attack to spark a civil war they hoped to win. However, the terrorism campaign was botched and when it was exposed, it galvanized the Italians and the rest of Europe against America and capitalist imperialism.

Facing international backlash, and massive sanctions from Europe, Asia, and Africa, the American economy began to fail as international trade dried up under the diplomatic strangling.

By 1961, the American government is facing domestic collapse, its client states abroad panicking at the chaos. The Soviet Union has decisively won the Cold War.

 

[James the AH Fan]

Kaiserredux: Makhnovist France

 

[BMN]

Do a Democratic Constitutional Monarchy run for Iran/Persia, a Communist/Totalist run as Patagonia/Argentina, an Industrial Corps/National Protection Alliance Sichuan, a Constitutional Monarchy Siam, and a NatPop Carles rampage in Kaiserreich next

Patagonia is in a tight spot in 1936 with no manpower and no weapons. By applying for Chilean and European help, the revolutionaries were able to scramble just enough to push into reactionary territory and capture much needed industry and recruits. After some crafty maneuvers, Buenos Aires was captured. Over the course of two years, Argentina was secured for the revolution, not just from the reactionaries by also from revolutionary heretics such as anarchists.

However, this peaceful reconstruction would not last. The Second Weltkrieg began, and Argentina joined the Internationale against Germany. But before aid could be sent to Europe or North America, first the borders had to be secured against the national populists and conservatives next door in Paraguay and Brazil. Brazil joined the Germans, which luckily for the Internationale, meant hundreds of thousands of Germans would be sent to die in the jungles of South America instead of advancing the crucial fronts in Europe. Thus, France was able to hold on while Russia stabilized their frontlines in Ukraine.

Over time, the Russo-French attacks wore down the overstretched Germans. However, this came at a very high cost in blood.

Meanwhile, Spain is stuck in its war against carlists rebels. In the Middle East, Turkey and then Iran were defeated by Egypt. In Asia, Japan has taken over the colonies with the help of collaborators in China and South East Asia. In America, the civil war continues as a stalemate, as the besieged CSA refuse to surrender to the Entente and southern rebels. However, with the capitulation of the Entente forces in Mexico and victory in Europe, help is on the horizon...

 

[BMN]

Do post-Speerite Germany (TNO: Last Days of Europe)

My first try with TNO. I mostly reacted like this:

Spoiler

Instead of 100 national focuses to choose from that each last 70 days, TNO national focuses take 10 times less days, so there's thousands of them. Each one popping up event chains featuring various government functionaries exchanging cryptic dialogue.

So this run took several times longer than most other games, on par with Multiplayer, where lag requires a slower game progression. Not to mention that the full content cycle required continuously taking focuses for the full 10-years of game from 1962 to 1972, unlike in vanilla Hoi where 4-6 years in it's clear who is winning and the national focus plot lines are complete.

And to top it off, the choices are not always clear on whether or not they help your progression down a specific path. I picked every single reform possible, conceded every compromise, and the reformists still got beaten down by Speer even after I chose the branching focus to trust in Gang of Four instead of "Trust in Speer". Still, the color-coded words and hints did help a lot more than in Kaiserreich where all political alignment is done through events whose pop ups you have no control over, and whose contents are not obvious or even just easily mis-clicked. Several runs in that mod were wasted by accidentally taking the wrong path.

Overall, I say TNO is a great premise with loads of interesting novel content, but it goes too far with minutia, resulting in frustrating gameplay slow-downs. The economics and decisions systems were pretty cool gimicks, and used GUI very excellently. The technology/equipment system was too bloated by variety and just made me fatigued when organizing divisions/production.

Anyway, the map.

Germany successfully reforms away the slavery system, granting autonomy to subject peoples. However the cost was two civil wars, the first a brutal grind, the other a panicked rush to calm the slave uprising. The rise of these liberal reforms allow great progress and repairs in relations with the USA and a democratized Italy. However, German spies continued to covertly sabotage US coordination with the OFN. However, through these operations the Himmlerite plot to destroy the world order was brought to light, and Burgundy became a pariah even among fascists. However, Burgundy became the least of the Reich's worries when the Oil Crisis meant the focus turned to waging proxy wars in the Middle East and recovery of the domestic economy.

 

[GloomyTremere]

Another request: Alexander Pokryshkin's Novosibirsk-reunified Russia (TNO)

 

[Traincakes]

Another request: Alexander Pokryshkin's Novosibirsk-reunified Russia (TNO)

Maybe it'd be better if he didn't play the same mod twice in a row.

The KMT of Kaiserredux, with the "punished" Jiang Jishei/ Chiang Kai-Chek route (a man denied his republic) for a little spice.

 

[BMN]

Just made a map for an old game I found, on the Great War map.

The Central Powers made great advances in the peripheral fronts, in Africa, in the Balkans, Italy and southern Russia, but were slowly pushed back on the main fronts of Western Europe and Poland.

The Germany High Sees Fleet, having built an incredible number of battleships, successfully defeats the combined British and French navies and blockades all of Western Europe. This move deprives the colonial empires of their supply lines, and their colonial force structures quickly collapse. The Ottomans capitalize on this, moving through Persia to capture India. Along the way they recruit many local peoples yearning for an end to colonial rule. Without the stresses of military defeat, there are no internal repressions, and instead they are liberators and tolerators wherever they march.

The Austrians break through the Italian defenses and capture Rome. Soon, the Austrians are forming a massive army for the invasion of France, to open up a second front to help Germany, which is being pushed to their original borders. Meanwhile, although the Russians are losing in Ukraine, one of their armies managed to outmaneuver the Germans and is on the outskirts of Berlin.

At this point, American relief arrives. The American fleet breaks the German blockade scattering it beyond the Atlantic, allowing just enough supplies and armies from the US and Great Britain to take up the defense in France. In the singular most massive battle of the war, the Austrian Army that penetrated as far deep as Orleans was routed all the way back across the Alps by the Franco-American counter-attack.

The French have reached the Rhine. The Austrians and Ottomans allies are no longer helping. The Americans have set up a naval blockade of Germany. The Germans failed to dislodge the Russian army surrounding Berlin. Germany is prepared to seek terms of peace.

The annihilation of Austria's armed forces in France also is the catalyst for major uprisings in central and eastern Europe. Many nations are clamoring for independence. The Austrians and Germans must give concessions in Europe, but in Africa things are looking very different. The British and French are demanding a return of their colonies, but German African Empire is too well entrenched to be fought off, and still has massive naval support from the leftover battleships... And the Ottomans have taken their Islamic Empire to new heights and aren't about to give up.